The Red Tent (1969) on Netflix
In Rome, General Umberto Nobile imagines a court of inquiry into the 1928 Arctic flight of the airship Italia, which ended in disaster. His crewmen and the rescuers are the witnesses.
- Netflix3.9/5
- IMDb6.8/102,700 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes89%
Plot summary
In Rome, General Umberto Nobile carries the guilt of the 1928 Arctic expedition he commanded. In his mind the people who were part of it assemble as a court of inquiry: his navigator Captain Zappi, meteorologist Finn Malmgren, Malmgren's lover Valeria, Captain Romagna, aviator Lundborg, professor Samoilovich, pilot Chuknovsky and Roald Amundsen. As the inquiry unfolds, the flight itself is retold: the airship Italia, heavy with ice, strikes the ground, and its gondola tears away from the hydrogen envelope. The crew left on the pack ice shelter in a tent they dye red so it can be found. They repair their radio, and their distress calls bring the Soviet icebreaker Krassin north.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Red Tent (1969)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Sean Connery was paid $1 million and given top billing for The Red Tent even though he was on screen for only 10 minutes. His role was filmed in Russia starting in late March and took three weeks.
- Halfway through the film it was decided to write new linking scenes for a shorter movie. Robert Bolt, then in Italy working with David Lean on what became Ryan's Daughter, did it during a 5-week break for $75,000, and Ghia says it was Bolt who created the Amundsen character and attracted Sean Connery's interest.
- Yuri Nagibin could not finish the screenplay for The Red Tent because of a series of conflicts with the producer, who insisted on expanding the role of his lover Claudia Cardinale; the script was completed by de Concini and Bolt.
- Fernando Ghia, who worked on the film, said there were Italian, Russian and English screenplays, with the Russians and Italians wanting different things and "a lot of trouble". He said Soviet actors and technicians were paid by the State and got a bonus while shooting, so they "shot for ever".
