Popular reviews

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  Review by Blair Russell ★★★½

  Film Number 13 in Blair's March Around the World, 2020

  Country: Soviet Union/Italy

  This is a film I've known of for awhile now and finally tracked down for viewing; there are a few different cuts out there but this version was the 121 minute edit that Paramount released in 1971 which featured a nice score from Morricone. For the first time, a Soviet film studio-in this case, Mosfilm-worked with a company from the West in a co-production, in this case an Italian studio.. This resulted in a one of a kind cast. Of course I'd be interested in a movie which stars Sean Connery (actually, despite the American advertising, his role is rather small), Peter Finch, personal favorite Mario Adorf,…

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  Review by Scott Kelly ★★★½

  This arctic survival adventure based on true events that took place in 1928 is wholly compelling even in the trimmed by more that an hour international version. The narrative framework involving a trial by apparitions in the guilt ridden insomniac mind of the Italian dirigible commander General Umberto Nobile (Peter Finch) is, initially at least, a silly miscalculation. Only in the end does the seemingly unnecessary flashback structure add some psychological depth. There’s some excellent location cinematography; director Mikail Kalatozov (stone cold masterpiece The Cranes are Flying and the unforgettable I Am Cuba) still demonstrating a great eye. The presence of Finch and Hardy Kruger in the cast make one think this is a cold weather cousin to the desert…

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  Review by MoeMents ★★★½

  DAS ROTE ZELT erwischte mich vor Jahren am falschen Fuß: ich suchte/wollte zu der Zeit ein verfrorenes Katastrophendrama im reduzierten Survival-Setting, bekam stattdessen aber eine immens abwechslungsreiche Pionierexpedition zum Nordpol, die sich in der Stimmung eben nicht auf einen Punkt festlegt. Denn hier sind alle Facetten vertreten, vom Absturz des Luftschiffes, seinen vielen Charakteren, dem Verharren im Eis und etlichen Rettungsmissionen, bis hin zu einem geisterhaften Tribunal, welches die Geschehnisse und das einhergehende schlechte Gewissen des Kommandanten erneut aufzurollen vermag.

  Heute bin ich demnach richtig eingestellt/vorbereitet und obwohl der arktische Abenteuerfilm nach wie vor Längen aufweist, so ist er fabelhaft besetzt (Peter Finch, Hardy Krüger, Mario Adorf, Claudia Cardinale und Sean Connery) und bietet im Katastrophendrama nicht nur Charakter-Substanz, sondern…

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  Review by Patrick Delmore ★★★★

  Back in 1969..
   ‘The Red Tent’ was a very pleasant surprise. I may be giving it a higher rating that it deserves. I rented it on Monday and never had a chance to give it my full attention. I added the movie to my watch list for Sean Connery, and got a lot more. A film made by both the USSR and Italy, ‘The Red Tent’ tells the story of an ill fated zeppelin trip to the North Pole attempted by the Italians in 1928. Russia was a big part of the rescue after the inevitable crash of the zeppelin. The movie looks really good more than 50 years later, better even than both film versions of ‘The Golden Compass’…

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  Review by Dmitry_Karpyuk ★★½

  Да, до сих пор впечатляюще снято. Да, богатый продакшн, не чета какому-нибудь "Ледоколу". Да, достойный all-star каст. Однако, кроме этого, хвалить последний фильм великого Калатозова особенно не за что. Сцены с явлением Питеру Финчу призраков прошлого похожи на, увы, плохой телеспектакль.

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  Review by A.A. Zane ★★★★½

  Though his body of work is tragically short, Kalazotov knew how to handle himself and left his fingerprints all over disaster cinema with poetic and ghostly esprit. His dreamlike approach to the Airship Italia disaster feels like good tailoring.

  You'd think that a story largely told from the perspective of an aging General Umberto Nobile as he is literally cross-examined by the expedition's ghosts would be strange enough. But no. You need real polar bears, real ice floes, real ships, fisheye lenses, Dutch angles, a Jazz Age arctic boom town, a torrid romance, a Russian radio enthusiast subplot, Ennio Morricone AND Sean Connery. Is all of this really necessary to tell the story? Probably not. Is it fantastic? You betcha.

  It might feel dated to a more impatient viewer but if you're in for the kind of meditative stories about human calamity then it's definitely worth checking out.

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  Review by PacificNil ★★★★ 1

  Die ungewöhnliche Koproduktion der Sowjetunion mit Italien - wobei stilistisch der Film sehr "russisch" ist - beeindruckt mit großartigen Kameraeinstellungen, die den drohenden Tod durch Erfrieren dem Zuschauer geradezu körperlich nahebringen. Gesehen in der westdeutschen Fassung, die um 36 Minuten gekürzt ist.

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  Review by A. J. Black ★★★

  A strange beast in many ways. A Russian-Italian co-production about a now little-known North Pole expedition that went wrong, featuring Peter Finch in the tormented central role and, despite top billing, little more than an extended cameo from Sean Connery as the Arctic explorer Roald Amundsen.

  It has something of a chilly air, literally and metaphorically, with a strange and somewhat unerring framing device, but it has a lot of drag and little in the way of true characterisation. It thankfully has a lovely Ennio Morricone score to help engender points of necessary pathos.

  A forgotten curio now, much like the story it is telling.

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  Review by andyloveless ★★★

  VOD. Watched original 2½ hour version. Melodramatic as hell with forced love story and trail by ghost scenes. Still, there are some great scenes and epic imagery. Interested to check out the shorter international version with Ennio Morricone score.

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  Review by Francesco Chello ★★★

  This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

  Cristaldi mette su una produzione ambiziosa, a capitale misto tra Italia e Unione Sovietica (tra le prime - se non la prima - in questo senso) con quest’ultima che fornisce regista e direttore della fotografia, oltre a location ed alcuni membri del cast in ruoli minori. La tenda rossa si ispira a fatti realmente accaduti, servono addirittura 62 settimane complessive di riprese, col protagonista Peter Finch che partecipa a nove mesi di lavoro mentre Sean Connery (quasi irriconoscibile, invecchiato dal trucco per interpretare Amundsen) resta sul set circa tre settimane. La parte avventurosa da dramma/survival è quella che funziona meglio, le bellissime ambientazioni naturali contribuiscono a settare il quadro generale fatto di disperazione, lotta per la sopravvivenza, ghiaccio ed un freddo…

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  Review by Rui Alves de Sousa ★★★★

  "The Red Tent" é de um tempo em que era possível existir uma co-produção entre a Itália e a Rússia, com um elenco de actores de ambos os países e, ainda, Peter Finch e Sean Connery. No meio desta salganhada épica gelada acaba-se, no fim, por encontrar um belo filme que não vale só pelos meios de produção, sendo uma narrativa que versa sobre a necessidade de redenção de um homem provocada pela culpa de um acontecimento que nunca esquecerá.

  Sente-se que a versão internacional (2 horas) foi bem retalhada, tanto nas cenaa como no aspect ratio (de 2.20.1 para 1.66.1 para 1.77.1 para não deixar barras pretas nos ecrãs domésticos), mas há coesão suficiente para levar o filme a…

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  Review by Dmitry Skuratov ★★★★ 2

  73/100 - версия для советского проката (158 мин.)

  Старающаяся придерживаться фактов, но все таки относительно вольная экранизация поисков и спасения экспедиции любимца Муссолини генерала Нобиле. Чуть ли не первый кинопроект, который финансировался в СССР заграницей. Масса звезд, масштабные съемки и относительный провал, хотя номинацию на Золотой глобус фильм таки получил.
  Если отбросить те самые завышенные ожидания, фильм до сих пор смотрится весьма бодренько и драматично, правда местами наивно и лубочно . Отдельно отмечу фантастическую музыку Зацепина. Ну и отсутствие Урусевского, к сожалению, заметно сразу же.

  Международная версия имеет абсолютно другой монтаж и продолжительность + музыку Морриконе.