Fire Down Below
She Led Them Into Temptation. They Took Her to Salvation.
Hollywood legends Rita Hayworth, Robert Mitchum and Academy Award winner Jack Lemmon (Best Actor in a Leading Role, Save the Tiger, 1973; Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Mister Roberts, 1955) team up in this high seas adventure tale of smoldering passion and deception, shot on location in Trinidad, Hayworth is the torrid siren-turned-sailor who comes between two best friends and sends temperatures rising.
Playing the mysterious Irena was a more challenging assignment than Hayworth's previous roles. For all the depth she brings to her character, Hayworth's sex appeal is always close to the surface. When Irena starts a dance with the crowd at a carnival, a wild limbo becomes a sensuous dance solo, climaxing with the suggestive removal of her high heels.
When, Fire Down Below was released, it attracted not only the public's adoration, but it also had the critics looking at Hayworth for the first time as a serious actress, instead of just another Hollywood glamour girl.
Member Reviews
Good drama - MovieLover
Finally an excellent dramatic movie. Set in Cuba in the post-war years, this is very well directed and based on an Irwin Shaw novel. The 3 leads are very good, and there is an excellent supporting cast including Herbert Lom and Bernard Lee. The theme song is wonderful too and very well sung. Shirley MacLaine once said that in her opinion the late great Jack Lemmon was the best comedian in America (after they'd worked together in The Apartment and Irma La Douce). She could well have said best actor, period. This a very different Lemmon. I prefer the comedian, because making people laugh is infinitely harder but I'll embrace this one just as easily. Robert Mitchum is good but tries to be too natural, too much of the strong silent bitter man. A better actor would have done the part more justice but that's a minor quibble.
Member Reviews
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Good drama - MovieLover
Finally an excellent dramatic movie. Set in Cuba in the post-war years, this is very well directed and based on an Irwin Shaw novel. The 3 leads are very good, and there is an excellent supporting cast including Herbert Lom and Bernard Lee. The theme song ...