Voyage of the Damned (B- or 2.5/4 stars)
1976's wartime drama 'Voyage of the Damned' (directed by Stuart Rosenberg, of Cool Hand Luke) tells a moving true(-ish) historical story based on a shameful true incident. It has a sprawling cast of Hollywood's elite, but is almost serious to a tedious fault. Still, its powerful, affecting moments shine through the intermittent slog of the 158 min. run time. Organized by the Nazis in May 1939, 937 Jews set sail on the S.S. St. Louis, a luxury ocean liner, from Hamburg, Germany to Havana, Cuba. The passengers are sailing to freedom, where friends & family await their arrival. The passengers have mixed emotions about this voyage: some are excited, some are sad to leave their homeland, & some are loathe to accept anything from their Nazi persecutors.
Some of the crew {who sympathize with the Nazis} is enraged that the Nazis would allow Jews to sail from Goebbels' Germany to freedom; and having to serve their 'inferior' passengers. The skipper, Capt. Schroeder (Max von Sydow), is a non-political man; doing all he can to ensure a safe, secure voyage for his passengers. Unbeknownst to most of the crew, including Schroeder, & the passengers who were only issued 'tourist' visas, a wave of anti-semitism - fueled by the Nazis - is sweeping across the west. The passengers, as refugees, intend on staying in Cuba; despite their visas. Thusly, the fate of the ship & its passengers is uncertain when it lands. It seems that only the Jewish travelers would be refused entry into Havana and then refused once more into the U.S. Perhaps this woeful outcome was the Nazi's plan all along; a propaganda point to show that Jewish people were unwanted ... anywhere.
The star-studded cast offers-up quite a few solid performances, but this seemingly honorable film is heavy-footed, wayyy too long & too dull; hate to say it. The script {based on a book}, tries to be Ship of Fools in ably juggling many characters, but fails to do that in a consistently engaging way; they get lost in the mire of super-seriousness, copious characters & a plentitude of subplots to keep track of. But as I said, most of the actors capably convey the requisite anxiety, despair & humanity of the fateful voyage. As it would happen, the governments of Belgium, France, the Netherlands & the UK agreed to accept a share of the passengers as refugees. But this proved fatal for 2/3 of them when WWII soon broke-out. 600+ of the 937 passengers, who were not re-settled in the UK - but in the other European nations - were deported & died in the concentration camps.
Max von Sydow holds the film together like glue; lending great dignity to the humanitarian captain role. Oskar Werner {in his final film} & Faye Dunaway {wearing a monocle & high leather boots} are quite good as a wealthy Berlin doctor & his anxious wife, who have marital problems. Others include: Malcolm McDowell as the captain's cabin boy gets involved in a Romeo & Juliet-like suicide pact; flaccid subplot, there. Lee Grant received an Academy Award nomination for her hysterical turn as a passenger who cuts all her hair off in a rage about returning to Hamburg. Better suited for an Oscar nomination was Katharine Ross; very affecting performance. There's also James Mason, Jonathan Pryce, Orson Welles, Wendy Hiller, Jose Ferrer, Sam Wanamaker, Ben Gazzara, Julie Harris, Michael Constantine, Denholm Elliott, Fernando Rey, Leonard Rossiter, Maria Schell, the list goes on & on. Too many characters mean the emotional power is too split-up.
Again, I liked 'Voyage of the Damned' to an extent and admire the built-in human interest of this material. The movie looks good. Some of those performances make a mark. But the drama nearly sinks under the weight of the solemn subject matter. And the pacing of this lengthy film is way off. To that, there is almost no overlapping dialogue; where people naturally talk over each other in conversation. Instead, the cadence of the conversation is very: person A speaks; person B responds a beat later; person A speaks again; person C then responds -- that's not natural! Though it feels like Rosenberg teeters on exploiting these tragedies, on the whole, the film is a true study in heroism, cowardice, self-worth, dismay, hope & ultimate betrayal.
Some of the crew {who sympathize with the Nazis} is enraged that the Nazis would allow Jews to sail from Goebbels' Germany to freedom; and having to serve their 'inferior' passengers. The skipper, Capt. Schroeder (Max von Sydow), is a non-political man; doing all he can to ensure a safe, secure voyage for his passengers. Unbeknownst to most of the crew, including Schroeder, & the passengers who were only issued 'tourist' visas, a wave of anti-semitism - fueled by the Nazis - is sweeping across the west. The passengers, as refugees, intend on staying in Cuba; despite their visas. Thusly, the fate of the ship & its passengers is uncertain when it lands. It seems that only the Jewish travelers would be refused entry into Havana and then refused once more into the U.S. Perhaps this woeful outcome was the Nazi's plan all along; a propaganda point to show that Jewish people were unwanted ... anywhere.
The star-studded cast offers-up quite a few solid performances, but this seemingly honorable film is heavy-footed, wayyy too long & too dull; hate to say it. The script {based on a book}, tries to be Ship of Fools in ably juggling many characters, but fails to do that in a consistently engaging way; they get lost in the mire of super-seriousness, copious characters & a plentitude of subplots to keep track of. But as I said, most of the actors capably convey the requisite anxiety, despair & humanity of the fateful voyage. As it would happen, the governments of Belgium, France, the Netherlands & the UK agreed to accept a share of the passengers as refugees. But this proved fatal for 2/3 of them when WWII soon broke-out. 600+ of the 937 passengers, who were not re-settled in the UK - but in the other European nations - were deported & died in the concentration camps.
Max von Sydow holds the film together like glue; lending great dignity to the humanitarian captain role. Oskar Werner {in his final film} & Faye Dunaway {wearing a monocle & high leather boots} are quite good as a wealthy Berlin doctor & his anxious wife, who have marital problems. Others include: Malcolm McDowell as the captain's cabin boy gets involved in a Romeo & Juliet-like suicide pact; flaccid subplot, there. Lee Grant received an Academy Award nomination for her hysterical turn as a passenger who cuts all her hair off in a rage about returning to Hamburg. Better suited for an Oscar nomination was Katharine Ross; very affecting performance. There's also James Mason, Jonathan Pryce, Orson Welles, Wendy Hiller, Jose Ferrer, Sam Wanamaker, Ben Gazzara, Julie Harris, Michael Constantine, Denholm Elliott, Fernando Rey, Leonard Rossiter, Maria Schell, the list goes on & on. Too many characters mean the emotional power is too split-up.
Again, I liked 'Voyage of the Damned' to an extent and admire the built-in human interest of this material. The movie looks good. Some of those performances make a mark. But the drama nearly sinks under the weight of the solemn subject matter. And the pacing of this lengthy film is way off. To that, there is almost no overlapping dialogue; where people naturally talk over each other in conversation. Instead, the cadence of the conversation is very: person A speaks; person B responds a beat later; person A speaks again; person C then responds -- that's not natural! Though it feels like Rosenberg teeters on exploiting these tragedies, on the whole, the film is a true study in heroism, cowardice, self-worth, dismay, hope & ultimate betrayal.