Much about this Arctic adventure film looks to be inspiration for JURASSIC PARK.Although there are no prehistoric beasts, there are beasts. It is the characters and the nature of the experience which reminds a viewer of Jurassic Park.The characters are all quite believable, making for what typically makes the best story line, credible characters in incredible situations.However, this situation is not as incredible as Jurassic Park.Still, the characters remind us of it. We have "good" guys for the most part, and the "bad" guys are not really "bad" so much as victims of circumstance of their personalities.Jurassic had three bad guys, and didn't contrive too much in their fates, as two bad guys perish along with at least two heroic types, leaving the most insane and irresponsible of the evil men alive and smelling pretty and still rich.Here, there is a similar character, a maniac who risks the lives of his group in folly, not waiting for the time to tell him when to explore, but deciding he is a god who tells time when he can explore.In real life, such a maniac would perish, and the other unstable character can actually be excused his madness, for he does so out of a hunger we probably can't imagine.And like Jurassic, there is no contrivance to save heroes, bad guys, the brave, or anyone. The chips fall where the chips fall, with just enough miraculous survival to be credible.The experience is harrowing, and full of adventure. It is a bit chaotic, as we aren't sure who these people are for a long time, but we gradually learn to care about them.This is an exciting film, and has all the credentials of a good film. Thumbs up.

This is one of the more interesting DVDs I've seen in some time--both "S.O.S. Iceberg" and "S.O.S. Eisberg" were included on the same disk from Kino. While the two films are close to being the same film (the first in English and the other in German), they are NOT exact copied of the other film. Instead, the films were made as a joint project with Universal and their German counterpart. Many of the scenes were identical and much of the cast were in both films, however, many plot points and the ending were quite different. Seeing both films, one after the other, was an unusual experience and I am thrilled that both were packaged together.Here are some ways that both films differ: 1. The German version has Dr. Lorenz alone in Greenland. Apparently he was separated from the rest of his party because he's stupid, though the film never exactly said this. Then, a meeting is held some time later to discuss the recent failed rescue attempt as well as to plan the next. In the American version, all the characters in the film meet at a meeting about Arctic exploration at a club. The entire group goes, but Dr. Lawrence wanders off and much of the film is spend looking for him. Both Lorenz and Lawrence are played by a German and an American actor (respectively).2. The film involving the initial trek across Greenland is quite different as well as the scene where Lawrence/Lorenz is discovered.3. Gibson Gowland dies slightly differently and at different times in the two films.4. Gowland shows his unstable and evil side far earlier in the American version. There's less suspense this way, but his actions later make a bit more sense this way.5. The American film (at least in its current version) is about 10 minutes shorter.6. The breakup of the iceberg occurred at a different time and was more dramatically placed in the American version.Regardless which version you see, the main plot is still basically the same and the cinematography is, likewise, wonderful in both films. It really appears that some of the differences are simply due to the film being assembled slightly differently--like they shot a lot of film at one time and divvied up some of the scenes to each film--then included a few identical scenes with mostly the same actors.So which is better? Well, neither is that much better or worse. But, if I only were to see one I might suggest the American one---especially if English is your first language. Not only that, but it being shorter is NOT a bad thing--the German version drags a bit more because more scenes of the men crossing the barren ice are included. You really get bored by this after a bit--even if the scenes were incredibly difficult to make and looked amazing. As for me, I'm a nut and watched them both!By the way, take note of the actors Ernst Udet and Leni Reifenstahl in the film. Udet was a top WWI fighter ace with 62 victories. He also was Hitler's choice for head of the Luftwaffe during WWII. However, after he and Goering blew the Battle of Britain, Udet killed himself in 1941. As for Reifenstahl, she was one of Hitler's BFFs and directed some of the most technically astute and impressive pro-Nazi propaganda films, such as "Olympia" and "Triumph of the Will". Following the war, Reifenstahl apparently told reporters and war crimes tribunals that she'd been away from Germany on vacation from 1933 to 1945 and was angry someone had been impersonating her all those years and saying all these nasty things about her--an 'innocent' lady!

The story involves an expedition of four men who set off to Greenland to rescue an explorer previously presumed dead, but whose survival is attested to by a note written on a piece of jetsam. The expedition itself gets into fatal trouble when, trying to cross a half-frozen fjord, it is swept out to sea. This will be no leisurely drift into the ocean; they constantly see similar icebergs rolling over due to uneven melting. A similar roll would surely be their sudden end.Even though all action in this movie takes place within a few hundred feet of sea level, this is definitely a mountain movie or Bergfilm (German). Bergfilms are all about individuals at the utmost edge of human existence, pitted against a relentless lethal Nature in a struggle which Nature wins as often as not. Bergfilms are not about wonderful dialogs or intricate plots, they're about iconic heroes sternly staring into the face of an implacable oncoming storm.The film is directed by Arnold Fanck, the dean of Bergfilms. Leni Riefenstahl, a veteran lead in many great Bergfilms, and later to become a very controversial director in her own right, plays an aviatrix in search of her husband.The cinematography of the icebergs-- calving, drifting as stupendous sculptures, or rolling over like massive whales breaching-- is absolutely spectacular. You will not be able to detect the shifts between shots made on the outdoor sets and those actually filmed in Greenland.The film offers some unexpected bonuses-- 30's airplanes puttering among the icebergs, and scenes of real Eskimos (Inuits) in their village and on the water, their lives not yet transformed by Western goods.If you accept the film for what it is, a symphony of ice and water in dark conflict with the human will to survive, you will not be disappointed.

After the international success of WHITE HELL OF PIZ PALU and the arrival of sound, Universal decided to get itself involved in this two version effort from Fank's team.The German copy is incoherent with our hero stumbling round on the ice flows for what appears to be weeks, getting help, but there are some quite amazing passages - harpooning the real polar bear who (understandably) takes a dim view of that or the actors swimming in with the genuine ice flows, an ice berg turning over, Ernst Udet's flying footage and rescue by kayak.Dramatically things get by. Having Gibson Gowland from GREED in the US version in which a glamorous Leni Riefenstahl speaks English adds curiosity value.These frozen waste dramas are a cycle which remains fascinating and it's a pity we don't have more access to them