zardoz-13 Review of Hell Below Zero

Hell Below Zero (1954)

A Thrilling High Seas Adventure Aboard a Whale Ship

[8/10 · 26 December 2022]

Villainous Stanley Baker steals the show from heroic Alan Ladd in director Mark Robson's thrilling whale hunting saga "Hell Below Zero," co-starring Joan Tetzel, Jill Bennett, and Niall MacGinnis, adapted from Hammond Innes' 1949 novel "The White South" about modern-day whaling vessels. When Captain Nordhal of an Antarctic whaling ship is reported dead from apparently falling overboard, Nordhal's daughter Judie (Joan Tetzel of "The Paradine Case") rushes to Cape Town to learn more about the circumstances of his demise. She crosses paths with Duncan Craig (Alan Ladd of "Shane") who boards the same flight. They wind up sitting together on the propeller driven aircraft. In Cape Town, Duncan discovers he has been swindled out of $10 thousand by an unscrupulous partner. A fistfight ensues and Duncan beats the chiseler senseless in his hotel room. Searching for a job, he ends up as the First Mate of a whaling vessel, where meets Judie again. These two are attracted to each other even though the ship's doctor, Dr. Howe (Niall MacGinnis of "Jason and the Argonauts") warns Duncan that Judie is supposed to be the fiancée of Erik Bland (Stanley Baker of "Zulu"), the son of one of the whaling company owners (Basil Sydney of "The 3 Worlds of Gulliver") who behaves abruptly toward Duncan. Judie's father was his Bland's partner. Eventually, Duncan learns that Erik clobbered Captain Nordhal and a witness saw him pitch him overboard. Erik locked up the eyewitness, but Duncan gets the story of Nordhal's murder. Later, we learn from a conversation that Judie has with Duncan that Erik collaborated with the Nazi Gestapo during World War II. He turned in some friends and watched the Nazi's execute them. Not long afterward they set sail, the ship's captain is injured and Duncan takes the helm. It doesn't take Erik long to show up, and Erik's father reassigns Duncan to a whale hunting ship under the command of a woman (Jill Bennett) who shows our hero how they fire an explosive rocket at the whales to catch them. During their voyage on the whale catcher, Duncan and Dr. Howe arrange a telephone call to the authorities in South Africa about Erik's infamous shenanigans. After Erik learns that the eye witness he had under lock and key has died during a brawl when the man spilled the beans about his homicidal attack on Captain Nordhal, he rams the ship that Duncan and Judie are on and sinks it. Our hero and heroine manage to escape from the sinking vessel and set up momentary camp on the ice. Such is Erik's desperation that he heads up an expedition to track down Duncan so he can kill him. Mind you, this takes place after Erik's own ship-when rammed the whaler-sank because Dr. Howe looses off an explosive rocket into Erik's ship. "Hell Below Zero" musters intrigue and action galore. Baker makes a slimy villain.