Ice Station Zebra (BD) [Blu-ray]

A great cast, excellent screenplay, and numerous twists and turns make "Ice Station Zebra" a classic Cold War espionage action film. Clocking at almost two and a half hours (It still has the intermission title card!), the film is long but never boring. The cast is anchored by Rock Hudson as Commander James Ferraday, commander of a US nuclear submarine tasked with transporting an arrogant and aloof British agent, David Jones, played to perfection by Patrick McGoohan. Their highly classified mission is to go to Ice Station Zebra, a scientific outpost at the North Pole to rescue survivors of an accident. Obviously there's more going on than meets the eye, and only Jones seems to know it all. That ends when a highly animated Ernest Borgnine as a Russian defector turned agent shows up along with a load of armed troops led by the extremely cranky Jim Brown.There is tension both internal (e.g. navigating under ice) and external (e.g. Soviet paratroopers) present throughout, and it becomes clear that there is a traitor in the submarine, but who is it? There are plenty of suspicions to go around, but as the film reaches its crescendo around two hours in, director John Sturges carefully and skillfully conceals the enemy agent's identity for longer than would be imagined possible. The plot is quite intricate and I won't recount it here as I don't want to spoil any of the excitement for first time viewers, though I will say that I read the Alistair MacLean novel when I was a teenager and loved it, and this is one film that actually does the novel justice.This is Cold War moviemaking at its best, and while younger generations may not be able to grasp the extreme tension parts of this film evokes in older viewers, the finale with the US versus USSR is a showdown done right, and culminates with a brilliantly executed ending. Hudson is outstanding as the uber-cool sub skipper, while McGoohan steals the show as a British spy: this was made around the same time he was making "The Prisoner" television series, which I also highly recommend, and the similarity between Jones and Number Six are notable. This is one of the better adaptations of a Cold War novel, and it was nominated for two Academy Awards. Although some of the tension of the film was dependent on audience fears of superpower conflicts that are now overshadowed by more recent events, "Ice Station Zebra" stands the test of time far better than most action movies, and I recommend it enthusiastically.

A team of American marines and naval personnel aboard a nuclear submarine are ordered to a tiny observation camp on the ice near the North Pole. The Americans have been receiving distress signals from the camp but cannot reach anyone by radio. What at first appears to be a simple rescue mission changes dramatically when the sub picks up a British secret agent and a Russian double-agent as passengers. The nuclear submarine races to the camp when the true mission is disclosed and word reaches them that the Soviets are also heading to the pole by jet to recover a spy satellite.The cast is awesome and their acting really stands the test of time. Rock Hudson is superb as the mission's leader Submarine Commander Ferraday; Patrick McGoohan is excellent as the evasive and secretive British secret agent; Jim Brown is outstanding as the tough American Marine Captain; and even Ernest Borgnine is believable as oddball Russian expatriate Boris Vaslov (although I kept thinking of him driving a cab for Snake Plisken). Director John Sturges had the technical language of the crew aboard the sub carefully screened for accuracy to increase the sense of reality in the film. Although the special effects were cutting edge for 1968, they may seem a bit fake to current audiences. And for trivia buffs -- Ice Station Zebra was the favorite movie of billionaire Howard Hughes, who would watched it fanatically in his Desert Inn hotel room.I recommend this movie for a couple of reasons. First, it is a well done film with top shelf acting and character development. The plot is great and you won't be disappointed by the ending. Second, this is an excellent example of the workings of espionage during the Cold War years. It's a good movie to show the younger generation when they ask questions about the Cold War. But honestly, it's a great suspense movie with spies, traitors, jets, paratroopers and a nuke sub.