Ice Palace (1960)

Warner Brothers studio had a hit on their hands with Giant back in 1956. It was a dynastic epic of Texan cattle barons and oil tycoons that was adapted from Edna Ferber's best-selling novel of 1952. Since they struck black gold with that film, they instantly snatched up her latest creation "Ice Palace", which was penned in 1958. 

Ferber had spent four years researching and writing about Alaska, the salmon fishing industry, and the land's ongoing struggle for statehood in the legislature. The novel quickly became another best-seller for the author and some thought it helped contribute to Alaska becoming a state in 1959. 

Warner Brothers caught wind back in 1957 that Ferber had another sweeping novel in the works, so they quickly signed a deal for the film rights to it. Two years later, they announced that Richard Burton and Robert Ryan were to star in the upcoming film Ice Palace. One can only imagine the excitement an actor must feel when they sign on to a film expecting it to be another box-office hit, an Academy Award winner, or possibly the role they may become associated with as "their greatest screen performance". If Richard Burton or Robert Ryan had any such thoughts, they were sadly mistaken... as was the studio for investing $3.5 million into what would become a huge loss for them. 

Ice Palace in itself is not that bad of a film, especially if it were only an hour and half long, but it stretches for 2 hours and 23 minutes (yaaawn!) and one feels like the characters you are supposed to care about (Zeb Kennedy and Thor Storm) were not developed enough to begin with. By the time the story reaches into drama dealing with their children, it was already tiresome. Sadly, when granddaughter Diane McBain made her entrance, I would imagine most of the audience had already fallen asleep. 

Ice Palace tells the story of Zeb Kennedy (Richard Burton), a cannery worker who falls into the waters off Seattle after a brawl and gets pulled into a fishing boat by Thor Storm (Robert Ryan). Kennedy makes friends with Thor who teaches him salmon fishing. Later, when they arrive in Alaska, they agree to become partners and open up their own cannery.... that is, until Zeb sees Bridie Ballantyne (Carolyn Jones), Thor's fiancée, and falls in love with her. She loves him, too, so when he goes back to Seattle to obtain financing for their new venture, she expects that they will both tell Thor about their feelings for each other and get married. Wrong! Zeb instead finds out that his former employer's daughter Dorothy (Martha Hyer) has always had a soft-spot for him and he sees this as a great way to get the financing he needs from her father. So when Zeb returns to Alaska, he brings his bride Dorothy with him. Bridie confesses her shock to Thor and that's what starts a 40-year battle between Zeb Kennedy and his soon-to-be cannery empire and Thor Storm and the fishermen and Alaskan rights that he represents. 

The story to Ice Palace is enthralling and the novel is probably enjoyable but this film version just comes off as flat. The drama the characters get involved in escalate to such proportions that the film becomes a farce. I almost bust out laughing when Shirley Knight almost had her baby in a dogsled in a snowstorm in the middle of nowhere - at the same time a bear was about to attack! Robert Ryan, Carolyn Jones, and Martha Hyer all do a great job with their parts but they aren't "heavy weight" entertainers who could pull off such dramatics as their roles called for. Perhaps Liz Taylor and Rock Hudson could have made this another Giant, but even with their talent I doubt it. 

Nevertheless, when you watch Ice Palace in small parts (as I did), it becomes an engrossing soap opera... even with its improbable plot. The film was shot on location in Alaska and the snow scenes are beautiful. If you can stand the dramatics, then you might enjoy watching Ice Palace on a snowy Sunday afternoon but don't go out of your way to track it down. 

"Mayday, Mayday - We're ditching this film!"