Austrian director Karl Hartl assumes an enormous assignment at Berlin's UFA Studios: leading three separate casts in disparate language productions of Curt Siodmak's debut novel (listed as Slodmak on the screen credits), featuring Hans Albers (German), Charles Boyer (French) and Conrad Veidt (English), obviously a daunting task, but one that he manages to complete in an artistically successful manner. Although the plot is raimented with the trappings of science fiction, it is in fact a romance flavoured by shadowy industrial espionage, with "F.P.1" being a prototypical floating platform destined to serve as a re-fueling depot in mid-Atlantic waters for international aircraft, constructed by London's Lennartz Shipyard firm, of which young Claire Lennartz (Jill Esmond) is one-third owner. Claire is attracted to, and desired by, two men, Captain Droste (Leslie Fenton), the designer of the seaborne aerodrome, and Major Ellisson (Veidt), a renowned test pilot, and the melodramatic complications of this love triangle form the heart of a work that was a financial success upon its release with its depiction of construction efforts for a gigantic landing platform accurately forecasting military aircraft carriers. It is instructive to view the three versions in succession to discover how the players adapt their roles to their personalities, with the English language release arguably the best, despite an unfortunate loss of a great deal of footage over the years, including Veidt's moving singspiel "Where the Lighthouse Shines Across the Bay"; however, the direction, camera-work, creative sets, as well as the spirited performing of Veidt and Esmond provide a goodly amount of pleasure.
Review of F. P. 1 Doesn't Answer
