Ice Palace (1960)

ridiculous rating

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Blistering performances.

I like this movie due to the fact it celebrates the statehood of Alaska and it features Richard Burton pre Cleopatra when he was a solid journeyman Actor before all the hype of the Taylor/Burton affair. Vincent Sherman who made many fine films at Warner Bros. directs this film and it is a very easy going picture with great photography. Sherman did fine work at WB (and is noted for his relationships -at different times with feuding divas Joan Crawford and the Queen of the Lot Bette Davis)Am also a fan of the Warner Bros stock company of the 1960's and several players of that group are cast here including the fine actor Ray Danton, and the lovely Diane McBain. Both Danton and McBain were groomed for stardom and Warners kept both busy in both movies and TV. Luscious Diane McBain was so beautiful but got lost at WB standing behind glamour girls Natalie Wood, and Connie Stevens. Warners would shunt their stock players between various TV shows and movies filming on the lot. There is a great picture which I wish someone would find that showed J L Warner with the dozens of players under contract at the time shot on the back lot: Troy Donahue, Connie Stevens, Edd Byrnes, Roger Smith, Peter Brown, Chad Everett, Dorothy Provine, Tony Eisley, Gary Vinson, Diane McBain, Ty Hardin et al, names that conjure up wonderful memories of a bygone era)Is "Ice Palace" a great movie? no! Is it enjoyable to watch? Yes!

ICE PALACE was a failed 1960 Warner Bros. minor blockbuster! Rather poorly adapted for the screen by Harry Kleiner from the best selling novel by Edna Ferber it was stodgily directed by Vincent Sherman on one of his off days! This would-be sprawling saga about Alaska statehood and the feud between two men in the fisheries industry did however have rich colour Cinematography by Joseph Biroc and a magnificent score by the studio's legendary Max Steiner!The picture, set in Alaska just after WW1, turned out to be a wearisome 143 minute soap opera! Like most Ferber stories, which tend to be overlong and tediously generational, ICE PALACE as a film suffers from an unremarkable screenplay, flabby direction and most importantly an unimpressive cast. Firstly, Richard Burton as the main protagonist is wholly wrong for the part! His "just mustered out regular U.S. soldier" character is simply at odds with Burton's own personality! His stern Englishness (does he ever smile) renders his playing totally unconvincing! You keep waiting for the actor to break into a reading from "Richard The 3rd" or use something from "Romeo & Juliet" in the love scenes! Secondly, Robert Ryan, in one of his rare sympathetic roles and sporting the colourful name of Thor Storm, isn't much better! He just doesn't suit the part of a bible quoting goody-two-shoes moralist! And the female lead has to be the casting director's idea of being humorous! Carolyn Jones - a second rate actress of little account - is amazingly cast here as the object of desire for both Burton and Ryan! Miss Jones - trying to look and act like Bette Davis - never struck me as the ideal woman that could set a fire alight in a man - let alone two! But I guess that's life.... in the movies anyhow! C'est La Vie!!The best thing about this near Turkey is Max Steiner's wonderful music! This was the composer's fourth score for a Ferber story following "Cimarron" (1931), "Saratoga Trunk" (1946) and "So Big" (1953). The composer's magnificent Anthem-like main theme for ICE PALACE - first heard over the titles - was purposely based on "Maryland My Maryland" and was once considered by Alaska for its state song. After the main title it segues into the music for the Prologue which can be heard under the splendid on-screen poem "Alaska" by Robert W. Service.............Wild And Wide Are My BordersStern As Death Is my Sway,And I Wait For The Men Who Will Win meAnd I Will Not Be Won In A Day,And I Will Not Be Won By WeaklingsSubtle, Soft And Mild,But By Men With The Hearts Of VikingsAnd The Simple Faith Of A Child. The score also boasts two beautiful love themes and a haunting Eskimo cue where the intuitive composer conveys a compelling ethnic impression. Also heard are exciting variations on the main theme for a montage of some fishing sequences and a terrific frenetic cue for a dog-sled as it races across a snow covered landscape.ICE PALACE never made the grade as even a competent movie! It could have been and should have been a whole lot better. If it is worth anything it is for Steiner's music! The esteemed composer once said that great music could never save a movie. In the case of ICE PALACE he was right on the button!

Without any doubt one of the corniest, most idiotic dramas of all time. Based on a "novel" by one of those dim-witted and talentless 5-dime soap-opera female writers, it lives "up" to its expectations, and then some: this film is a laugh-a-minute drama which easily qualifies for a "Mystery Science Theater 3000" treatment. The dialog, the story, the characters, the plot-twists, the plot-devices, and the unintentionally comical dramatic soundtrack all combine to form a movie that has to be seen to be believed. The sheer imbecility of it all is a joy. Ed Wood would have been proud had he made it.Where should I even begin? Here goes, in no particular order: 1) Burton's and Ryan's granddaughter (how poetic) is quarter Eskimo, but what about those blond, Swedish looks? 2) Her Eskimo Daddy is basically a white college type with dark oil smeared onto his face, 3) His fight with the bear is a comedic highlight; watch how he goes at the bear (and why isn't it a white i.e. polar bear?) with just a knife, and how little he is hurt when the bear slaps him, 4) the moment Ryan's son was born it became so damn obvious that he would grow up and fall in love with Burton's daughter, and that way set the stage for a lame re-re-re-re-re-hash of "Romeo & Juliet", 5) the re-re-re-re-re-re-hash not only ends tragically - it ends so ULTRA-tragically that I had to laugh out loud! Romeo gets killed by a bear, while Juliet dies at the same time at childbirth, 6) By the way, Juliet is woman no.2 to die at childbirth in this movie; it seems that in the early Alaskan days babies tended to plop out of the womb at the most inconvenient times, and there was nobody in sight anywhere to help; plus it was a convenient way to get rid of two mothers so that Jones can be their reserve-mommy, 7) and as if the totally over-the-top deaths of Romeo and Juliet weren't enough, only (movie-)minutes before their doom Burton's wife dies of a heart-attack; them corpses, they just kept a-pilin' in the middle section (and them plot-devices, they started a-getting' dumber and dumber), 8) since Burton made it as a successful capitalist, it was only fair that his arch-enemy, Ryan the fisherman, makes it as a politician: this is rather hilarious, too, 9) Burton's rich daughter (Juliet) decides to run away from home to Romeo's Eskimo village and she is happy there! 10) Baccus's son is born BEFORE Juliet yet I had the strange impression that Juliet was a cool 5 years older, 11) one of the idiotic highlights is "Star Trek"'s Zulu (Takei; in a wonderfully bad performance) trying to find a doctor for Burton's expecting wife, but managing only to find Jones, whom the former can't stand - how poetic! 12) in the first scenes showing Romeo's and Juliet's daughter (let's just call her Lovechild) the movie almost becomes a sit-com, with Burton and Ryan being both Granddaddies to her but also arch-enemies, and Lovechild being in the middle, but 13) then suddenly the movie starts getting overly dramatic and soppy yet, yet, yet again! 14) Burton saves Ryan's life at the end - how CORNY! 15) a highlight in the last half-hour (which tends to get dull) is undoubtedly Burton losing his cool at a political hearing and wanting to have a punch-up with Ryan! It strikes me as the height of hypocrisy and irony that a movie which takes such a righteous stance against racism casts all-white actors to play half- or quarter- Eskimos. Were they afraid that we wouldn't like Eskimo-looking Eskimos as much as Eskimos who look like they graduated from Yale? Talk about left-wing Hollywood's double-standards. I can't imagine how the actors must have felt uttering so many idiotic lines. There are a number of moments of campy preaches and pathetic moralizing which are only good enough for 5-dime soap-operas and retards. The fact that this dumb tale is supposed to be an epic only makes it sillier. And how about Jones's bad looks: this bug-eyed actress, who looks at least ten years older than she really is, is the focal point of the two lead studs. But perhaps that was - as Takei found out one day (in one scene) - the result of her being the only woman in town.

The growing tension between Richard Burton and Robert Ryan is amazing. Both actors were as serious, driven, righteous (in their own minds), and caring as the other. All performances were believable and interesting. The change from generations to generation was seamless. And character change melded nicely with Ryan and Burton. Carolyn Jones however did not impress me as much as she did in the beginning. She somehow lost her luster as the film seemed to continue without her. Strangely this also was her role through the duration of the film. And I felt she seemed to be going through the motions towards the end. Just my opinion. I also found the characters of Christopher and Grace charming at first and utterly brainless towards the end. You have to see it and the circumstances to believe it. The innocent bliss that leads them throughout the film culminates. To mention Jim Buckus, his performance was quite an agitation to most every event in the film due to his characters business interests. Believable even if you still see him as Mr Howell! LOL! Four years later, character development, who can say, Recommended if you looking for a (mini) epic that might just keep your interest.I'm keeping my copy!Otherwise outstanding performances