Hell Below Zero | |
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Directed by | Mark Robson |
Written by | Richard Maibaum |
Screenplay by | Alec Coppel Max Trell |
Based on | The White South by Hammond Innes |
Produced by | Irving Allen Albert R. Broccoli |
Starring | Alan Ladd Joan Tetzel Basil Sydney Stanley Baker |
Cinematography | John Wilcox |
Edited by | John D. Guthridge |
Music by | Clifton Parker |
Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release dates |
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Running time | 91 minutes |
Countries | United Kingdom United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $1 million (approx) [1] |
Box office | $1.7 million [2] |
Hell Below Zero is a 1954 British-American adventure film directed by Mark Robson and starring Alan Ladd, Joan Tetzel, Basil Sydney and Stanley Baker. It was written by Alec Coppel and Max Trell based on the 1949 novel The White South by Hammond Innes, and presents interesting footage of whaling fleets in action. [3] It was the second of Ladd's films for Warwick Films.
Captain Nordahl, an associate in a Norwegian whaling company, Bland-Nordahl, is on a factory ship Southern Harvester in Antarctic waters, when he is lost overboard.
Duncan Craig, an American, meets Judie Nordahl, the captain's daughter on his way to South Africa, where he gets even with a business partner who cheated him. With little money left and a desire to see Judie again, Craig signs on to be a mate on the ship taking Judie to Antarctica.
On arrival in Antarctic waters, Craig finds suspicious evidence that seems to implicate skipper Erik Bland, the new captain of the factory ship, in a conspiracy. Another murder follows and the film concludes with a dramatic showdown on the ice.
The movie was part of a two-picture deal Ladd made with Warwick Films, following The Red Beret . [4] [5] [6] Ladd was paid $200,000 against 10% of the profits. [1] During production it was known as White South and White Mantle. [7] Director Mark Robson wanted Eugene Pallette to play a role but Pallette was unhappy with the size of the part in the script. [8]
Shooting took place at Pinewood Studios near London. [9] The film included location footage shot in Antarctic waters. Albert Broccoli accompanied a second unit crew down there for over three months. [10] The film's sets were designed by the art director Alex Vetchinsky.
The budget was £247,512 plus the fees of Ladd, Broccoli and Allen, screenwriter Maibaum and the director. [11]
According to Kinematograph Weekly the film was a "money maker" at the British box office in 1954. [12]
Alan Walbridge Ladd was an American actor and film producer. Ladd found success in film in the 1940s and early 1950s, particularly in films noir and Westerns. He was often paired with Veronica Lake in films noir, such as This Gun for Hire (1942), The Glass Key (1942), and The Blue Dahlia (1946). Whispering Smith (1948) was his first Western and color film, and Shane (1953) was noted for its contributions to the genre. Ladd also appeared in ten films with William Bendix.
Albert Romolo Broccoli, nicknamed "Cubby", was an American film producer who made more than 40 motion pictures throughout his career. Most of the films were made in the United Kingdom and often filmed at Pinewood Studios. Co-founder of Danjaq, LLC and Eon Productions, Broccoli is most notable as the producer of many of the James Bond films. He and Harry Saltzman saw the films develop from relatively low-budget origins to large-budget, high-grossing extravaganzas, and Broccoli's heirs continue to produce new Bond films.
Stewart Terence Herbert Young was a British film director and screenwriter who worked in the United Kingdom, Europe and Hollywood. He is best known for directing three James Bond films: the first two films in the series, Dr. No (1962) and From Russia with Love (1963), and Thunderball (1965). His other films include the Audrey Hepburn thrillers Wait Until Dark (1967) and Bloodline (1979), the historical drama Mayerling (1968), the infamous Korean War epic Inchon (1981), and the Charles Bronson films Cold Sweat (1970), Red Sun (1971), and The Valachi Papers (1972).
Irving Allen was an Austro-Hungarian–born American theatrical and cinematic producer and director.
The Cockleshell Heroes is a 1955 British Technicolor war film with Trevor Howard, Anthony Newley, Christopher Lee, David Lodge and José Ferrer, who also directed. The film depicts a heavily fictionalised version of Operation Frankton, the December 1942 raid on German cargo shipping by British Royal Marines Commandos, who infiltrated Bordeaux Harbour using folding kayaks.
Richard Maibaum was an American screenwriter, film producer, and playwright, best known for his work on the James Bond films. He wrote 13 of the 16 Eon Productions Bond films produced between 1962 and 1989, beginning with Dr. No and ending with Licence to Kill.
Mark Robson was a Canadian-American film director, producer, and editor. Robson began his 45-year career in Hollywood as a film editor. He later began working as a director and producer. He directed 34 films during his career, including Champion (1949), Bright Victory (1951), The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954), Peyton Place (1957), The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958), Von Ryan's Express (1965), Valley of the Dolls (1967), and Earthquake (1974).
Moby Dick is a 1956 American color adventure film directed and produced by John Huston, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ray Bradbury. A film adaptation of Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick, the film stars Gregory Peck, Richard Basehart and Leo Genn and follows the exploits of Captain Ahab in pursuing and killing a gigantic sperm whale with whom he has a personal vendetta.
Basil Sydney was an English stage and screen actor.
The Black Knight is a 1954 British-American Technicolor medieval adventure film directed by Tay Garnett and starring Alan Ladd as the title character and Peter Cushing and Patrick Troughton as two conspirators attempting to overthrow King Arthur. It is the last of Ladd's trilogy with Warwick Films, the others being The Red Beret and Hell Below Zero based on Hammond Innes' book The White South.
Joan Margaret Tetzel was an American actress.
A Prize of Gold is a 1955 British Technicolor film noir crime film directed by Mark Robson partly filmed in West Berlin. The film stars Richard Widmark as a United States Air Force Air Police Master Sergeant motivated by love and compassion to begin a life of crime. It was based on the 1953 novel of the same title by Max Catto.
The Red Beret is a 1953 British-American war film directed by Terence Young and starring Alan Ladd, Leo Genn and Susan Stephen.
Warwick Films was a film company founded by film producers Irving Allen and Albert R. Broccoli in London in 1951. The name was taken from the Warwick Hotel in New York City where Broccoli and his wife were staying at the time of the final negotiations for the company's creation. Their films were released by Columbia Pictures.
The Man Inside is a 1958 British crime adventure film directed by John Gilling and starring Jack Palance, Anita Ekberg, Nigel Patrick, Anthony Newley and Bonar Colleano. It was produced by Irving Allen and Albert R. Broccoli for Warwick Film Productions. The screenplay by David Shaw was based on the 1954 novel of the same name by M. E. Chaber. It was Bonar Colleano's final film role.
Hell on Frisco Bay is a 1956 American CinemaScope film noir crime film directed by Frank Tuttle and starring Alan Ladd, Edward G. Robinson and Joanne Dru. It was made for Ladd's own production company, Jaguar.
Drum Beat is a 1954 American CinemaScope Western film in WarnerColor written and directed by Delmer Daves and co-produced by Daves and Alan Ladd in his first film for his Jaguar Productions company. Ladd stars along with Audrey Dalton, Charles Bronson as Captain Jack, and Hayden Rorke as President Ulysses S. Grant.
Killers of Kilimanjaro is a 1959 British CinemaScope adventure film directed by Richard Thorpe and starring Robert Taylor, Anthony Newley, Anne Aubrey and Donald Pleasence for Warwick Films.
No Time to Die is a 1958 British war film directed by Terence Young and starring Victor Mature, Leo Genn, Anthony Newley and Bonar Colleano. It is about an American sergeant in the British Army during the Second World War.
The White South is a 1949 thriller novel by the British writer Hammond Innes. It is set on a factory ship operation in the Antarctic Ocean.
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