# Name that Mystery Film! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 4, 2020, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-mystery-film/851078 "2020-04-04T21:50:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-mystery-film/851078/1 "2020-04-04T21:50:57Z")
Yep, it’s another one of those. I saw it in the late 80s-early 90s at an art house cinema. (God, I miss those.) It takes place in the plagues of yore in a coal-mining community in England. For some reason the desperate townsfolk thought they could get to a safe, faraway land if they went as far down the mine as possible. I guess the shaft tapped into a deep cavern. Anyway, a young boy was chosen to lead the way. Eventually, they eventually do find their way to another land, New Zealand. And also to another century, the 20th. I don’t remember much about their time there but I was much more engaged than similar Twilight-Zony fare. Finally they climb back to their own village and time. The plague had subsided and much merriment abounded. Then the boy pulled back his shirt collar to show the growing black mass of the plague. All very fraught with symbolism. Ring any bells? ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-mystery-film/851078/2 "2020-04-04T22:03:08Z")
The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey. I mean, it could be something else. There are loads of movies like that. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-mystery-film/851078/3 "2020-04-04T22:38:02Z")
That was such a great movie. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-mystery-film/851078/4 "2020-04-04T23:03:33Z")
Yes, very good movie. ---
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2020, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-mystery-film/851078/5 "2020-04-05T05:18:36Z")
> [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](#): > > The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey. > > I mean, it could be something else. There are loads of movies like that. That’s the one! There was another period movie around the same time called The Pathfinder, which also featured a boy leading a group of men, but in Sweden I think. I used to get them confused until I just forgot The Navigator altogether. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2020, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-mystery-film/851078/6 "2020-04-05T07:00:29Z")
Do you mean the 1987 Norwegian film _Pathfinder_?: > **[Pathfinder (1987) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093668/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_10)** > > Pathfinder: Directed by Nils Gaup. With Mikkel Gaup, Ingvald Guttorm, Nils Utsi, Henrik H. Buljo. A young Sámi man witnesses a band of vicious raiders slay his family and flees to a nearby village, where he learns he must become a Pathfinder. I ask because there are a number of movies with titles similar to that, since there’s a James Fenimore Cooper novel with that title. ---
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2020, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-mystery-film/851078/7 "2020-04-06T04:14:54Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Do you mean the 1987 Norwegian film _Pathfinder_?: > > [Pathfinder (1987) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093668/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_10) > > I ask because there are a number of movies with titles similar to that, since there’s a James Fenimore Cooper novel with that title. Yes. Great movie. Also where I learned why elves wear shoes with curled-up toes.