Fire Down Below (1957 film)

Fire Down Below

US cinema release poster
Directed by Robert Parrish
Produced by Albert R. Broccoli
Irving Allen
Screenplay by Irwin Shaw
Based on Fire Down Below
1954 novel 
by Max Catto (as Simon Kent)
Starring Rita Hayworth
Jack Lemmon
Robert Mitchum
Music by Douglas Gamley
Ken Jones
Cinematography Desmond Dickinson
Edited by Jack Slade
Production
company
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release dates
  • 30 May 1957 (UK [1])
  • 8 August 1957 (USA [2])
Running time
116 min.
Country United Kingsom
United States
Language English
Box office $2,050,000 (US only)[3]

Fire Down Below is a 1957 British-American adventure drama film, starring Rita Hayworth, Jack Lemmon and Robert Mitchum and directed by Robert Parrish. Based on Max Catto's 1954 novel with the same title, it was made by Warwick Films on location in Trinidad and Tobago in Technicolor and CinemaScope, and released by Columbia Pictures.

Plot

After the Korean War, Americans Tony (Lemmon) and Felix (Mitchum) own a tramp boat, the Ruby, which they use for small-scale smuggling around the Caribbean, along with a third crewman, Jimmy Jean (Edric Connor). One day, their bartender contact, Miguel (Anthony Newley), introduces them to an American businessman who has been enjoying the company of beautiful but passport-less European goddess Irena (Hayworth). He has to return to Detroit, but wants to arrange for her to get to another island. They are reluctant, but $1,200 proves very tempting.

On the voyage, Tony starts falling in love with her. Knowing the kind of woman she is, Felix does his best to protect his partner by warning Irena to stay away from Tony. However, Felix starts falling for her himself. When she disembarks, Tony goes with her, ending his partnership with Felix.

Tony and Jimmy Jean take on a shady job, but are intercepted by the authorities. They have to abandon ship and swim to a nearby island to avoid arrest. Tony takes a job on a cargo ship to get back to Irena. He also plans to kill Felix, correctly suspecting that his former partner tipped off the customs agents to get rid of the competition for Irena. However, while Tony is away, she goes to Felix and confesses she loves him.

After a collision, Tony is trapped below deck under a girder with time running out; the ship is aflame and carrying a highly explosive cargo. Doctor Sam Blake (Bernard Lee) offers the only way out, by amputating Tony's trapped legs, but he would rather die. Felix goes aboard and stays with him. An explosion frees Tony from the wreckage, and Felix carries him to safety.

Main cast

Production

The film was Rita Hayworth's return to motion pictures after a four year absence. The producer and part owner of the production company Warwick Films, Albert R. Broccoli, later to become famous as the producer of the first 16 Eon made James Bond films, makes a cameo appearance in the film as a drug smuggler.

Release

The film had a gala premiere in the attendance of Princess Alexandra of Kent at the Odeon Marble Arch in London on 30 May 1957,[1] and went on general release in Britain the next day. It premiered in the USA two months later, on 8 August 1957.[2]

Soundtrack

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 The Times, 30 May 1957, page 11, To-day's Arrangements: Princess Alexandra attends ... the première of the film "Fire Down Below" in aid of the Greater London Fund for the Blind, Odeon Theatre, Marble Arch. - retrieved from The Times Digital Archive on 2014-06-06
  2. 2.0 2.1 IMDb: Fire Down Below Release Info Linked 2014-06-06
  3. "Top Grosses of 1957", Variety, 8 January 1958: 30

External links