Fire Down Below (1957)

Director:

Robert Parrish

Writers:

Irwin Shaw (screenplay)
Max Catto (novel)

Release Date:

May 1957 (UK)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama

Tagline:

Torrid, tempestuous Irena...the spark that turned the tropics into a blazing cauldron of passions!

Plot:

Tony and Felix own a tramp boat, and sail around the Caribbean doing odd jobs and drinking a lot. They...

Plot Keywords:

Switchblade | Roadboatmovie | Based On Novel

Cast

Rita Hayworth	...	Irena
Robert Mitchum	...	Felix Bowers
Jack Lemmon	...	Tony
Herbert Lom	...	Harbor Master
Bonar Colleano	...	Lt. Sellars
Bernard Lee	...	Dr. Sam Blake
Peter Illing	...	Captain of the 'Ulysses'
Edric Connor	...	Jimmy Jean
Anthony Newley	...	Miguel
Eric Pohlmann	...	Hotel Owner
Lionel Murton	...	American
Vivian Matalon	...	Sailor
Gordon Tanner	...	Sailor
Maurice Kaufmann	...	Sailor
Joan Miller	...	Mrs. Canaday

Runtime:

USA:116 min | UK:116 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

West Germany:12 (nf) | USA:Approved (certificate #17966) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Company:

Warwick Film Productions

Trivia:

Inspired by their location shoot in Trinidad/Tobago, Robert Mitchum recorded a calypso album, and 'Jack Lemmon' (q) scored a harmonica theme for the movie.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In an early scene, Felix and Tony are supposed to be transporting Irena on their boat when they get into a fist fight. Jimmy Jean continues to steer before eventually breaking up the fight. The camera pulls back and shows that the boat isn't moving.

Quotes:

Irena: Sometimes you wonder what God had in mind when He invented the male sex.

Soundtrack:

Fire Down Below

Very strange, and certainly not a success, but interesting in many ways...

Max Catto's novel turned into a very odd love triangle involving two skippers of a smuggling vessel in the Caribbean with a luckless red-haired beauty, an immigrant from perhaps Lithuania, who needs to get to Cuba. British production is erratic, with location shots and studio close-ups often occupying the same scene, though the busy, fiery locals are a fun lot (they always seem to be celebrating). Second-half of plot takes a bizarre turn, with sensitive skipper Jack Lemmon getting trapped in the cargo of a burning ship and relying on Robert Mitchum, his old friend/sworn enemy, to pull him through. Mitchum and Lemmon are certainly one of the oddest twosomes in '50s cinema, but they don't play it buddy-buddy and the relationship is kept low-keyed. As the woman who comes between them, Rita Hayworth gets an amusingly irrelevant sequence dancing at Carnivale, but otherwise looks about as beat as her character is supposed to feel (I don't know if this was a case of Method acting or not). The picture isn't boring--nor ham-handed--but neither is it successful as a drama, character study, or action film. It seems to fall between the cracks, but fans of the star-trio should enjoy some of the fireworks. ** from ****