F.P. 1 Does Not Reply [Hardcover]

Curt Siodmak (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Little Brown (1933)
• ASIN: B000N01NJO
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars A Giant Floating Airport Makes Its Way To The Mid Atlantic In The 1930's, September 15, 2008

By 

Stephen Tashiro "sometimes reliable" (Las Cruces, NM United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: F.P. 1 Does Not Reply (Hardcover)

The book "F.P. 1 Does No Reply" is H.W. Farrell's 1933 translation of Kurt Siodmak's German novel "F.P. 1 Antwortet Nicht". Siodmak (born 1902- died 2000) is known for the being the author of "Donovan's Brain" and "The Wolfman". His screen writing credits include "The Beast With Five Fingers". (The author's first name is spelled "Kurt" in the book, but spelled "Curt" in most modern articles.)

This book is of interest to people who aspire to be experts in the history of popular science fiction literature. A person who takes pride in knowing about "The Wolfman" and "Donvan's Brain" will also want to know about Siodmak's first science fiction novel. As self-education goes, reading the book is a reasonably pleasant experience. This is the type of adventure story that boys enjoy when they are twelve years old or thereabouts. The book has "Damn"s in it but nothing else of mature content. According to movie sites on the web, the original German novel was the basis for the 1933 English language film "F. P. 1" and also French and German movies with similar scripts.

Classifying "F. P. 1 Does Not Reply" as science fiction is slightly misleading. The story hypothesizes a project that might have been technologically possible in the 1930's. At that time, airplanes did not have the range to make routine commercial transatlantic flights. The solution portrayed in the book is the construction of a large floating airport that will be towed to the mid Atlantic and serve as a intermediate stop between Europe and the Americas. Siodmak envisions "Floating Platform Number 1" (F.P. 1) to be as follows:

"The upper portion of this remarkable leviathan consisted of a large steel platform, four hundred and fifty feet wide and over a quarter of a mile in length. On each side of the platform, which provided an ideal landing place, was a long range of buildings. On one side were the hangars, the repair shops, the storage tanks, and the dynamo houses where the electric power for the whole structure was generated. On the other side stood the hotel with a magnificent glass facade looking out over the sea."

"The platform itself rested on immense buoys, extending one hundred and fifty feet below the water. ... Thanks to this, these buoys, when filled with water as ballast would anchor the F.P. 1 to one spot as firm and immovable as a rock."

The crew of the F.P. 1 consists of about 30 engineers and technicians and a "more than sixty" man hotel staff.

Aside from F.P. 1, the book portrays no other futuristic technologies. The planes, vehicles, weapons, and communications (wireless telegraph) are those of the 1930's. The detailed technology of F.P. 1 is not discussed. The novel begins with F.P. 1 already constructed and being towed to its destination.

Appropriate to a depression era novel, economic considerations are a major element of the plot. The
F.P.1 is a project ot the Lennartz shipbuilding yards in Bremen. The German government has agreed to back the project with a loan that is granted on the condition that "F.P. 1 should be anchored at its station between the Azores and the Bermudas, and an airplane have successfully landed on it". This must take place by July 22 of the (unspecified) year in which the story takes place. Since F.P. 1 would make transatlantic air travel viable, the steamship owners have powerful economic reasons to sabotage the project by making F.P. 1 miss the deadline. The book begins with F.P. 1 near Fayal, an island in the Azores. It begins its journey in the direction of Bermuda. The heroes of the book are the loyal crew members of F.P. 1 lead by its designer Bernard Droste. The villains are saboteurs. As the going gets tough, some crew members, especially the hotel staff panic and mutiny. (From the portrayal of the "waiters" as a lazy, cowardly mob, I get the impression that Siodmak held some grudge against people in that line of work.)

As an adventure story, I rate the book three out of five stars, meaning it is an average tale. There is one awkward place in the narrative where F.P. 1's entire crew is found anesthetized by gas. Parts of this event are not explained convincingly. I also don't like the fact that the Droste and his loyal followers never master the situation. They simply react to one emergency after another until a plot twist brings salvation.

One problem for the reader will be keeping track of unfamiliar sounding German names. It may be useful to look at the following guide before beginning the book:

Terms:

accumulator: a source of electricity, apparently a battery.

Island:

Fayal: An island in the Azores. F.P. 1 is near this island in chapter I.

Ships:

Elbe : The steamer that initially tows the F.P. 1
Pillau: Another steamer which can tow the F.P. 1. In chapter I, it is several days away

Characters in Bremen:

Mr. Lennartz: Owner of a ship building company and owner of the F.P. 1

Gisela Lennartz: Daughter of Mr. Lennartz. She flies to F.P. 1 with the aviator Ellissen

Bernard Droste: an employee of Lennartz, a young aviator, engineer and the designer of F.P. 1.
He flies himself to F.P.1 near the beginning of the story

Miss Zunk: Mr. Lennartz's secretary

Emmerich: The wireless operator at Mr. Lennartz's office

Pechtold: an executive in Mr. Lennartz's company.

Axel Ellissen: explorer and aviator. He is under a cloud of suspicion that he abandoned his companions in a recent arctic expedition. He flies with Gisela Lennartz to the F.P. 1

Thea Drews: A girl romantically interested in Axel Ellissen.

Thornten: mechanic for Ellissen's airplane

Hansly: Director the Shipowners Company. He doesn't want F.P. 1 to handle passenger planes.

Arnhem: a bank director

Characters on F.P. 1:

Schmiedecke: Temporary commander of F.P. 1 until Droste arrives. Then second in command.

Sambach: loyal crewmember

Heinicke: loyal crewmember and wireless operator

Kunnecke: loyal crewmember

Hekker: loyal crewmember

Damsky: Head of the hotel staff

Girard: An engineer who was transferred to F.P. 1 from the Elbe after the original crew of F.P. 1 engineers got sick.