‘Ice Station Zebra’ filmed on location in San Diego
Fifty-five years ago, an MGM crew began a week of shooting for “Ice Station Zebra” on the shores of Point Loma, Aug. 8-11, 1967.
The San Diego location represented Holy Loch and the Orkney Islands in Scotland for the film, which starred Rock Hudson, Patrick McGoohan, Jim Brown and Ernest Borgnine in the story of an American submarine on a secret mission under the Artic ice. The production also brought Point Loma native Tony Bill back to work in his hometown.
From the Evening Tribune, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 1967:
DAVE MCINTYRE’S FRONT ROW
The U.S. Navy had the submarine Ronquil ready for action, hove to about 30 yards off the port side of the pier at Ballast Point. A helicopter churned the air overhead, waiting for its cue to dip down into the scene. The cameras were ready. Actors were poised. The only element not cooperating was our much vaunted San Diego sun.
“Can't you do something about that?” asked director John Sturges as he spotted a local man observing the moviemaking activity, or rather, at the moment, the inactivity.
“Sorry about that, John,” we replied. “Very unusual condition for August.”
Despite the delay caused by the heavy overcast, Sturges and crew are remaining here to film a couple of key sequences for his current MGM project, “Ice Station Zebra.” Although all the action in the film is supposed to take place en route to or on the Arctic polar cap, these San Diego scenes will be the only location work the company will do. Point Loma, as we mentioned previously, is masquerading as Holy Loch and the Orkney Islands in Scotland. All the other filming will be done at MGM's Culver city studio. There's even a big outdoor set up there representing the snowy regions of the North Pole. Oddly enough, though, Sturges has nothing against traveling up to the cold regions, those scenes couldn't be done on the actual site because of light difficulties. When you get up near the top of the world, Sturges said, the sun's slanting rays play strange tricks which make filming very difficult.
NIGHT SCENE NEEDS THE SUNLIGHT
And that brings up the director's problems yesterday. If the scene he had been planning to shoot had been representing daylight, he would have had no difficulty. the sky was overcast, true, but enough light was shining through so that he could have obtained a reasonably satisfactory picture.
But the sequence is intended to represent night, and to shoot a night scene during the day requires blue sky and direct sunlight. Puzzled? The reason, Sturges explained, is that you need the reflection of the sun off water to simulate moonbeams, and the clear sky to produce a sharp image. When you shoot underexposed to simulate night in cloudy conditions, he said, you end up with gray slush. Sturges is not discouraged, however. He's been in our area enough to know that if the sun is hidden for a spell, all one has to do is wait a bit. And he has a weather-defier for the second sequence to be shot at the Ballast Point location. That one can be done at night using the artificial lights.
Of the leading performers in “Ice Station Zebra” only Jim Brown was on hand yesterday. The other principal players, Rock Hudson, Ernes Borgnine, Patrick McGoohan and Tony Bill, were scheduled to arrive later. They will be here through Friday — unless, of course, the weather fails to cooperate at all.
Yesterday's filming was to have shown Brown and Ernest Borgnine being lowered from the helicopter to the deck of the submarine. But it again was one of those unique moviemaking situations. The actors themselves were not going to do the scene. Their doubles were.
CINERAMA SUBMARINE IS SENSATIONAL
Sturges is quite enthused about the prospects for “Ice Station Zebra.” He says that although it is basically a studiomade picture it is going to be filled with action.