SYNOPSICS
Ice Palace (1960) is a English movie. Vincent Sherman has directed this movie. Richard Burton,Robert Ryan,Martha Hyer,Jim Backus are the starring of this movie. It was released in 1960. Ice Palace (1960) is considered one of the best Adventure,Drama,History movie in India and around the world.
At the end of World War I, Zeb Kennedy, a canner, and Thor Storm, a fishing boat captain, set up a fish cannery in Alaska and through the years find themselves on opposite sides of Alaska's bid for statehood. Zeb is determined to let nothing and no one stop him from building his business and gaining great wealth. At first Zeb and Thor's girlfriend, Birdie, are only good friends. But even though Zeb and Birdie fall in love, Zeb remains devoted to his greater love: money. Zeb goes off to Seattle to find money for his business. There he marries Dorothy, the heir to his former employer. When Dorothy and Thor find out that Zeb and Birdie are secret lovers, Thor attacks Zeb, knocking him out. His friendship with Zeb ended, Thor heads off into the Alaskan wilderness, where he is rescued by an Eskimo family. There, Thor begins to work for Alaskan statehood, while Zeb works to advance himself through his business.
More
Ice Palace (1960) Reviews
A Not Very Cool Effort At All!
ICE PALACE was a failed 1960 Warner Bros. minor blockbuster! Rather poorly adapted for the screen by Harry Kleiner from the best selling novel by Edna Ferber it was stodgily directed by Vincent Sherman on one of his off days! This would-be sprawling saga about Alaska statehood and the feud between two men in the fisheries industry did however have rich colour Cinematography by Joseph Biroc and a magnificent score by the studio's legendary Max Steiner! The picture, set in Alaska just after WW1, turned out to be a wearisome 143 minute soap opera! Like most Ferber stories, which tend to be overlong and tediously generational, ICE PALACE as a film suffers from an unremarkable screenplay, flabby direction and most importantly an unimpressive cast. Firstly, Richard Burton as the main protagonist is wholly wrong for the part! His "just mustered out regular U.S. soldier" character is simply at odds with Burton's own personality! His stern Englishness (does he ever smile) renders his playing totally unconvincing! You keep waiting for the actor to break into a reading from "Richard The 3rd" or use something from "Romeo & Juliet" in the love scenes! Secondly, Robert Ryan, in one of his rare sympathetic roles and sporting the colourful name of Thor Storm, isn't much better! He just doesn't suit the part of a bible quoting goody-two-shoes moralist! And the female lead has to be the casting director's idea of being humorous! Carolyn Jones - a second rate actress of little account - is amazingly cast here as the object of desire for both Burton and Ryan! Miss Jones - trying to look and act like Bette Davis - never struck me as the ideal woman that could set a fire alight in a man - let alone two! But I guess that's life.... in the movies anyhow! C'est La Vie!! The best thing about this near Turkey is Max Steiner's wonderful music! This was the composer's fourth score for a Ferber story following "Cimarron" (1931), "Saratoga Trunk" (1946) and "So Big" (1953). The composer's magnificent Anthem-like main theme for ICE PALACE - first heard over the titles - was purposely based on "Maryland My Maryland" and was once considered by Alaska for its state song. After the main title it segues into the music for the Prologue which can be heard under the splendid on-screen poem "Alaska" by Robert W. Service............. Wild And Wide Are My Borders Stern As Death Is my Sway, And I Wait For The Men Who Will Win me And I Will Not Be Won In A Day, And I Will Not Be Won By Weaklings Subtle, Soft And Mild, But By Men With The Hearts Of Vikings And The Simple Faith Of A Child. The score also boasts two beautiful love themes and a haunting Eskimo cue where the intuitive composer conveys a compelling ethnic impression. Also heard are exciting variations on the main theme for a montage of some fishing sequences and a terrific frenetic cue for a dog-sled as it races across a snow covered landscape. ICE PALACE never made the grade as even a competent movie! It could have been and should have been a whole lot better. If it is worth anything it is for Steiner's music! The esteemed composer once said that great music could never save a movie. In the case of ICE PALACE he was right on the button!
Overlooked Ferber adaptation
Another cinematic weakness of mine has been the filming of Edna Ferber's stories. Here work adapts so well to the cinema I think it's impossible to make a bad movie of her work. Ice Palace is always given short shrift when it is viewed in comparison to Showboat, Cimarron, and most importantly Giant. Actually it is Giant that Ice Palace seems to have the most in common with. Two men grow wealthier during the history of the area's growth and are changed by their love for the same woman. Carolyn Jones had quite an effect on the two men panting after her, the same as Elizabeth Taylor did to Rock Hudson and James Dean. I viewed Ice Palace again after seeing it many years ago and it is as good as I remembered it the first time. Two fine portrayals of rival empire builders are given by Richard Burton and Robert Ryan. You can feel the hatred they have for each other come crackling right out of the TV screen as on the big screen. Carolyn Jones as she ages from comely young Scotch lassie to matronly spinster because she won't commit to either man, makes you forget her as Morticia Adams. If Ice Palace has a weakness it's in the direction. I think if George Stevens had done this one it would have been a cinema classic like Giant is. Still Ice Palace is a fine film that is often overlooked in retrospectives of either Richard Burton or Robert Ryan.
Great Movie
This is one of the great movies ever made. I really would love to own it on DVD. I have it on VHS, but the color is fading. Do you know when it will come out on DVD. I recommend this movie to all ages.Anyone who is interested in the history and stories of Alaska will enjoy the story. The actors are Robert Ryan, who is great, Richard Burton, who is always very good, and Carolyn Jones and Marther Hyer who portray their parts perfectly. You are in for a real treat, so grab your popcorn, something to drink, set back and enjoy a great movie, full of entertainment and good acting. To bad that Hollywood does not put out this kind of movies anymore. An era has pasted and that is too bad.
Interesting, but too long AND too short
I know it sounds like a contradiction, but "Ice Palace" suffers from a long running time while the movie's scenes are too brief to offer anything substantial. Based on a novel by Edna Ferber (who also wrote the best-selling novels Show Boat, Cimarron and Giant, all of which became classic, award-winning films), the movie deals with an almost life-long rivalry between Zeb Kennedy (Richard Burton) and Thor Storm (Robert Ryan) in the wilds of a still territorial Alaska. Zeb is a WWI veteran who comes back home to Seattle to find he can't get a job, thanks to local packers who see him as a troublemaker because he dances to his own tune and not theirs. He heads to Alaska aboard a freighter, along with a bunch of Chinese workers (he meets the character of Wang (George Takei in a demeaning role of a pidgen-English speaking role of comic relief). Zeb meets Thor (Robert Ryan), a local fisherman in the town of Banarov when he is beaten up by local cannery workers and thrown into the bay after stepping in to defend Wang, who's being threatened. Not to belabor a point, but Thor and Zeb become friends and conspire to open a rival cannery in Banarov to avoid having to grovel at the feet of the big cannery across the bay. Zeb then meets Bridie Ballantyne (Carolyn Jones), who is Thor's woman and business partner. He falls for her, makes her fall for him, then realizes it's wrong and decides to leave Baranov. Thor, unknowing of all this, gets him to set up financing in Seattle for the cannery. Zeb does this by marrying Dorothy (Martha Hyer) to get her father to back the cannery, thanks to some advice from best friend and future business partner Dave Husack (a pre-Gilligan's Island Jim Backus). Anyway, when Zeb, Bridie, Thor and Dorothy all meet up, it's like that song where Chicago says to look away. The jig is up and sets the tension for the rest of the movie. Zeb becomes a tyrant, in league with other big packers, while Thor becomes a protector of Alaska, seeking statehood so that federal laws can come in and stop Zeb, called "Czar" Kennedy by the locals. The problems with the movie deal mostly with the length of the novel, which rivaled "Giant." Whereas "Giant" and "Cimarron" dispensed with huge chunks of the books to avoid boring and losing audiences, "Ice Palace" tries to touch on all of the story. This leaves quick scenes that jump and leave the rest of us behind. Characters aren't allowed to develop fully. For instance, Zeb defends Wang and then, feeling guilty about Bridie, decides to leave well enough alone. A moment later, he's a cruel, callous tyrant who calls Eskimo kids "half-breeds" and mistreats his wife, Dorothy (Diane McBain in a wasted role). The costumers and set designers do a marvelous job of advancing Baranov year by year and a little make-up does wonders to make Burton et al age with the times (although Jim Backus, who was 14 years older than Burton, seemed to just let the Just for Men wear off). In no short time, we're introduced to Chris, Thor's son by his Eskimo wife (Dorcas Brower, a gorgeous woman who's character is barely touched upon because she conveniently dies off-screen in childbirth). Grace, Zeb and Dorothy's daughter is seen briefly as a little girl and then as a teenager who elopes with Chris. By this time, Zeb is a shell of a husband and Thor spends his every waking moment railing against Zeb like George Bush against Saddam Hussein. Then, suddenly, Grace is pregnant and she and Chris are flying across the frozen tundra on a three-week journey via dog sled to the nearest town so she can give birth (don't ask). They get lost and Thor and Zeb come to the rescue. Great drama until the scene with Chris fighting a man in a bear suit (watch how the bear throws Chris to the ground, then hams it up in a death scene; it's unintentionally hilarious). No doubt, the movie has a great cast, but most of the roles are underdeveloped and a few are totally out of place. George Takei's voice-over work on the English version of "Rodan" must have seemed a godsend compared to the simpering man-servant Wang. Kar Swenson as the full-blooded Irish father of Bridie is a hoot. Swenson is best known as lumber mill owner Lars Hanson of "Little House on the Prairie" and his Scandinavian accent massacres his attempts at speaking with an Irish brogue. Bridie is also wasted. She's supposed to be the object of love for Thor and Zeb, yet she marries neither, tries to help Thor raise his son, but is rarely shown in the same space as the boy. As she ages, she begins to resemble Bette Davis (it's hard to imagine her later role as Morticia Addams). It's become more and more difficult to believe she can still harbor any love or like for Thor or Zeb, both of whom lose audience sympathy by being total jackasses. Of course, all would seem to come together in the end, despite a despicable plot by Zeb and Dave's son, Bay (Ray Danton), to use his granddaughter Christine (Shirley Knight in another wasted role). But even this is left flapping in the breeze, literally, when Thor and a local pilot do the cliche "small plane in a snow storm hitting a glacier" plot twist. You can guess what happens next, which leaves you feeling cheated. "Ice Palace" plays out more like the pilot for a TV show, where you hope unresolved issues will be answered. Actually, it probably should have been made into a TV show a la "Peyton Place" where the whole story line could have been given its proper due. All in all, it's an interesting little film to watch if you happen to be the kind of person who doesn't hit the "pause" button when the phone rings or the doorbell rings in the middle of the viewing. If you miss a scene, don't worry. You'll be just as confused as if you had watched it.
absolutely dreadful,...and overlong
I can't believe this movie has a rating as high as it does! This is an absolutely awful "epic" film that is about as dull and poorly made "big picture" as you'll find. To put this in perspective, this came out just a few years after GIANT and seems to be a similar-type movie (having been written by the same person, by the way) but it's set in Alaska instead of Texas. And,...in addition, it is chock full of histrionics and soap opera elements. My biggest complaint is actually the music. This is an odd thing to complain about, but throughout the movie incredibly loud and flamboyant music occurs in the most mundane moments! For example, when people are out catching salmon in fishing boats, you are assaulted by loud classical-style music! Again and again, the lousy musical score dominates and overwhelms. A lot of the time, it simply would have been better with no music instead of the brash music they used. Secondly, no one in particular is very likable or interesting. At first, Richard Burton seems interesting and pretty likable, but soon he becomes and unreasoning money-crazed robot instead of a real human being. So, in effect, he's a caricature of a person--completely one-dimensional and fake. His kid and later grandkid MIGHT be interesting, but their characters really are never developed--they're more like a part of the set or a plot device. Despite Robert Ryan's character being a little less repellent and wooden, he isn't a BIG improvement, either. Of the three leads, Carolyn Jones probably comes off best. Thirdly, George Takei (yes, from STAR TREK) plays the role of a very stereotypical Chinese lackey. Considering how broad and insulting the character was, I feel sorry for him having to take such a demeaning role. Plus, he's Japanese--this just isn't the same as Chinese! Why not get a real honest-to-goodness Chinese guy who can act like he's not an idiot to play the part? Fourthly, I hated the scene involving the fight between Thor's son and the bear. In the distant shots it's obviously a real bear. But in the close shots it's also obviously a guy in a bear suit! It's so obvious that it looks like something you'd see in a 3 Stooges short, not an expensive epic. And finally, the film is just uninteresting. The movie seemed like it was 4 hours long, but it wasn't. It's just that a guy making money by operating a fish cannery just isn't compelling. So in conclusion, the movie stinks. It's BIG and SWEEPING and has some nice cinematography, but that's all!!!