F. P. 1 Doesn't Answer

This is a remarkable film, made with a huge budget. F.P.1 stands for 'Floating Platform' One. It is a floating island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean for transatlantic aircraft to land on and refuel. It therefore foreshadows the naval aircraft carriers of the coming world war. Conrad Veidt is extraordinarily convincing, with the mad recklessness of a man addicted to dangerous adventures, but also with the lonely pathos which this brings him personally. It is one of his finer roles. The imaginative sweep of this semi-sci fi story is remarkable for the 1930s. It is a pity that the film is not better known. I have not seen the German or French versions, but this one is superb. One of the most haunting shots in the film is of a lengthy corridor full of men who have been gassed and are lying unconscious. No expense was spared to make this a big production. However, the producers should have realized that films with initials in their titles do not 'click' at the box office, give no hint to anyone what they are about (except to those familiar with this novel already), and no one could imagine what F.P.1 could stand for until they had seen the film! As a milestone in the history of the cinema, this strange and wildly ambitious film should not be overlooked.

I had a video of the thing. And I think it was my fourth attempt that I managed to watch the whole film without drifting off to sleep. It's slow-moving, and the idea of a mid-Atlantic platform, which may have been revolutionary at the time, is now just a great big yawnaroony. Apart from Conrad Veidt, the rest of the cast are pretty forgettable, and it is only in the action towards the end that things get really interesting. When the water started to spill big-time it even, on one occasion, woke me up.

But give the man his due. No one could hold a cigarette like Conrad Veidt. He doesn't wedge it between his index and middle fingers like the lesser mortals. He holds it in his fingers, while showing us the old pearly-browns. There are a few scenes in this film where the smoke drifts up to heaven against a dark background,and looks very artistically done. But it does not say much about this film if all that impresses you is the tobacco smoke.

I was surprised that others commented that the technology presented here was impractical or immediately obsolete. FP 1 is really an aircraft carrier, stuck in the middle of the Atlantic, true, but looking mighty like an aircraft carrier to my untechnological eyes.

I haven't seen the German version, but for me the main attraction of this one was Conrad Veidt's role. He was very funny and charming, and dashing, too!

The story did seem to have some holes in it--I would have liked to pinpoint the emotional problem of Ellisen's disappearance,but even more certain technical points: that the rescue plane doesn't bring a radio or radio parts for the silenced station; that Ellisen's plane was seriously damaged after landing on FP 1 (? or did they use a junk plane to go get help because they knew it would have to be ditched?); exactly what happened to the diesel oil on FP 1, why there was no backup supply, and why any passing ship would have the required quantity to spare; what happened to that storm that necessitated opening the valves in the first place?

All the same, this was fun to watch.

I guess this was supposed to be an early science fiction - adventure story, about an aviator with personality quirks, but I couldn't find myself interested in the plot very much.

What was with Conrad Veidt's teeth in this movie? His front teeth all had huge gaps in them, which made them look black. He looked old before his time; he actually looked better years later playing Major Strasser in "Casablanca", which was released only a year before he dropped dead from a heart attack in 1943. Warner Brothers obviously knew how to package him so that he looked more debonair in the later film. Poor guy, he really needed a dentist. I couldn't get into the tame romantic scenes at all, since Jill Esmond, who played Claire (very pretty first wife of Sir Lawrence Olivier), looked young enough to be his granddaughter.

I watched the English video version put out by Video Yesteryear. Halfway through the tape it got interrupted by a "PLEASE STAND BY WHILE WE CHANGE REELS" message. I burst out laughing. What was that for?

I bought this to watch the performances of the principals, and to see Warwick Ward in another film, other than the Pola Negri one I watched awhile ago with him in it, from 1929. Had trouble finding him at first, but he played the First Officer. Handsome man, very intense eyes. Maybe he should have been given the role of the rival for Jill Esmond's character's affections.

5 out of 10. Interesting as an example of an early sound Brit film, but not much else.

The acronymic "F.P.1" stands for "Floating Platform #1". The film portends the building of an "F.P.1" in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, to be used as an "air station" for transatlantic plane flights. Based a contemporary Curt Siodmark novel; it was filmed in German as "F.P.1 antwortet nicht" (1932), in French as "I.F.1 ne répond plus" (1933), and in English as "F.P.1" (1933). Soon, technology made non-stop oceanic travel much more preferable.

Stars Conrad Veidt (as Ellissen), Jill Esmond (as Droste), and Leslie Fenton (as Claire) find love and sabotage on and off the Atlantic platform. Karl Hartl directed. Mr. Veidt is most fun to watch; but, he is not convincing in the "love triangle" with Ms. Esmond and Mr. Fenton. The younger co-stars were the spouses of Laurence Olivier and Ann Dvorak, respectively. Both the concept and film have not aged well.

**** F.P.1 (4/3/33) Karl Hartl ~ Conrad Veidt, Jill Esmond, Leslie Fenton