University of Virginia Library

No Depth

Peter Finch is commendable
as General Nobile, but after
some reflection I realized that
he doesn't say or do that
much. Nobody does. The
characters don't require depth
because the situation is more
dramatic and interesting than
they are. The ghost-trial
attempts to give them depth,
but it simply isn't needed when
an adequate adventure story
can hold our interest, and this
actual incident is very
captivating in its daring and
urgency.

Claudia Cardinale is very
striking as a lover of one of the
lost men, rushing around in
most of the scenes in a long
white or a long black fur coat.
So much for Miss Cardinale.
The biggest shock in the film is
Sean Connery, who gets his
name above the title and makes
a brief, wooden appearance in
a gray wig which makes him
look a hell of a lot like the
aging Charles Foster Kane in
Orson Welles' masterpiece.

Happily, the producers and
makers of "The Red Tent" did
not let the production get out
of hand. Within the first few
minutes of the film, I felt it
could last all day and the
whole project would get
carried away and overblown.
The material used for the story
is good, but an even better film
might have been made if
someone had deleted the
ghost-trial concept and made a
straightforward adventure epic.

(Now at the University)