more SYNOPSIS: Commander James Ferraday, USN, has new orders: get David Jones, a British civilian, Captain Anders, a tough Marine with a platoon of troops, Boris Vasilov, a friendly Russian, and the crew of the nuclear sub USS Tigerfish to the North Pole to rescue the crew of Drift Ice Station Zebra, a weather station at the top of the world. The mission takes on new and dangerous twists as the crew finds out that all is not as it seems at Zebra, and that someone will stop at nothing to prevent the mission from being completed. Written by Steve Fenwick Commander James Ferraday, captain of the nuclear submarine USS Tigershark, is dispatched to the polar ice region on a rescue mission when an emergency signal is received from a research station, Ice Station Zebra. On board is a civilian and likely spy, David Jones, whose orders are secret. Ferraday doesn't like being kept in the dark but Jones is secretive and doesn't give much away. Along the way, they collect two additional passengers, a Russian named Boris Vaslov, likely also a spy, and U.S. Marine Capt. Leslie Anders who will takes command of the Marines traveling as passengers. It soon becomes apparent that the mission is more that just a simple rescue operation. It also becomes apparent that there is a traitor on board the submarine who is out to sabotage the entire mission. TRIVIA: - Patrick McGoohan was filming his famous TV series The Prisoner" (1967) at the time he appeared in this movie. In order to allow him to take time off from his TV series, the episode "Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling" was written in which McGoohan's character, Number Six, has his mind transferred into the body of another man.
- This film was originally shown in Cinerama venues. In order to put it into these theatres, MGM pulled 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) while it was still having a successful run.
- In the era before VCRs, Howard Hughes would call the Las Vegas TV station he owned and order them to run a particular movie. Hughes so loved this that it aired on his Las Vegas station over 100 times.
- The submarine used in this movie was the USS Ronquil (SS-396). Her hull number was repainted to 509. The first nuclear powered United States Submarine was the USS Nautilus (SSN-571).
- This was Rock Hudson's favourite film of his own.
- Laurence Harvey was originally cast in Patrick McGoohan's role and early adverts in Variety magazine even listed him in the part.
- Average Shot Length (ASL) = 7 seconds
- Gregory Peck and David Niven were both attached to this project.
- Charlton Heston was originally offered the role of Ferraday but turned it down, saying there was no characterization in the script. Gregory Peck was then offered the part and early adverts in Variety magazine carried mention of Peck's casting, together with Laurence Harvey as Jones.
- Word-for-word transcription of an ancient Sanskrit epic, right down to the nuclear sub.
- Factual errors: In the bar at the beginning of the film, supposedly in Scotland, there is an American payphone.
- Factual errors: If the torpedo room floods from the tube, the amount of water that would come through the tube would make it impossible for the crew to stop it. For this reason, there is a mechanical interlock whose key is held by the captain, to prevent opening both breech and muzzle doors at the same time.
- Continuity: When the Russian fighters that are dispatched to the ice station are first seen they are MiG-21s. In subsequent effects shots they are also MiG-21s. When footage of the fighters flying overhead is shown they are obviously F-4 Phantoms, an American fighter plane.
- Continuity: The shots of the submarine when it is surfaced (during the start) and submerged (later) indicate two different submarines. When the submarine is surfaced you can see holes at the front hull from which water rushes out.. yet these holes are missing in the close-up shot underwater.
- Revealing mistakes: When the Russian paratroopers are landing the same three bright-red supply boxes, and the paratroopers behind them, land twice.
- Continuity: After the sub spends several minutes at an impossible angle, the dishes in the wardroom are neatly on the shelves.
- Revealing mistakes: In the climactic confrontation scene, the wind is heard howling yet the snow, actors' hair, fur parkas are absolutely motionless.
- Revealing mistakes: Although the scenes take place in sub-zero temperatures, none of the actors breath is visible.
- Continuity: When the Commander throws the device to Ostrovsky and the base is briefly seen the combination lock is gone that was used when Vaslov disarmed the device - Ostrovsky then uses the lock seconds later when he opens it.
- Factual errors: When the torpedo room floods they pump air into the room to push out the water. After the water is mostly out they open the bulkhead to get the men out. The air pressure in the torpedo room would have made it impossible to open the bulkhead door.
- Continuity: When the MiG's are seen close up, you can count 5, but seen from the ground only 4 planes are visible.
- Factual errors: After the Tigershark successfully punches a hole through the ice, they fire 3 flares into the air. Rather than being carried away in the fierce winds of the ice storm the float straight down via parachute.
- Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Submarines are always referred to as boats. Rock Hudson and other members of the cast frequently refer to their sub as a ship, but a true submariner would never do this.
PLEASE TAKE NOTE: Some of the Photographs are not "True" 8" x 10". Some are a bit smaller and some are a bit larger. Also there are some Photographs that are from overall smaller pictures. Thank You for your time!
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