Review of The Red Tent (1969) by John R — 15 May 2015

Now here is an interesting film: (1) a Search & Rescue in the Arctic circa 1928, (2) an ecumenical production of British-French-Italian-Soviet cast and crew (during the Cold War), and (3) the political atmosphere at the time (1969), which allowed a film like this to be made.

Make no mistake, this film is very much a product of the Cold War. Anyone who watches this film closely, can sense the hidden distrust, annoyance, and general uneasiness. Is that due to the nature and subject of the film, or due to the outside political atmosphere; no one can say for certain, but probably both.

The film concerns the leadership, search, and rescue attempts of various nations for General Umberto Nobile and his surviving airship crew who crash near the North Pole after a violent wind storm. Prior to this, there is the flash-forward of General Nobile and his roundtable of ghosts circa 1969.

Also, Claudia Cardinale's expanded role as a nurse in love with a key member of Nobile's crew. Narrative interest in the film wanes after about thirty minutes, with a few interesting micro-events such as polar bear hunting with a pistol and a Sean Connery extended cameo as legendary polar explorer Roald Amundsen being the only relief.

Remembering the political context at the time in the late 1960s with space exploration being dominated by the U.S., Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev surely wanted the world to see (and remember) a triumph of his country in the realm of exploration, which was the search and rescue of Western experts in the Arctic - a noted Soviet playground.

A few final thoughts are these: (1) it's nice to see a late-career Peter Finch in a leading role that isn't The Network (1976, Sidney Lument), (2) it's good to see Sean Connery in anything, but alas, he is simply a device for English-language markets here and his character doesn't bring much to the film (although it had potential), and (3) that definitive Cold War actor- Hardy Kruger; Kruger steals the otherwise lackluster film by using his devil-may-care attitude whenever possible, flirting frequently and often with Ms.

Cardinale, and trying to humor an otherwise humorless film. Also, Kruger's character drills Finch's Nobile at the central theme of the film, which is the nature of leadership. Let's leave it at this Umberto Nobile is no Ernest Shackleton.