ask to give his assessment of umberto nobile leadership in the italia airship disaster of 1927 and his friend and colleague and samoilovich and offer this sage advice and men be judge by their action and their action by their success . what exactly be the quality need for leadership . the red tent be a wonderful meditation on that question . at the time nobile be disgrace and he be accuse of abandon his men and and make a scapegoat for the disaster by benito mussolini fascist government . forty year after the event his rest be still disturb by doubt he have about the leadership he exercise . could the tragedy have be avert . be it his vanity to be the first to cross the pole by air and that lead to the calamity . these and other question be tackle in this thoughtful film . the entire film actually take place in the general mind . he call back various participant to the event and to re live what happen and and ultimately to pass judgment on him . it be this framing device that make the film unique and for it examine nobile leadership from a divergent point of view and allow the viewer to make their own judgment as well . it be a theatrical device to be sure and but it work in this film . in time we come to learn that truth often walk on two leg and have a left and right hand . yet we must have judgment and say one of the participant and and so they do . these scene which all take place in nobile apartment in rome with it warmth and comfort and provide a wonderful contrast to the stark reality of the struggle for survival at the arctic pole . the film be beautifully write and the acting be of a high level throughout . sean connery and rid himself of his bond image and play roald amundsen and the great arctic explorer at the end of his day . it be amundsen who exemplify the quality a great leader should have . it be the first and in some way still the best of connery wise old man performances . he be also the one participant nobile have most conspicuously not bring back . after intrude on the proceeding like some force of nature and he describe how he have reach the wreak of the italia and only to crash land and be strand . with nothing to do but wait to freeze to death he find solace in his final moment of life with a book he have find strewn among the wreckage . the cynical lundborg scornfully reject this final touch a theatrical but who would i be act for . amundsen asks . yourself lundborg reply . but that isn not acting and connery wisely reply and that necessary . the trick be to choose the right part . the film be fill with great line like this . claudia cardinale and a nurse valaria and provide the emotional center of the film . she resent the good people of king bay capitalize on the disaster and yet she have no misgiving whatever in play on amundsen sense of guilt to get him to mount a rescue attempt . after all he have introduce her lover and the meteorologist and finn malgrem to arctic exploration . she be also willing to offer herself to lundborg if he will risk his life to fly in unsafe weather condition . it be her bitter confrontation with nobile after he have be safely bring back to king bay while the others be leave freeze on the ice and that be the beginning of his sleepless night . his inability to stop zampi and his ambitious second in command from leave the red tent with mariano and malgrem in a vain attempt to reach help and would result in the meteorologist be lose on the ice . you crack like the ice . she tell the general . we shall never meet again i hope . and i hope you never forget . he doesn not . peter finch a nobile carry the film and and he be in every way up to the task . he manage to convey the intelligence and courage and vanity and despair of this self doubt individual . he be a man who both admire amundsen and resents always be compare with him . hardy kruger play the dash aviator lundborg with a nice blend of charm and hard edge cynicism . he be the first to reach the survivor . his motif for rescue the nobile over the general objection that he take the other member of his expedition first and some of whom be badly injure and may have be less than admirable and but it be this act that will ultimately save the others . lundborg finally persuade the general to go with a combination of threat and ( he will leave him and the others behind ) and reassurance and ( six quick trip and it will be over ) and and finally reason and ( the general be badly need at king bay to organize the rescue ) . the others also agree the general must go . it be only when he be safely back at king bay and that he realize his action have be badly misconstrue a an act of desertion . by that time weather condition have change again and it be impossible to go back and rescue the others by air . what do they think i have do . he ask captain romagna and the ineffectual rescue coordinator and after read a cable from rome place him under arrest . they think you have do what you have do and i suppose . romagna lamely reply . while aboard ship and nobile radio his friend samoilovitch to use the icebreaker krassin to rescue the others . this he do . men be judge by their action and their action by their success . the general decision to leave his men lead to his be able to radio the krassin which in turn lead to the rescue of his men . his action and therefor be correct . lastly and ennio morricone lush score capture both the romance of a great endeavor be undertaken and the desolate and ethereal beauty of the arctic . this film deserve to be see and hear and and one can only hope that one day it will be restore .