6 you say after reading all the other,very negative comments. Yes 6,I watched this this afternoon on UK channel 4,I watched it because I have never heard of it before and I like some of the work of the director Mark Robson. It is not an undiscovered classic but it was quite enjoyable and interesting for what it says about society at the time it was made. The film features some beautiful old aeroplanes,Constellations I think. There is a flight to South Africa,it looks beautiful,very rich.you don't see many black people in the background,the characters don't see to meet any Afrikaners,that is dutch speaking south Africans either. The scenes at the docks main feature British working class types. The action then moves to the whaling fleet,studio shots are mixed with film of real whaling operations. Few people in those days cared much about the whales and parts of the film are like a promo film for the whaling industry. Everybody looks macho except the women who just look nice,Jill Bennett plays a cute little Norwegian whaling skipper and everybody has a great time killing whales. I like Alan Ladd in this film,I like Alan Ladd in every film,he plays more or less the same part in each film,ordinary guy pushed into extraordinary situations. I won't give away the plot but the film looks great,I know that the look of the film looks tacky now but I like the bright colours and the fight scenes,its Tuesday afternoon and I am waiting for the gas man,I do not expect too much. Slagging off this film with 2005 eyes is stupid,it is just a piece of fun,sit back and marvel at the radios the size of fridges and the whaling ships which no longer exist. I am from Edinburgh Scotland and we used to send whalers to that part of the world,hope some of the old fellows who used to go south were watching this and recognised the old boats. How many films did Alan Ladd make where he was an ex soldier/sailor/airman down on his luck?
Review of Hell Below Zero
