Hell Below Zero

PëRMBLEDHJE

Alan Ladd took advantage of the tax break that helped US stars if they spent 18 months in Europe, and made a series of British movies aimed at the international market. This action adventure is based on the Hammond Innes novel The White South and is smoothly directed by another American, the excellent and underrated Mark Robson. Ladd is terrific as he battles assorted grim-faced whalers in the Antarctic wastes. Joan Tetzel plays Ladd's love interest and Stanley Baker glowers effectively as the villain of the piece. The exciting action sequences became the signature of co-producer Albert R Broccoli and co-writer Richard Maibaum, whose collaboration, principally on the James Bond series of movies, continued until Maibaum's death in 1991.