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Undescribable Perfection

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

The first must-see film of the year.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The Red Tent (1969)Plot In A Paragraph: Torn by personal guilt Italian General Umberto Nobile (Peter Finch) reminisces about his 1928 failed Arctic expedition aboard the airship Italia.Not many people have seen this movie, it runs a little too long, and it's not what I'd call an enjoyable movie, but that doesn't mean it isn't a good one. The entire movie takes place in the generals mind. He calls back various participants to the events, to re-live what happened, and then ultimately pass judgement on him. It's well directed, well acted and it has a nice score tooAttempting to rid himself from Bond, it is the first time Connery would play the wiser, older man, he turns up late on, in what is only a supporting role (at best) or a glorified cameo. The Red Tent was another Connery movie to fail at the box office.

What can I say? There is so much here to recommend this movie. 1. First, it appears to be historically accurate. 2. The cast is fantastic. OK: Enough with the numbers. We have an unusual setting (for any movie) where a man is in conflict with himself. He questions whether the decisions he made were the right ones, and continually brings "ghosts" from his past to judge him. Some are hostile, and others benign. But, I think that the "ghost" of Amundsen sums it up. "You must forgive yourself, and sleep". How many of us have made bad decisions, and have seconded guessed ourselves? Anyone who has been in a similar situation have the same feelings. Stop, and listen to the message here! This is the crux of the movie. Do not destroy yourself by "what ifs". Deal with your folly, and then carry on. Combat, survival, bad business decisions: So what? Press on. This is what makes this movie so great; the message.

An English language film starring Peter Finch, Sean Connery, and Claudia Cardinale, this is nonetheless pure Kalatozov, more imbued with man's madness than Herzog. General Alberto Nobile (Finch) takes airship Italia to the North Pole in what appears to be no more than a public relations effort, with pretensions of scientific endeavour. The film is reminiscent of an earlier Kalatozov effort Neotpravlennoye pismo / The Unsent Letter (1960) in terms of there being a love interest, and also many people looking for explorers in peril and specifically in terms of the representation of joy (wacky music and speed). Kalatosov and Mosfilm were no doubt inspired by a real-life story where Uncle Joe's bestest commies manage to save a bunch of foolhardy imperialists. This seems to be a favourite theme of superior Soviet drama, and the film reminded me of the Soviet sci-fi film Nebo zovyot / Call of the Heavens (1962) in many ways, including Soviet harbour scenes of cheering crowds and self-sacrificing efforts to save the deluded. The film at least acknowledges that the first successful expedition to the North Pole was American, and so some of the revolutionary fervour I'd come to expect had diminished by this stage in Kalatosov's career. There is however a glorious purely dogmatic shot of a Russian sailor heaping coal into a furnace which has coloured him red.The film is not condescending in that there is a genuine awe and respect for the great polar explorers. Roald Amundsen's spectral presence (played by Sean Connery) is magnetic and haunting.Another cinematic precursor of this one may be Battle of the River Plate (1956), also starring Peter Finch, a film fascinated with the concept of historical spectacle. The actual crash is a matter of history, indicated at the start of the film and is not a spoiler. The filming of the crash is spectacular and crazy glorious cine-trauma.Finn Malmgren is one of the most interesting characters, he has a death wish, a love of the emptiness and Arctic loneliness. I think maybe it's something that they all share. Why would anyone venture into this morass of crumbling ice otherwise? The film is framed by a trial, Nobile trying himself, in his mind, for the disaster, this is very trippy.

The Red Tent chronicles the series of polar disasters beginning with the crash of the dirigible piloted by Italian General Umberto Nobile trying to make a historic air crossing of the North Pole. Nobile is played by Peter Finch in this epic film that unfortunately due to a bad publicity campaign and an indifference to the subject by western audiences made this historic Russian-Italian jointly produced film a financial disaster.That's a pity because photographically it's one of the finest things ever put on celluloid stock. There are some absolutely breathtaking shots of the frozen tundra and the performances of the actors battling the elements are first rate. Maybe a straight narrative might have been better instead of having the aged Nobile confronting some angry spirits of the past. Nobile was still alive when this film came out, he would die in 1978 still a figure of controversy. The dream with the angry spirits is a device frankly ripped off from George Bernard Shaw's St. Joan.Maybe the film could be best compared to William Wellman's Island in the Sky that starred John Wayne. The fictional characters there are mostly rescued and held together by Duke's leadership. Of course some thirty years advance in aviation and no political interference helped Wayne's men. And Island in the Sky is a work of fiction.Maybe it wouldn't be so if men of science could simply be men of science without answering to competing ideologies. Nobile and his men got caught up in the politics of the time. Politics claimed a lot of their lives and the lives of Roald Amundsen and party who vanished in a rescue attempt. Nobile also made some bad choices and had some bad choices forced on him by Mussolini's fascist government. He was also a man out of his element, he was great aviation pioneer, but not a polar explorer. He paid with his reputation, some of his party paid with their lives.Sean Connery has a small role as Roald Amundsen and I wish we had more of him here. Finch has a very effective scene with Claudia Cardinale the widow of one of his men where she takes him to task. Hardy Kruger does a fine job as the aviator presenting Finch with a very disagreeable choice.I'd recommend seeing it, but only on the big screen. Or definitely in a letter box version. The formatted VHS I have definitely hampers the spectacle.