Windjammer
Cast & Crew
Louis De Rochemont Iii
Lasse Kolstad
Cadet Harald Tusberg
Cadet Kaare Terland
Cadet Jon Reistad
Cadet Frode Ringheim
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
In Oslo, Norway, nearly fifty teenage boys join the crew of the windjammer training ship, the Christian Radich , to learn sailing and seamanship. Piloted by seventy-year-old Capt. Yngver Kjelstrup on his final voyage before retirement, the Christian Radich follows the course taken by explorer Christopher Columbus across the Atlantic in search of a new world. Serving as mascot on the voyage is a small dog named Stump, who engages in constant mischief. As the journey proceeds, the boys get to know one another and the peoples of their various ports-of-call, which include Madeira, the West Indies Islands, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Boston and New York City. Despite their hard work at sea, four crew members, Lasse Kolstad, Harald Tusberg, Sven Erik Libaek and Kaare Terland take up singing to entertain the others. Another adventure awaits the crew, when the film company on board records the submersion of a submarine and then films skin divers retrieving a practice torpedo. As a further complement to their travels, the boys experience a wide array of music from different cultures, performed by a number of native artists, including the Camacha Dancers of Madeira, the Mountain Shepherds Band and Dancers and the Folkloric Dancers. Famed cellist Pablo Casals performs for the crew in San Juan and in Boston Sven Erik is overjoyed to be invited to accompany the Boston Pops Orchestra led by conductor Arthur Fiedler. The Christian Radich then returns safely to Oslo.
Cast
Lasse Kolstad
Cadet Harald Tusberg
Cadet Kaare Terland
Cadet Jon Reistad
Cadet Frode Ringheim
Cadet Per Johnsen
Cadet Erik Sven Libaek
Capt. Yngver Kjelstrup
Stump, A Dog
Pablo Casals
Alexander Schneider
Mieczyslaw Horszowski
Mountain Shepherds Band And Dancers
Camacha Dancers Of Madeira
Folkloric Dancers Accompanied By The Hotel Savoy O
The Silvertones Steel Band
The Boys' Town Steel Band
Mighty Skipper, Accompanied By "mighter" Viper
Lord Superior And Al Thomas
The March Of Dimes Singing Sextet
The Limbo Dance Group, Featuring Henry "junior" Tr
Peter Rapsey's Ocean Extravaganza Band
The Port-of-spain Police Brass Band And Mounted Of
Arthur Fiedler And The Boston Pops Orchestra
Wilber De Paris And His New Orleans Jazz Band
Crew
Finn Bergan
Alf Bjercke, Oslo
Lieutenant Glenn M. Brewer
Joseph Brun
Erik Bye
Coleman T. Conroy Jr.
Curtis W. Davis
Richard Dehr
Costa Desala
Vito Doino
Arthur Fiedler
Morton Gould
Edvard Grieg
Captain Knut Hansen
Captain Paul Heggerstrom
Ronald Hobin
Ivan Jacobsen
Jerry Klein
Borden Mace
Michael Mahony
Frank Miller
Thomas Orchard
Jean Pages
James A. Petrie
Richard J. Pietschmann Jr.
James O. Porter
Peter Ratkevich
Gayne Rescher
Aasmund Revold
Louis De Rochemont
Michael A. Roemer
Richard Sears
Jack Shaindlin
Robert A. Sherwood
James L. Shute
William Steffe
William H. Terry
Egil Tresselt, Oslo
Commander Antoine W. Venne Jr.
Captain Alan Villiers
Captain Alan Villiers
George Vosburgh
Weegee
Frederick G. White
John J. Wingerter
Lothar Wolff
Eugene W. Wood
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of the film was Cinemiracle Adventure, and it was exhibited abroad under the title Windjammer: The Voyage of the Christian Radich. Although copyright records list the registration number as LP21189, the copyright date indicates that that number May have been a typographical error for 12189 or 11289.
The actual schooner used in the film continues to provide tours for the public across the Atlantic. Windjammer was the only film produced in the Cinemiracle process, developed by Russell H. McCullough under the direction of National Theatres' president Elmer Rhoden, Sr. Photographed with three cameras, Cinemiracle differed from the other popular widescreen processes by projecting the images out of a single booth, with the three projectors electronically synchronized and the image corrected via mirrors and a special printing process.
Both the Hollywood Reporter and Variety reviews noted that the distortion of the floor-to-ceiling curved screen had almost been eliminated, and the "seams," or area of overlapping images, were barely visible. Hollywood Reporter indicated that the accompanying sound system, the RCA 7-Track Stereo Hi-Fi Transistor Sound, was developed specifically for Cinemiracle exhibition.
According to a March 1958 New York Times article, completion of the film was delayed while a new sequence, shot in New York City and created by renowned press photographer Weegee (the adopted nickname of Arthur H. Fellig), was added. Reviews praised the originality of Weegee's montage sequence. Information from the Film Daily review states that the complete voyage of the Christian Radich took 238 days. Hollywood Reporter production charts indicate filming took place over more than 70 days. Post-production on the film was completed shortly before its April 1958 premiere.
Publicity material for the film acknowledges the assistance of many to the production including members of the Eastern Norwegian Schoolship Association, the officers and men of the Royal Norwegian Navy and the personnel and ships of the United States Navy.
Although reviews listed the film's running times as between 142 and 144 minutes, information in the copyright file on the film indicates a running time of 113 minutes. The Film Daily review's running time of 209 minutes May have been a typographical error. Windjammer set a record at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, playing over 30 weeks in a reserved-seat engagement. An April 1961 Hollywood Reporter item revealed that the film still had to recoup $1,000,000 to return negative costs.
Miscellaneous Notes
Voted One of the Year's Ten Best American Films by The 1958 National Board of Review.
Released in United States Spring April 1958
Film was shot using the Cinemiracle camera developed by the Mitchell Camera Corporation. It is, in effect, 3 cameras in one. The center camera records the middle segment of the picture, and verticle mirrors at either side of the center camera pick up the left- and right-hand segments of the image. These images are then recorded by the left and right cameras.
Cinemiracle
Released in United States Spring April 1958
