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6.4/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.4/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. S.O.S. Iceberg remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Alright, so S.O.S. Iceberg from 1933. Is this worth pulling up today? Honestly, for the right person, absolutely. If you love old movies, especially ones that throw real people into ridiculously harsh environments, this is a gem. But if you need snappy dialogue, a complex plot, or characters with deep backstories, you'll probably be bored stiff. This one's for the patient folks, the ones who get a kick out of seeing how they did things back then, especially with nature as the main star. 🥶
The whole thing kicks off with an expedition trying to find a lost party up in the Arctic. Simple enough premise, right? But the real draw here isn't the 'who' or 'why' but the 'where' and 'how'.
The Arctic itself is a character here, and it’s a terrifying one. You can tell they actually shot a lot of this stuff *in* the Arctic. There are these incredible, almost documentary-style shots of towering icebergs and endless snowfields. You really feel the scale of it all. It’s breathtaking and kinda scary to think about.
One moment, a tiny plane lands on an ice floe. It feels so precarious, like it could just crack and swallow them up. And the way they show the ice shifting and groaning… it’s genuinely unsettling. You forget you’re watching something nearly 90 years old. That sense of dread, it really comes through.
The actual drama, the human stuff, it's a bit clunky by modern standards. The characters, they're not exactly nuanced. The Saga of Gösta Berling, this ain't. They’re mostly just 'the brave explorer,' 'the determined wife,' 'the rugged pilot.' And sometimes they just stand around looking cold, which, fair enough, they probably were.
Leni Riefenstahl is in this, playing the intrepid scientist's wife. She has this striking presence, even when she's just bundled up against the wind. You can see a flicker of that intense gaze she'd become known for later. But the dialogue, it’s not exactly Shakespeare. More like, 'We must find him!' or 'The ice is closing in!' Direct, to the point.
There's a scene where they're trying to haul supplies across a really broken-up ice field. It goes on for a bit, maybe a little too long, but you can feel the effort. The actors are really working. You almost want to shout, "Careful!" at the screen. That’s when the movie really works, when it makes you feel like you're right there with them, battling the elements.
And the sound design? Or lack thereof, for large parts. Sometimes it’s just the wind, or the crunch of snow, or nothing at all. This silence often amplifies the feeling of isolation. It's a stark choice, and it really lands. 🌬️
I found myself wondering, how many takes did they get out there? They must have been absolutely freezing. It gives the whole thing an authenticity you just can't fake with green screens. It makes you respect the effort involved, not just in the story, but in the making of the film itself.
There’s this one shot of an iceberg calving, a huge chunk falling into the water. It’s probably real footage, cut into the movie, and it’s just stunning. These little moments of pure, untamed nature are the movie's strongest argument for watching it.
Don't go into S.O.S. Iceberg expecting a tight, modern thriller. It’s more like a historical document of daring filmmaking, wrapped around a simple, almost primal story of survival. It’s got its rough edges, sure, but those edges are what make it feel so real. It’s a snapshot of a different era of cinema, one where the elements were often the biggest, most unpredictable star. Worth a watch, especially if you're into that kind of thing. 👍
IMDb 5.3
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