F.P.1 ANTWORTET NICHT

   Film (1932). UFA. Dir Karl Hartl, starring Hans Albers, Sybille Schmitz, Paul Hartmann, Peter Lorre. Screenplay Walter Reisch, Kurt SIODMAK, based on F.P.1 Antwortet Nicht (1932) by Siodmak. 111 mins. B/w.

   F.P.1 has been described as being in the tradition of METROPOLIS (1926) and Die FRAU IM MOND (1929), but Karl Hartl was no Fritz LANG. It is a slow-moving filmabout the construction of a giant floating runway (Flugzeug Platform 1) to be moored in mid-Atlantic for refuelling transatlantic flights, but is actually more concerned with a tedious love triangle. The story is about an intrepid aviator who sees flight as a near-mystical experience, and about sabotage and noble renunciations - all pulp materials, but with none of the slickness or verve of similar Hollywood films of the period. At great expense a flying platform was actually built for the film, on the island of Oie. The same production team made GOLD (1934).An English version (FP1 DOESN'T ANSWER) and a French one, starring Charles Boyer, were made of F.P.1 at the same time as the German version.

   JB/PN