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    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»Movies - 1960s
    Movies - 1960s Movies - I 3 Mins Read

    Ice Station Zebra (1968)

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    John Sturges’ masterclass in how to adapt mediocre material for the big screen takes Alistair MacLean’s potboiler and produces a Cold War thriller that relies on claustrophobic tension.

    The story begins in Scotland where Submarine Captain James Ferraday (Rock Hudson) is given the mission of taking the USS Tigerfish up under the polar ice caps to rescue the scientific team stationed at Ice Station Zebra following a reported series of explosions there.

    icestationzebra_162

    Ferraday is none too pleased to discover he will be second-in-command to a British spy named “Mr Jones” (Patrick McGoohan) who sleeps with a gun under his pillow and drinks plenty of “medicinal” whiskey to balance himself out.

    The rescue mission turns out to be a cover story for retrieving a capsule that was ejected to Earth from a satellite, containing a Russian-made camera with highly advanced American film inside – and now both the Americans and Russians are racing to the North Pole to get to it first.

    The Tigerfish later receives (by helicopter) two unexpected visitors – a constantly smiling Russian defector named Boris Vaslov (Ernest Borgnine) and the tough and disciplined Marine Captain Anders (Jim Brown).

    Sabotage becomes a concern on the Tigerfish after a torpedo tube becomes filled with seawater and floods the torpedo room when it is opened, killing one sailor. Suspicions bounce from Mr Jones to Vaslov and even to Anders.

    The Tigerfish eventually surfaces only to find Ice Station Zebra in smouldering ruins with the scientific team all near death from exposure. In no time both Vaslov and Jones are looking for something and Ferraday wants to know what it is . . .

    We discover that Vaslov is the saboteur after he waylays Jones with a crowbar (how can anyone trust a smiling overly helpful Russian during the Cold War?) but Jones mistakenly shoots Anders when he wakes up groggy and sees the two men fighting.

    The Russians arrive, led by the serious and determined Colonel Ovstravsky (Alf Kjellin), and a standoff ensues over who goes home with the goods.

    The Arctic studio sets look wonderful, and Rock Hudson, Ernest Borgnine and Lloyd Nolan give solid performances. But it’s a fresh-off-The Prisoner Patrick McGoohan who steals the movie as wily intelligence agent David Jones.

    Commander James Ferraday
    Rock Hudson
    Boris Vaslov
    Ernest Borgnine
    David Jones
    Patrick McGoohan
    Captain Leslie Anders
    Jim Brown
    Lieutenant Russell Walker
    Tony Bill
    Colonel Ostrovsky
    Alf Kjellin
    Lieutenant Commander Bob Raeburn
    Gerald S. O’loughlin
    Lieutenant Jonathan Hansen
    Ted Hartley
    Lieutenant George Mills
    Murray Rose
    Lieutenant Edgar Hackett
    Sherwood Price
    Lieutenant Courtney Cartwright
    Michael T. Mikler
    Lieutenant Mitgang
    Lee Stanley
    Dr Jack Benning
    Joseph Bernard
    Earl MacAuliffe
    Jim Dixon
    Paul Zabrinczski
    Ron Masak
    Cedric Patterson
    David Wendel
    Bruce Kentner
    Boyd Berlind
    Lyle Nichols
    Ronnie Rondell Jr
    Gafferty
    Craig Shreeve
    Wassmeyer
    Ted Kristian
    Parker
    Wade Graham
    Webson
    Lloyd Haynes
    Kohler
    Michael Grossman
    Fannovich
    Michael Rougas
    Edward Rawlins
    Buddy Garion
    Lorrison
    Gary Downey
    Timothy Hirsch
    Don Newsome
    Lieutenant Carl Mingus
    T.J. Escott
    Kelvaney
    Robert Carlson
    Peter Costigan
    Jed Allan
    Hill
    Buddy Hart
    Admiral Garvey
    Lloyd Nolan
    Philip Munsey
    Bill Hillman
    Gambetta
    Dennis Alpert

    Director
    John Sturges

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