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Posted: |
Aug 17, 2001 - 4:04 AM
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By: |
Thor
(Member)
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John Sturges' chilly North Pole classic and Cold War analogy from 1968.
Its political connotations are clear, but what I liked about this film was first and foremost its entertainment value. It definitely proves that the 70mm format may also work in claustrophobic and small settings rather than the more obvious epic/dwelling and vast scope.
Effects and props are very good, although the ice flakes are somewhat "cardboardey" at times. Especially impressed with the underwater shots of the ice bergs and the early satelitte shots.
Based on Alistair MacLean's engaging novel, it was born to be made into a film. There are enough subplots (sabotages, expeditions, deaths, time race), most of them supported by atmospheric descriptions (the "cozy" submarine interiors, the ruins of the ice station) - plus a witholding of essential information - to move the action forward.
Performances are overall good, especially the mysterious Jones (Patrick McGoohan).
Says Gerard Martin at www.geocities.com/Athens/2424/ice.html:"In the end, perhaps DOING is what this story is all about. Arctic Ice Station Zebra is a place, a moment in time, and action packed finalé of elaborate opportunities to show a nuclear submarine as intricate, powerful, vulnerable, monumental and awe inspiring - no matter how you choose to use this high-seas chess piece in the ancient cold-war game of sizing-up the enemy." Nicely put.
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I was suprised by Legrand's complex score, since I'm used to his more renowned "song score" mode (UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG, THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR etc.).
Here, he comes down with off-meter rhythms and atonal harmonies as if it was PLANET OF THE APES itself.
Additionally, he serves some interesting "film music sound effects" - such as the splashing cymbal crash as the sub penetrates the waves, or the "ice cubey" percussion effects as they maneuver between the underwater bergs (as if someone is dropping ice cubes in a drink). Interesting.
I know the score was recently (re)released on CD. It has been on my want list for quite some time.
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It's a good movie, but I don't remember the music. Next time it's on TV, I will make a point of it.ICE STATION ZEBRA was Howard Hughes' favorite film. When he was living as a recluse, tucked away in a Las Vegas hotel suite, Hughes the insomniac did not like what was on late night television locally. This was before the age of the VCR, so he bought a local TV station and made them show what he wanted. He truly lived the American dream.  http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/biggrin.gif">
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"he bought a local TV station and made them show what he wanted."When Howard Hughes died, his bodyguards all stepped forward to tell their bizarre tales about the man they had spent so much time cooped-up in a hotel suite with.
One of them told of Hughes' fascination with Ice Station Zebra. According to that account, Hughes had a 16MM projector in his suite, and he would watch the film several times each day. He allowed his one pinky fingernail to grow about an inch long, and clipped it off at the end, using it to tighten the screws in his projector.
My favorite story is the one about the Baskin-Robbins French Vanilla ice cream. Hughes would have the hotel kitchen send a dish of it up to him every evening. It was his favorite flavor. The kitchen staff alerted one of the bodyguards that they were running low on the B-R French Vanilla, and couldn't order any more of it. The guard called the local B-R store, and was told the flavor had been discontinued. He telephoned the main plant, where he was told that he would have to order a 500 gallon minimum in order to get French Vanilla. He placed the order, and asked it to be rushed to the hotel. The kitchen had to make way for 500 gallons of ice cream! When it arrived, the guards all breathed a sigh of relief. A few days later, the final dishful of the original container was scooped up and sent to Mr. Hughes' suite. He ate all of it, handed the empty dish to his bodyguard, and said, "That's great ice cream. I think I'll try another flavor tomorrow." Michel Legrand's score for Ice Station Zebra is one of my all-time favorites. His theme for the Tigerfish is one of the most romantic ever written!
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Forgive me if I've mentioned this before, but as a point of interest, It would have been interesting to see ZEBRA scored by Sturges' original choice for composer--Jerry Goldsmith, who had to decline as he was already committed to doing PLANET OF THE APES.Also, the year before the film actually went into production, VARIETY ran a two page spread ad listing the original casting for the ship's captain and the Jones part--Gregory Peck and Laurence Harvey. Oh, what might have been! As a Sturges fan who stuck with him to the end, ZEBRA remains a flawed but very entertaining "Saturday night thriller", with the added interest of McGoohan's great flip performance and Legrand's fine atypical (for him) score. By the way, anyone having the old MGM letterboxed laserdisc should watch all the way to the end as the neat cue for the "under the ice" sequence, not included on the album, is used as "exit music", in stereo and in the clear.
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This film looked and sounded great in Cinerama! Although the visual effects are not as elaborate as 2001, Ice Station Zebra was an excellent Cinerama followup to Kubrick's film. It has such an "epic" feel from the start. The shots of the Tigerfish breaking through the ice (just before the intermission) were spectacular!
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I have to dispute Thor's contention that the film's under-the-ice scenes would be unacceptably slow for modern audiences (though, who knows more about ice than a Norwegian?).
Take a look at EXECUTIVE DECISION sometime, if you want a comparable modern action film. At two hours and fourteen minutes, it's almost as long as ICE STATION ZEBRA, but with far less to show for it. Of that 134 minutes, EXECUTIVE DECISION is about 125 minutes-worth of knob-twiddling, wide-angle TV camera shots and skulking around: an interminable wait for the action climax.
ZEBRA, on the other hand, never strays far from the flavorful mix of characters and the actors who play them, from Rock Hudson's nearly humorless Capt. Ferraday, to Patrick McGoohan's sardonic spy, "Jones," to Ernest Borgnine's earthy Vaslov.
Of course, the full effect of the underwater sequences -- and, especially the torpedo-room flooding -- is lost unless one has seen it at least once in the original Ultra Panavision/Cinerama!
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I stumbled across the Zebra image on an astonishingly devoted SAND PEBBLES website. They have a section on well-known movie poster artist Howard Terpning, who is responsible for Pebbles & Zebra, plus classic poster art for Dr. Zhivago, Gone With The Wind, Grand Prix, The Sound of Music, Cleopatra, The Professionals, 55 Days At Peking, Oliver, Far From The Madding Crowd, The Devil At 4 O'Clock, and many more ... for very large scans of these and others, plus gazillions of images from The Sand Pebbles, feel free to stroll on over to http://www.thesandpebbles.com
I was lucky enough to see Ice Station Zebra in cinemas on its first release. Those under the ice sequences were tremendous on a large screen. I think this movie and The Guns of Navarone turned me on to Alistair Maclean's novels in a big way, and I spent a very long childhood summer just reading through his entire back catalogue. McGoohan is probably the finest incarnation of Maclean's trademark world-weary spy - the screen just crackles whenever he's on.
I've always liked Legrand in 'serious' mode. Agree with everyone here that this deserves a much better recording.
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Just don't any of you become "impeccable," or we'll have to turn you in to the Feds.
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very funny poster, Mister Lister - the "THX" logo, etc.
I've secretly wished for some time that somebody (who might be named Kendall) might have access to the original MGM tapes of this score and be willing to re-release it. The PEG CD sounds so thin and muffled it may have come from a cassette. But I gather the MGM archives are tied up in all kinds of legal knots, and there may not even be proper master tapes any longer.
As Thor and a few others already know, I am very fond of several Legrand scores, this among them, and would love to see this guy get more mention here.
Mark T.
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