F.P.1 Doesn't Answer (1933)

F.P.1 Doesn't Answer is a 1933 Anglo-French-German co-production. Intriguingly three different versions were shot with three different casts, one version in English, one in German and one in French. The English and German versions survive. This review deals with the English-language version.

It’s also interesting in having been co-written by Curt Siodmak, brother of the great director Robert Siodmak. Curt Siodmak went on to great success as a science fiction novelist and screenwriter (he wrote The Wolf Man).

The F.P.1 is the brainchild of Captain Droste (Leslie Fenton). It’s not an aircraft carrier but a giant floating aerodrome which will be moored in mid-Atlantic. At that time commercial airliners were small and did not have the range to make oceanic crossings non-stop so while the idea sounds odd it did make some kind of sense in 1933.

The movie begins with a burglary that is not what it seems. The burglar is Droste’s buddy Major Ellissen (Conrad Veidt), a famed aviator.

As a result of the burglary that isn’t Ellison meets Claire Lennartz (Jill Esmond). She owns the shipyard that will eventually construct the F.P.1.

There are mysterious plots afoot to sabotage the F.P.1.

A romantic triangle develops between Claire, Droste and Ellison. Both men are hopelessly in love with her. She’s attracted to both men but it starts to look like she will marry Droste.

Two years later the F.P.1 is ready to being operations and then things start to go wrong. It seems that the sabotage attempts have been resumed.

Eventually Claire has to set out on a rescue mission to save the man she loves, Droste. She persuades Ellison to fly the rescue plane. He agrees, because he’s too decent a guy to refuse.

This sets up some decent suspense as attempts are made to save F.P.1 and its crew and the romantic triangle comes to a head.

Leslie Fenton and Jill Esmond were fairly big names in Britain at the time and they’re both good. They give their characters at least a small amount of depth. Droste is a visionary, a driven man, perhaps too much so. Claire is caught between two men and she really doesn’t want to hurt either one. She’s trying not to succumb to the temptation to play them off against each other.

Conrad Veidt is the acting heavyweight here and he’s extremely good. Ellison is a complex man. At first he’s arrogant and ambitious and then, on a long-distance flight, he crashes. He seems to lose all his confidence. His life starts to fall apart. He’s a tortured man but he’s fundamentally decent.

This is borderline science fiction, made at a time when science fiction films were few and far between. I say borderline because the technology is all basically early 1930s. Even F.P.1 itself is probably not something wildly beyond the technology of the time, assuming someone was willing to spend vast amounts of money. It might be more accurate to describe this as a techno-thriller.

While the 1930s aircraft and the crazy floating platform are fun the real focus is on the the three key characters and the interactions between them. Most of all it’s the story of a man who has lost himself. Maybe he will have one last chance to find himself again.

F.P.1 Doesn't Answer is an oddity but I like interesting oddities and I liked this movie. Recommended.

F.P.1 Doesn't Answer is now available on Blu-Ray from Kino Classics. I don’t know if the Blu-Ray includes the German-language version as well.