F.P.1 Doesn't Answer (1932)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

hyped garbage

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

"F.P.1 antwortet nicht" or "F.P.1 Doesn't Answer" is German movie that came out during the Christmas holidays 1932, so this one is already almost 85 years old. As such, it is of course still in black-and-white, but has sound already. And even if this was made one year before the Nazis came into Power here in Germany, it is just another example of how Hans Albers had already worked for a long time as an actor and was very much experienced here. The title may seem a mystery to many and I include myself here, but apparently the letters and number describe a certain airplane. The reason is that this film is about an aviator named Ellissen, played by Albers and we get to witness his struggles high up in the air and also those of a more personal nature down on the ground. The film comes fairly close to the 2-hour mark, but I must say it should have been shorter as there were in fact several sequences that were not too interesting and where the film dragged quite a bit. It's not Albers' fault. He gives his best and is nicely charismatic just like he usually is. I guess who is really to blame here are script writers Walter Reisch and the somewhat famous Curt Siodmak, who also wrote the novel this is based on. The director is Austrian Karl Hartl, who was among the most successful German-language filmmakers in the 1930s. But this one here does not make me curious about other efforts from his body of work. It is really only worth checking out if you are a huge aviation (film) fan and don't mind black-and-white movies. I give it a thumbs-down.

A highly entertaining Sci Fi German classic A year before Germany would change. Hans was good as the aviator flier Ellison wanting to encourage the development of the plat form,by stealing it and putting it in the office of his old friend Droste ,played by Paul Hartman.Sybil Schmitz plays the Heiress to the main company,whom she has a percentage of investment in it, that same year she was in Vampyr.A pudgy and blond hair Peter Lorre plays his sidekick and photo journalist.Well eventually this platform is built.Sybil for a while has Romantic interest in Hans,but,she has a conflicting interest in Hartmann.Well after everything is built ,right before it opens,Herman Speelman, part of the ship , all of a sudden declares mutiny and shoots Paul Hartmann and start to Gas everyone.When Sybil pleads, to Hans, to take her to f.p.i. to find out what happen to Paul,he agrees.When both arrive and Hermann take off, Sybil shows her true color about Paul,he's only injured.After waking everyone up the crew want to quit .So they leave except a few.But when Paul Hartmann takes his pale out to leave ,Hans takes off to go to a ship and to inform ,on radio about the availability of the platform for planes.It finally does business,Rudolph Platte shows up as a radio operator ,who is shot .This was worth watching and collecting too at Grape vine video,which also has English version, and ,I think Germnwarfilms.com 8/25/13

F.P.1 Antwortet Nicht is a piece of science fiction from the dying days of the Weimar Republic that has dated poorly compared to the likes of Metropolis or even Die Frau im Mond. Like much modern Hollywood "science fiction" it is, in fact, just an adventure tale with some futuristic elements attached, in this case, an artificial island in the mid-Atlantic. There is no real satire or estrangement effect present here. It is this lack of depth that undermines this tale. There is no commentary on the social and economic crisis in Germany nor is there anyway of looking at humanity from an outsider's viewpoint, which Darko Suvin for one considers the defining aspect of true science fiction.Coupled with this is the weak acting and hackneyed plot making this film a generally-weak effort.The main value one could derive from this film nowadays would stem from viewing it from the perspective of an "alternative history" tale. It does still convey some sense of wonder from its impressive sets and cinematography. If one is prepared to view it on those terms, one could gain some enjoyment from the film but, otherwise, this is very much of its era and deservedly forgotten.

This film was made at a time when technology was moving almost faster than the imagination. Only a few years after Lindbergh's non-stop flight across the Atlantic, in this Germany decides to solve the problem of long transatlantic flights not by building planes that can fly further, but by building a gigantic platform in the middle of the Atlantic where planes can land and refuel. Only there are forces at work trying to keep the Floating Platform (hence F.P. #1) from becoming a success. Sabotage and spies add a layer of intrigue to what essentially is a love triangle between the commander of F.A. #1 and a gregarious pilot who both love the same woman. For the time, this film is quite impressive for its North Sea location photography as well as its flying scenes. Peter Lorre has a couple of good scenes as the hero's photographer buddy. I'd rate it higher, but many parts of the story either don't hold up or don't make sense. Still, glad I got to see it once.