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''Ice Palace'' is a 1960
Technicolor Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...
historical History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...
drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...
adventure film The adventure film is a broad genre of film. Some early genre studies found it no different than the Western film or argued that adventure could encompass all Hollywood genres. Commonality was found among historians Brian Taves and Ian Cameron in ...
directed by Vincent Sherman and adapted from a novel of 1958 written by
Edna Ferber Edna Ferber (August 15, 1885 – April 16, 1968) was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her novels include the Pulitzer Prize-winning '' So Big'' (1924), '' Show Boat'' (1926; made into the celebrated 1927 musical), '' Cima ...
. The film stars
Richard Burton Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his mellifluous baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s and gave a memor ...
, Robert Ryan, Carolyn Jones and Martha Hyer. It dramatizes the debate over Alaska statehood.
Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...
had become a state in 1959.


Plot

The film tells the story of Zeb Kennedy and Thor Storm, Alaska settlers in the period following World War I. Kennedy works his way up through the Alaskan fish cannery business, befriending Wang, a Chinese worker, and Storm, an idealistic fishing boat captain. Kennedy and Storm begin to plan a cannery together in the Alaskan town of Baranof, when Kennedy falls for Bridie Ballantyne, Storm's fiancée. The feeling is reciprocated, but Kennedy chooses money over love, marrying Seattle heiress Dorothy Wendt. When Storm discovers his disappointed fiancée's infidelity, he punches out Kennedy and flees into the wilderness on a dog sled. Kennedy launches a packing company in Baranof, hiring Wang as well as his old friend, Dave Husack. His feelings for Ballantyne, now abandoned by her fiancé, are no secret to his wife. The Kennedys give birth to a daughter, Grace. Storm returns to Baranof with an infant son, Christopher, born to an Eskimo wife who died after labor. Over the following years, Storm comes to resent Kennedy for his cannery's use of salmon traps, which are depleting the salmon population and putting fishermen out of business. Meanwhile, their children, Christopher and Grace, begin a romance. Kennedy tells Storm to keep his "half-breed kid" away from his daughter. Storm, drawing on the support of fishermen and Alaska natives, becomes a candidate for the Alaska Territorial Legislature on a platform advocating statehood and opposing the excesses of business mogul "Czar" Kennedy. Christopher and Grace elope to live among Christopher's maternal relations in the village of Anavak. Grace's mother, Dorothy Kennedy dies. Grace becomes pregnant and the young couple decides to make a journey to Baranof so that the child is born there. They set off by dog sled, but Grace begins labor en route and Christopher is waylaid by a bear and killed. Grace's father, Zeb, along with Thor and "Aunt" Bridie, intercept and shoot the bear. Grace gives birth to a baby girl, Christine, before she dies. Christine grows up between the houses of Ballantyne and her feuding grandfathers, Kennedy and Storm. Kennedy grooms Dave Husack's son, Bay, to be his champion in the territorial legislature. He encourages the young lawyer to marry Christine for political advantage. Ballantyne discovers and exposes the plot, and the engagement is broken. Storm flies to Juneau, but is forced by a snowstorm to make a crash landing on a glacier. Ballantyne prevails on Kennedy to make a risky flight to save Storm and his pilot, an Eskimo named Ross Guildenstern. Storm survives, and his speeches before Congress are decisive in winning approval for Alaska's statehood. Victorious, Storm gives a conciliatory radio address, thanking erstwhile statehood opponent Kennedy.


Cast

*
Richard Burton Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his mellifluous baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s and gave a memor ...
as Zeb Kennedy * Robert Ryan as Thor Storm * Carolyn Jones as Bridie Ballantyne * Martha Hyer as Dorothy Wendt Kennedy * Jim Backus as Dave Husack *
Ray Danton Ray Danton (born Raymond Caplan; September 19, 1931 – February 11, 1992) was an American radio, film, stage, and television actor, director, and producer whose most famous roles were in the screen biographies ''The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamo ...
as Bay Husack * Diane McBain as Christine Storm * Karl Swenson as Scotty Ballantyne * Shirley Knight as Grace Kennedy * Barry Kelley as Einer Wendt * Sheridan Comerate as Ross Guildenstern *
George Takei George Takei ( ; born April20, 1937), born , is an American actor, author and activist known for his role as Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the USS ''Enterprise'' in the ''Star Trek'' franchise. Takei was born to Japanese-American parents, with w ...
as Wang * Steve Harris as Christopher Storm


Production


Original Novel

''Ice Palace'' was Edna Ferber's first novel in five years. Ferber spent four years researching and writing it, beginning the project in 1954. She visited Alaska several times over the following years, often with the assistance of Ernest Gruening. The character of Kennedy was based on Austin Lathrop; the Bridie Ballantyne was based on Eva McGown. The Ice Palace itself was a composite of actual buildings in Alaska. Baranof, the novel’s main fictional setting, was based on the Alaskan town of Fairbanks. Ferber later said she felt as though she finished the novel "a month too early" because of her ill health. She had suffered a car accident and a recurrence of neuralgia and decided to send it for publication instead of doing another draft. "I felt if I didn't finish the book I would never be able to write again," she later said. The novel was published in March 1958. The ''Los Angeles Times'' said it was "not one of her better works". However it became a best seller, and is thought to have contributed to Alaska becoming a state in 1959.


Development

In December 1957, Warner Bros bought the film rights to the novel for $350,000 plus 15% of the profits. Edna Ferber and Her Circle, a Biography Julie Goldsmith Gilbert Hal Leonard Corporation, 1999 pp 137 Warners had already had a success with a 1956 adaptation of another Edna Ferber novel, ''
Giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''wiktionary:gigas, gigas'', cognate wiktionary:giga-, giga-) are beings of humanoid appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''gia ...
''. One person associated with the film later called ''Ice Palace'' "''Giant''-on-the-rocks". Warners obtained rights under a twelve year lease, with rights to revert to Ferber after that. (A later source said the cost was $225,000 plus 15% of the profits. Jo and Arthur Napoleon were originally assigned the job of writing the script. In July 1959 it was announced Richard Burton and Robert Ryan would star, and Vincent Sherman would direct. ''Ice Palace'' was the motion picture debut of
George Takei George Takei ( ; born April20, 1937), born , is an American actor, author and activist known for his role as Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the USS ''Enterprise'' in the ''Star Trek'' franchise. Takei was born to Japanese-American parents, with w ...
and Diane McBain. McBain had recently been put under contract to Warners and appeared in some of their TV shows.


Shooting

Filming started in August 1959. There was background filming at Mendenhall Glacier, ten days filming at Petersberg on Mitkof Island and Juneau, and three days of filming at Fairbanks. There was so little snow the unit was forced to return to Alaska.


Reception

''Ice Palace'' was a commercial and critical failure. A Ferber biography described it as "glacial at the box office." Edna Ferber and Her Circle, a Biography Julie Goldsmith Gilbert Hal Leonard Corporation, 1999 pp 135 ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' reviewer called it "as false and synthetic a screen saga as has rolled out of a color camera" and "no more authentic than cornstarch snow on a studio set." Ice Palace: Adaptation of Ferber Book Bows at Palace ''The New York Times'' June 30, 1960 Bosley Crowther Sheila Toomey of the ''
Anchorage Daily News The ''Anchorage Daily News'' is a daily newspaper published by the Binkley Co., and based in Anchorage, Alaska. It is the most widely read newspaper and news website (adn.com) in the state of Alaska. The newspaper is headquartered in Anchorage, ...
'', writing in 1996 about the Northward Building in downtown Fairbanks and its lore relative to the film, wrote "But in 1958 the Northward, a hulking steel-sided apartment complex, was immortalized in a bad novel, followed by an even worse movie, both called ''The Ice Palace''".


See also

*
List of American films of 1960 A list of American films released in 1960. '' The Apartment'' won the Academy Award for Best Picture. __TOC__ A-C D-H I-M N-S T-Z See also * 1960 in the United States External links 1960 filmsat the Internet Movie Database {{DE ...


References

;General
Turner Classic Movies: Ice Palace
;Specific


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ice Palace 1960 films 1960s historical drama films American historical drama films 1960s English-language films Films scored by Max Steiner Films based on American novels Films directed by Vincent Sherman Films set in Alaska Films set in the 1940s Films set in the 1950s Warner Bros. films Political history of Alaska Territory of Alaska Films based on works by Edna Ferber Films with screenplays by Harry Kleiner 1960s American films English-language historical drama films