Two American sailors, Felix and Tony, are co-owners of a tramp boat which they use for small-scale smuggling around the Caribbean. One day, however, they receive a more lucrative proposition. They are offered $1000 to transport Irena, a beautiful but stateless Eastern European refugee, from one island to another. As normally happens in films like this, both men fall in love with her, and they come to blows, their friendship forgotten.
The two men are quite different in character. Tony, a bachelor, is a romantic and idealistic young man who has come to care deeply for Irena. Felix is a divorcée, several years older than Tony; the failure of his brief marriage has left him a hard-bitten and cynical misogynist. He also has a nasty streak in him, shown when, under a pretence of friendship, he tells Tony to beware of Irena who is a woman of immoral character. His real motive, of course, is to leave Irena free for himself. When this ploy fails, he tips off the coastguard about Tony's smuggling activities.
The first part of the film is dominated by the Tony/Felix/Irena love triangle, but about halfway through Felix and Irena suddenly disappear from the action and the film abruptly changes from a romantic melodrama to a disaster movie, a sort of poor man's "Poseidon Adventure". Tony has signed as a crewman on board a Greek freighter and is injured when it is involved in a collision with a liner. Tony's injuries are in themselves relatively minor, certainly not life-threatening, but he is nevertheless in grave danger as he is trapped by a fallen iron girder and the ship is on fire. To make things worse, it is carrying a potentially explosive cargo.
This was Rita Hayworth's first film after a four-year absence from the screen, caused by events in her private life. Rita remained a major sex symbol for over two decades because she was able to change her style of beauty as she got older. In early films such as "You'll Never Get Rich" she was an innocent, girl-next-door type. In what might be called her "middle period", the period of "Gilda" or "The Lady from Shanghai" she was a seductive femme fatale. Here, at the age of 39, she plays a glamorous, sophisticated older woman, and still looks as attractive as ever, especially in a swimsuit.
This is, moreover, a very accomplished acting performance. Irena seems to have had a somewhat shady past, the full details of which are never made clear in the film, but one does not sense from Rita's interpretation that she is as immoral as Felix makes out. There is a sense that Irena has had a difficult life in Europe and that she has known sadness, perhaps even tragedy. She is reserved on the surface but one senses strong feelings beneath. (This is one of two meanings of the title "Fire down Below", the other referring to the literal fire which has broken out on the ship).
Jack Lemmon as Tony plays his part reasonably well, but this is not a particularly good film. There are several reasons for this. The race against time to free Tony from the burning ship does not generate as much tension as one might have expected. The two halves of the film do not fit together well, and the change from one to the other is too abrupt. Irena and Felix reappear towards the end, but only Robert Mitchum has much to do; Rita's participation is effectively over by half-time.
Felix is a key character, but Mitchum hesitates between two possible interpretations of the role. He seems unsure whether Felix is basically a decent but flawed individual or basically a nasty piece of work who redeems himself by one act of selfless bravery. He attempts both interpretations in the course of the film, and ends up making neither convincing. The film-makers were obviously guided by the normal convention that in any film involving a love-triangle it will be the first name above the title who gets the girl. (Lemmon was later to become one of Hollywood's biggest names, but in 1957 it was Mitchum who got first billing). The ending, in which Irena ends up with Felix rather than Tony, struck me as psychologically implausible and dramatically false. A marriage between Irena and Tony might have had some chance of working; one between her and Felix would serve no purpose except to provide employment for the divorce lawyers. Despite its three major-league stars, "Fire Down Below" is no more than a minor-league melodrama. 5/10
The two men are quite different in character. Tony, a bachelor, is a romantic and idealistic young man who has come to care deeply for Irena. Felix is a divorcée, several years older than Tony; the failure of his brief marriage has left him a hard-bitten and cynical misogynist. He also has a nasty streak in him, shown when, under a pretence of friendship, he tells Tony to beware of Irena who is a woman of immoral character. His real motive, of course, is to leave Irena free for himself. When this ploy fails, he tips off the coastguard about Tony's smuggling activities.
The first part of the film is dominated by the Tony/Felix/Irena love triangle, but about halfway through Felix and Irena suddenly disappear from the action and the film abruptly changes from a romantic melodrama to a disaster movie, a sort of poor man's "Poseidon Adventure". Tony has signed as a crewman on board a Greek freighter and is injured when it is involved in a collision with a liner. Tony's injuries are in themselves relatively minor, certainly not life-threatening, but he is nevertheless in grave danger as he is trapped by a fallen iron girder and the ship is on fire. To make things worse, it is carrying a potentially explosive cargo.
This was Rita Hayworth's first film after a four-year absence from the screen, caused by events in her private life. Rita remained a major sex symbol for over two decades because she was able to change her style of beauty as she got older. In early films such as "You'll Never Get Rich" she was an innocent, girl-next-door type. In what might be called her "middle period", the period of "Gilda" or "The Lady from Shanghai" she was a seductive femme fatale. Here, at the age of 39, she plays a glamorous, sophisticated older woman, and still looks as attractive as ever, especially in a swimsuit.
This is, moreover, a very accomplished acting performance. Irena seems to have had a somewhat shady past, the full details of which are never made clear in the film, but one does not sense from Rita's interpretation that she is as immoral as Felix makes out. There is a sense that Irena has had a difficult life in Europe and that she has known sadness, perhaps even tragedy. She is reserved on the surface but one senses strong feelings beneath. (This is one of two meanings of the title "Fire down Below", the other referring to the literal fire which has broken out on the ship).
Jack Lemmon as Tony plays his part reasonably well, but this is not a particularly good film. There are several reasons for this. The race against time to free Tony from the burning ship does not generate as much tension as one might have expected. The two halves of the film do not fit together well, and the change from one to the other is too abrupt. Irena and Felix reappear towards the end, but only Robert Mitchum has much to do; Rita's participation is effectively over by half-time.
Felix is a key character, but Mitchum hesitates between two possible interpretations of the role. He seems unsure whether Felix is basically a decent but flawed individual or basically a nasty piece of work who redeems himself by one act of selfless bravery. He attempts both interpretations in the course of the film, and ends up making neither convincing. The film-makers were obviously guided by the normal convention that in any film involving a love-triangle it will be the first name above the title who gets the girl. (Lemmon was later to become one of Hollywood's biggest names, but in 1957 it was Mitchum who got first billing). The ending, in which Irena ends up with Felix rather than Tony, struck me as psychologically implausible and dramatically false. A marriage between Irena and Tony might have had some chance of working; one between her and Felix would serve no purpose except to provide employment for the divorce lawyers. Despite its three major-league stars, "Fire Down Below" is no more than a minor-league melodrama. 5/10