Review of Ice Station Zebra (1968) by Paul G — 07 Jun 2007

Review Ice Station Zebra.

Director: John Sturges.

Cast: Rock Hudson,Patrick McGoohan, Ernest Borgnine, Jim Brown, Alf Kjellin'.

"Ice Station Zebra" is a glossy Hollywood thriller, made at the height of the cold war. The film takes its name from the Alastair Maclean novel on which it was based. Ice Station Zebra's high production values still manages to impress even today, 37 years after it premiered. Granted, "the north pole sets" look quite dated, but the underwater scenery below the artic ice pack look as real today as it looked back in 1968, CGI notwithstanding!

Unfortunatley, neither the powerhouse director John Sturges nor the dynamite cast headed by Rock Hudson and Patrick McGoohan are able to turn this into a winner. Why? Well, first of all the film deviate too much from the novel. Most of the things that made the novel exciting have been discarded by the filmmakers. The most important thing being that the McGoohan character in the novel acts like a Agatha Christie sleuth. He detects, he unravels the mystery and in the end, after a lengthy deliberation, exposes the culprits. None of these specific qualities have been retained in the film. Instead, it seems like the director is preoccupied with making the best possible use of the expensive sets, and less concerned with its resolution. In fact the film version of Ice Station Zebra has no real resolution at all.

Well, in all honesty, not quite. We know off course that by the end that Ernest Borgnine is indeed a russian spy. But if you have read the novel, you'll know that the story is equally as much about spying as it is about Commander Farradey trying to rescue his brother. The personal element is very important, as it explains commander Farradeys hard as nails attitude aboard the submarine. To him, everyone is a possible suspect.

And lest we not forget the mystery's real villain, dr. Goodwin. The good doctor works undercover for the Russians with orders to retrieve the film from the satellite at all costs. To cover up his crime, he burns down Ice Station Zebra, and in doing so, kills most of the crew. In the film, this has been omitted entirely.

But even though "Ice Station Zebra" fails as a faithfull adaptation of Alastair Maclean's novel, the film is still compelling enough to warrant an audience. As a fan of thrillers from the cold war, I've watched it more than a dozen times and in all likelihood, will probably continue to do so in the forseeable future. It might not be a great film, but as a timecapsule from a bygone era, "Ice Station Zebra" is as good as they get.