8mm Forum: Ice Station Zebra 3 x 400ft

This is topic Ice Station Zebra 3 x 400ft in forum 8mm Print Reviews at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Mike Peckham (Member # 16) on March 15, 2005, 01:02 PM:

ICE STATION ZEBRA - three 17 - minute parts Super 8 Colour/Sound. Originally distributed by Walton Films Ltd. 87 Richford Street, London for; £42.12 each. ( Discount £31.50 each ).

quote:
Many of Alastair Macleans screen adaptations are now available on 8mm. The latest being this three part condensation from MGM’s 1968 epic starring Rock Hudson - one of the few remaining survivors of the Hollywood ‘star’ system. This yarn was directed by John Sturges ( of ‘The Great Escape’ fame) and was originally shot in one lens cinerama. Well we’ve lost the latter, but retained plenty of action in this entertaining ‘Boys Own’ saga…

… An entertaining tale which will please any audience. Very good print quality, excellent sound.

Bill Davison - Movie Maker November 1980

To begin with this seems a fairly straightforward tale of adventure, our heroes rush off to the Frozen Ice Station to salvage a 16mm film of crucial importance to International security. The Russians are also anxious to get their hands on this film [remember The Cold War was on]. Sadly it seems the film is simply a series of still photographs of military bases taken from a satellite and not a priceless pre-striped Kodachrome print of ‘The Wizard of Oz’, but none-the-less important to Rock and the boys.

I think a little too much of the story is sacrificed in the edit to make this cut down flow properly, I am still puzzling over some of the strange goings on towards the end that needed further explanation. But for all that it is great entertainment. Good sound and definition, my copy has just started to show a little redness, not so much that it worries me though!

Mike

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on March 28, 2005, 01:18 PM:

Hi Mike, i did have this one a few years back but the colour began to go and ive yet to find another one with good colour sadley. [Confused]

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on March 28, 2005, 01:43 PM:

Mike & Tom,

I recently picked up a print that still has very nice color, but I'll be damned if I understand the ending (never saw the full length) and exactly who is on which side!

Doug

Posted by Michael De Angelis (Member # 91) on March 28, 2005, 07:21 PM:

To me, it was a picture with an anti climatic ending.

Both teams rush to the north pole, they look at one another and then turn
back to the subs. I guess they realized that it did not make sense to begin WWIII over an intelligence film with cold war secrets about US and Russia from a fallen satellite?

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