Alaskafüchse (1964)

Captain Jim Leslie, who served as a pilot in both World War II and the Korean War, is transferred to a U.S. Air Force base in Alaska commanded by Colonel Reed. The reconnaissance aircraft stationed there are tasked with monitoring the no-man’s-land between the United States and the Soviet Union in the Arctic Circle. Their main objective is to locate Soviet submarines using sonobuoys—submarines that have never been sighted. The pilots call themselves the “Alaskan Foxes” and have the name painted on the backs of their bomber jackets. Leslie meets Bob Harris, an old friend with whom he has flown missions before. They are both glad to see each other again. The third member of their crew is Sergeant Hester, an excellent navigator whose skills are crucial because the aircraft’s compasses go haywire so close to the North Pole. Jim soon realizes, however, that his old friend Bob has psychological problems, which the command staff ignore because they seem harmless. At the base bar, Jim meets Brenda Reed, the commander Colonel Reed’s daughter. She is accompanied by her fiancé, Gordon Gray, a U.S. senator. Jim and Brenda fall for each other at first sight, and Jim and the senator get into a fierce fight. The senator demands that Colonel Reed bring his daughter to her senses, but Reed brushes the problem aside. A Soviet radio station can also be picked up at the base; the Americans call its female announcer “Moscow Molly.” Molly is constantly sharing intimate details with Air Force personnel—for example, information about promotions—making it clear that the Soviets are very well informed about conditions at the base. One day, Molly issues a storm warning that the Americans are strongly urged to heed. They ignore it, however, and, at Gray’s insistence, Jim, Bob, and Hester are ordered on another mission even though their rest period is not over. Gray is able to pressure the colonel because Reed needs Gray’s help to get transferred away from the inhospitable base. Meanwhile, Bob’s health has deteriorated further. His hallucinations are becoming more frequent; at times he thinks he is George Washington or Abraham Lincoln. Nevertheless, Jim, Bob, and Hester set off together, even as the weather grows increasingly dangerous. The aircraft is indeed forced to make an emergency landing on an ice floe. While repairing the nose wheel, Bob badly injures one of his arms. Jim now learns from his comrade, writhing in pain, what triggered his illness. Bob and Hester had crashed in the frozen wilderness with another pilot and gone missing. They had “eaten” their comrade, as Bob puts it. This act of cannibalism triggered Bob’s psychosis. Jim realizes that Bob needs help quickly if he is to be saved. Defying regulations, he sends a homing signal so that help can be dispatched from the base. A Soviet submarine appears, however, and its conning tower breaks through the ice right next to the aircraft. Jim and Bob are taken to the submarine’s doctor, who diagnoses that the injured arm must be amputated. He makes it clear to Jim that whatever he does will be wrong: if he does not amputate the arm, the American side will claim he let Bob die. If he does amputate it, they will claim he mutilated Bob. Jim consents to the amputation when Bob loses consciousness. The submarine crew clears an emergency runway on the ice floe for the aircraft. Jim takes off and lands safely back at the base. There, people are outraged by his actions. Brenda breaks things off with him, and Bob reproaches Jim over the amputated arm. When Jim is summoned to the colonel, Bob first jumps from the roof of a base building, then Jim does the same. Whether they survive the jumps—which they used to make in the past for fun—is left unresolved.