The Red Tent (1969)

Torn by personal guilt, Italian General Umberto Nobile reminisces about his 1928 failed Arctic expedition aboard the airship Italia.

Director:

Mikhail Kalatozov (as Mickail K. Kalatozov)

Writers:

Ennio De Concini (screenplay by), Richard DeLong Adams (screenplay by) (as Richard Adams)

Stars:

Sean Connery, Peter Finch, Claudia Cardinale

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Peter Finch	...	Umberto Nobile
Sean Connery	...	Roald Amundsen
Claudia Cardinale	...	Valeria
Hardy Krüger	...	Einar Lundborg (as Hardy Kruger)
Eduard Martsevich	...	Finn Malmgren
Grigoriy Gay	...	Rudolf Samoylovich
Nikita Mikhalkov	...	Boris Chukhnovskiy
Luigi Vannucchi	...	Captain Zappi
Mario Adorf	...	Giuseppe Biagi
Donatas Banionis	...	Adalberto Mariano
Massimo Girotti	...	Giuseppe Romagna Manoja
Yuriy Solomin	...	Felice Trojani
Otar Koberidze	...	Natale Cecioni
Boris Khmelnitskiy	...	Alfredo Viglieri
Yuriy Vizbor	...	Frantisek Behounek

Storyline

The commander of a failed 1928 Arctic airship expedition is remembering the events of the "Italia" airship flight, crash, and subsequent rescue efforts. The "ghosts" of people involved in the events appear in his memories to assist him in determining his guilt in the affair. The reminiscences are mixed with the real action: the flight of the "Italia", the air rescue operation from Kings Bay airfield, the expedition of the "Krassin" ice-breaker. A sort of human touch is added by the ever beautiful C.C. playing Malmgren's girlfriend.

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Plot Keywords:

rescue operation | cold weather | 1920s | year 1928 | interwar period | 

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Taglines:

Forget everything you've ever heard about heroes. Now there is "The Red Tent."

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama

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Certificate:

G

Did You Know?

Trivia

At least four direct participants in the events and heroes of the film were alive by the time the film was released: U. Nobile, airship navigator A. Villieri, Soviet polar pilot B.G. Chukhnovsky and Professor F. Begounek. Nobile attended the premiere in Rome.

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Quotes

Roald Amundsen: Oh, we took off in clear weather, but we flew into an Arctic storm.
[in voice over as he is shown in flight over the remains of the envelope of Nobile's airship]
Roald Amundsen: . It took us north, took us beyond radio contact with Kingsbay. It took us to the wreckage of your airship. When we saw the wreckage, it was difficult to know what we should do. To land was dangerous. But it was just as dangerous, almost as dangerous to stay in the air in the grip of that wind. And we could see people. So I ordered my ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

Some of the material for the Russian version listed the Scottish actor who plays Amundsen as "Sh. Konneri."

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Alternate Versions

This film was released in two primary versions. The version released in Russia was presented in a Sovscope 70 70mm roadshow version running over 2 1/2 hours (prints of various running times reportedly existed). The non-Russian speaking cast members were dubbed into Russian. For the rest of the world there was created an "International Version" which was cut down to 121 minutes, had the 2.20:1 Sovscope 70 format cropped to 1.66:1 spherical widescreen, and had the original score replaced with one by noted Italian composer Ennio Morricone. This version used the original English language voice tracks of the lead actors.

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Connections

Featured in Film o Mikhail Konstantinovich Kalatozov v Dvukh Chasmyakh (2006)

User Reviews

Song of the cold

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.

Details

Country:

Italy Soviet Union

Language:

Russian Italian English

Release Date:

23 December 1969 (Italy)

Also Known As:

The Red Tent

Filming Locations:

Soviet Union

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mosfilm, Vides Cinematografica, Tvorcheskoe Obedinenie "Tovarishch"

Technical Specs

Runtime:

158 min 121 min (International)

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Mono (35 mm prints)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1