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17 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
Nice blend of O'Neill, Nichols, and a touch of Ford, 12 May 2006
8/10
Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

The Long Voyage Home is a compilation film of four one act plays by Eugene O'Neill who some will argue is America's greatest dramatist. The man who did the stitching together of O'Neill's work about the crew of the S.S. Glencairn is Dudley Nichols and presiding over it all is the direction of John Ford.

Mr. Ford is usually someone who really puts an individual stamp on one of his movies. But the usual Ford trademarks are noticeably absent from The Long Voyage Home. Probably in mood and style the film of Ford's this comes closest to is The Informer. In fact J.M. Kerrigan is playing almost the same part in this as he did in The Informer.

One thing Ford always did was use the right kind of music to set the tone for a film. Those 19th century ballads like I Dream of Jeannie that work so well in something like Stagecoach are substituted for Harbor Lights. That song expresses so well the longing of a whole bunch of rootless men to find some kind of stability in their lives.

Eugene O'Neill spent many years at sea and the characters of these men on the S.S. Glencairn are drawn from his own youthful experience. Most of our planet is covered by water and no country owns it. It's just called the high seas and the seamen on it are an international fraternity, like the S.S. Glencairn crew. I've always felt that O'Neill was trying to say that if there's any salvation to be had in this old world, it's to be found on the salt water. It's the only place where all kinds of people really work for a common goal, stay alive and make the trip.

The original plays had a World War I background, but it has been updated for World War II. Especially in the part when the crew becomes convinced that Ian Hunter is some kind of spy. Certainly the second World War in 1940 gave the audiences some real interest. Ian Hunter may have given his career performance in this as Smitty. Turns out he's far from what everyone suspects.

Hard to believe that John Wayne would be in a film by one of our greatest dramatists. But the Duke holds his own in the ensemble. It's the only time he ever attempted some kind of accent and he pulls it off. But I'm sure he thought once was enough.

Wayne as Olsen is the innocent of the group, maybe the only time he's ever been that on the screen. The rest of the crew makes every effort to see he does in fact get home to Sweden. It turns out to cost one of them his life ultimately.

If you're any kind of depressed, The Long Voyage Home or any Eugene O'Neill is not good for your mental health. He's one pessimistic fellow that O'Neill. But his insights into our character and soul are always penetrating as they are in The Long Voyage Home.

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16 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
Not a typical "John Wayne film",but still excellent, 7 August 1999
Author: Albert Sanchez Moreno from United States

John Wayne is misleadingly top-billed ,presumably to bring in the crowds who thought they were going to see typical Wayne heroics in this one.He is actually part of an excellent ensemble cast in this film,which has seamlessly adapted by Dudley Nichols from a group of one-act plays by the great Eugene O'Neill. Nichols' writing is so good that unless you're an O'Neill expert,it is VERY difficult to tell where O'Neill leaves off and Nichols takes over,except perhaps in the episode involving British actor Ian Hunter (in the performance of a lifetime) as a presumed German spy. The plays,written in the early 1900's,have been updated to take place during WW II,but the propaganda angle is very tastefully handled and almost non-existent;in fact,here Nichols and director John Ford show great respect for the integrity of O'Neill's plays.

The cast is excellent,but Wayne actually hasn't got much to do in comparison with his other films,and this is a film of dialogue,not action.Perhaps that's why the previous reviewer found it interminable. [John Wayne uses a Swedish (!) accent in this movie,which he actually does quite well--don't laugh!] The most intense acting is done by Thomas Mitchell (Scarlett O'Hara's dad in "Gone With The Wind") and Barry Fitzgerald,who are actually the stars of the movie.And director John Ford shows us what a true master of his craft he is by equalling Hitchcock's accomplishment in "Lifeboat" in keeping the action confined to a small space without making it seem tiresome. The back-and-white photography is stunningly good--the best American photography in a black-and-white 1940's American film,aside from "Citizen Kane",of course.

John Wayne fans shouldn't pass this one up,and all non-fans should still enjoy this fine film.

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13 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
Extraordinarily moving drama from two master dramatists, 22 October 2001
10/10
Author: JimB-4 from United States

Reportedly, John Ford's film of The Long Voyage Home was Eugene O'Neill's favorite of all filmed versions of his plays, and it is no task to see why. The worlds of Ford and O'Neill overlap in their use of sentiment, tragicomedy, and the sons of old Ireland. This episodic collection of stories, taken from several short plays written by O'Neill and based on his own seafaring life, does what both O'Neill and Ford do best--unveil the poetry and tragedy of simple men. Granted, Ford outsentimentalizes O'Neill, who can be far darker than Ford ever dared, but he comes by it honestly--no Capra-corn here. The photography and sound bring a hyper-reality to this tale of merchant sailors, fearful for their lives, argumentative yet loving, full of weakness but capable of strength and honor. The performances are uniformly splendid. John Wayne, in a supporting role, does quite well with an unusual part, a lonely Swedish sailor, and his accent is much better than he is usually given credit for. But this is no star vehicle. The ship is the star, and the lives of its men resound with meaning and melancholy. An extraordinary film experience, especially for the patient and thoughtful among us.

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14 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
One of John Ford's best. Maybe THE best., 15 May 2002
10/10
Author: zetes from Saint Paul, MN

The Long Voyage home is not a typical film from this period. It differs in that it focuses on an ensemble cast instead of on a star. That's common nowadays, but not back then. Ford's Stagecoach, made the previous year, had quite an ensemble cast, but the film was always focused on Ringo and Dallas. Here, John Wayne is just one of the stars. Thomas Mitchell, who played Doc Washburn in Stagecoach, has a role that's as big as Wayne's in Voyage. Others are as prominent.

The plot is also pretty tenuous and episodic. And, unlike most films of the time, the focus was not on a goal, but just on the events and lives of the seaman aboard the Glencairn. We see them sail through the war-torn Atlantic, between the U.S. and Europe. They have fun, they fight, they talk about home. It's all rather gentle and beautiful, very subtle. The script is great, which is probably due to Eugene O'Neil, for of whose plays this film is based on (they are blended together seamlessly).

The actors are marvelous. Mitchell and Wayne are probably the best known, but there are also Ian Hunter, Barry Fitzgerald, John Qualen, Ward Bond, Mildred Natwick, and many other great character actors. John Wayne was probably the draw, considering how popular Stagecoach had made him, but, as I said, his role is not out in the front. In fact, he doesn't have many lines. His schtick is that he is a Swede who can't speak English well, so he is generally pretty quiet (Wayne can't muster the best Swedish accent, either, so that's kind of a good thing!). He has one great scene where he has some long bits of dialogue. But even without the dialogue, he emotes so well in his face. I knew his character intimately by the end of the film. We don't often think of Wayne as a great actor, but he certainly was. Although The Searchers probably contains his best role, The Long Voyage Home would certainly be worth a major mention when talking about his career.

If you could say that there is a single "star" of this film, that would have to be Greg Tolland. Of course, he photographed Citizen Kane in the next year, as well as Ford's Best Picture winning How Green Was My Valley and The Grapes of Wrath. The cinematography is some of the most impressive to be found in the American cinema. John Ford himself is just as much the star of The Long Voyage Home. He definitely put his heart into this one. The direction is beautiful, artful. It is as good here as it is in The Grapes of Wrath, My Darling Clementine, and The Searchers, that is, it is one of his very best films, if not THE best. To date, it's the only Ford film that made me shed tears. 10/10.

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9 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
John Wayne as the Swede sailor Ole, 26 September 1999
10/10
Author: Jaime N. Christley from NAS Whidbey Island, WA

It's strange that the best performance John Wayne ever gave on film was one that was not in a western, where he was not in the lead, and where he did not play, essentially, himself. Ask someone what Wayne's best work as an actor was; they look at you strangely, shrug, and walk away. Whenever he tried an accent or a bunch of makeup, he flopped. Here, though, as the Swede sailor Ole, he fits perfectly. His tired face becomes poignant, his tall, forceful presence paints him as a gentle giant, rather than as the salt-of-the-earth cowboy he is best known for.

If the opening shots -- the haunting island music, the wind making everything sway in the night air, the island women flirting with the sailors, the sailors flirting back -- doesn't hook you through the sheer force of ambiance alone, you probably won't like "The Long Voyage Home." If you're expecting an exciting sea adventure with the joe average John Ford job of direction, you'll be disappointed. If you're in the mood for something of a nautical mood piece; the adventures of merchant sailors from bar to bar, the tragedy of being affiliated with the wrong ship, naval warfare in the early twentieth century, etc., check this out.

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10 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
One of John Ford's best, 21 October 2002
10/10
Author: ArchObler

This expresses a great sadness about the lives of men at sea. Some are doomed to stay forever. One of the goals of the movie is to finally get John Wayne, an innocent Swedish man, off the boats and home to his old mother. It paints such a bleak picture you really root for him, even with Wayne's horrible performance. It goes right for the heartstrings. There's a great performance by Ian Hunter as the fellow who mainly keeps to himself. He has a secret past, and they suspect he's a spy. This one of John Ford's least self-conscious movies, there's no heavy Americana to deal with and he directs you to the heart of the story and the often drunken emotions of the sailors. **** out of ****

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7 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
A sea tragedy, minus the iceberg, 26 May 2000
10/10
Author: D.S. Bertolotti (dbertolo@kettering.edu) from flint mi

This film is all that a film should be for it dictates that the human condition is in itself dramatic and tragic enough without exaggerated theatrics. This sea tragedy needs no iceberg. What it does contain is excellent cinematography by Gregg Toland, superb direction by John Ford and a superior script based on the plays of Eugene O'Neill. The drama developes simply from a ship being in the war zone during World War Two with a full cargo of ammunition and no escort or weapon for protection--just a twenty-five percent bonus for the crew. The acting is about as good as acting can be: Arthur Shields (as Donkey Man) and Thomas Mitchell (as Aloysius Driscoll) never waver in the characters they portray. They are, without question, so realistic that they live beyond the movie. In effect, they are more than characters on film, they are universal humans trying to make order out of chaos, even if they must create chaos to do so. The main character is the "Glencairn" itself, the ship in the film. Like Greek tragedy, it is the chorus about which the dramatic action occurs. The long voyage home for some of the characters goes on and on, but the long voyage for the "Glencairn" continues like so many other rust buckets. In World War Two, constant danger and possible disaster waited just outside every harbor.

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4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Homerific, 16 April 2007
8/10
Author: Bill Slocum (slokes@optonline.net) from Norwalk, CT USA

An expressionistic classic featuring John Wayne as a Swede? Can it be?

"The Long Voyage Home" may fall just short of classic status, but it is one of Hollywood's most visually expressionistic films, a tone poem of shadow and light presented by director John Ford and cinematographer Gregg Toland. That is indeed the Duke himself, John Wayne, playing a Swedish hayseed named Ole Olsen who the other sailors aboard his ship want to see safely en route to home. He's not Meryl Streep as it turns out, but you will want to see this powerhouse example of Hollywood art anyway for Toland's camera-work, the ensemble acting, and Dudley Nichols' seamless adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's four one-act plays.

O'Neill's sea yarns are transported to the then-present. World War II is underway, and the Glencairn transports ammunition to England for the fight against Hitler. Will Ole return home? What is the secret behind quiet English sailor Smitty (Ian Hunter)? Why are women bearing baskets of fruit not to be trusted? Why is Driscoll (Thomas Mitchell) so suspicious of that bartender?

Pauline Kael once wrote up "Long Voyage Home" by way of addressing another film shot by Gregg Toland the following year, "Citizen Kane." Both Ford and "Kane" director Orson Welles took the unusual step of sharing their titles card with Toland, a show of respect for what Toland's eye brought to their films. I'd say Toland brought more to "Long Voyage Home" than he did to "Kane," as every shot seems suffused with a tenseness and mood that at the very least speaks as eloquently to the drama on screen as any line of dialogue or actor's performance.

That's true from the opening shot, a wordless pan shot of the Glencairn drifting across the water as women in the foreground gyrate sensuously to an unseen music. The images are contrasted with those of Glencairn sailors looking pent-up and frustrated. Are the women really there on the shore, or just being imagined by the crew? It's a classic bit of expressionist ambiguity that, once established, carries through for the rest of the film.

Take the case of Smitty, a fellow who no one can much figure out as he keeps to himself, at least until he is finally fingered as a likely German spy in a sequence that might appear contrived had not Nichols, Toland, and Hunter made it quite diabolically real. Ian Hunter is not a well-known actor today, but he carries the film as long as he's around, especially while confronted with his apparent treachery. Watching him grimace and shake with fury as his secret is slowly, gut-wrenchingly exposed is the strongest scene in this very strong film, and once the film moves beyond Smitty, it never quite recovers. Hunter also appears in "Adventures Of Robin Hood" as a similar figure of dual identities, and I won't make the mistake of underestimating him again.

I only wish Thomas Mitchell, the Oscar winner from Ford's "Stagecoach" the previous year, had brought some of that performance's restraint to his playing of Driscoll here. Barry Fitzgerald and John Qualen, Ford vets both, seem to catch his overacting bug. It's not pretty, especially to those of us who have seen all three give better work.

Wayne, however, is effective despite his dodgy accent, and it's interesting to see him in a film, just a year after his breakthrough in "Stagecoach," where he is presented to us as one of the gang, something of a follower and not a lone-wolf leader. I don't normally associate Wayne with amiable go-alongness, but he carries it here.

John Ford is pretty much the Shakespeare of cinema, effortlessly moving from comedy to tragedy within a single scene, and "Long Voyage Home," while not perfect, makes a strong case for his visionary mastery.

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Splendid Ford movie about a crew members aboard a merchant steamer attempting to get home during 1939s, 16 December 2008
7/10
Author: ma-cortes from Santander Spain

The talented cast act this excellent screen rendition of Eugene O'Neill's play (it's adapted from three of his one-act plays)about crew sailors aboard a freighter steamer called Glencairn carrying charge containing war-smuggling,TNT, explosives from US to England, at the beginning WWII. The crew talk and contend each other but also save each other from bombing and risks. At the ending terminates with epilogue saying :'Some men like Ole and the Driscolls come a and go and the others live and die and the Yanks and Smittys leave their memories- but for the others the long voyage never ends'.

This dramatic film is a classic Ford displaying his usual themes as strong factor in many films, as emotionalism, partnership, friendship and unlovable camaraderie between the sailors. However looks over-melodramatic during the reading letters from Smittys.The sailors show a nostalgic longing for things past and old values and own home: Sweden,Ireland, England. Straightforward acting by John Wayne as a Swedish sailor named Ole , he was to star habitually for Ford after the director rose his career from B Western in Poverty Row productions, with his greatest hit, 'Stagecoach'. There's magnificent secondary cast playing the seamen, as Thomas Mitchell as a sympathetic sailor, Ian Hunter as the drunk and unbalanced Smittys, Barry Fitzgerald as the humorous cooker,Mildred Natwick as a swindler prostitute, Rafaela Ottiano as a tropical woman, Jack Pennick, a Ford's usual, among others. Descriptive, evocative black-and-white cinematography by Gregg Toland(Citizen Kane) plenty of lights and dark, reflecting loneliness, suspicion,frightening from crew and the smoky, greasy, sweaty atmosphere from merchant ship. The picture belongs period when John Ford(1895-1973) made a rich variety of stories and his reputation rightly rests on his work in the 1940s, as ¨Grapes of wrath,How green was my valley,Fugitive,They were expendable, My darling Clementine¨and the Cavalry trilogy: ¨Fort Apache, She wore a yellow ribbon, Rio Grande¨. Rating : Awesome, above average, a major triumph for Ford and Wayne.It's a must see from John Ford enthusiastic and John Wayne fans.

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2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Long tedious hours at sea with war all around, 7 September 2000
Author: Larry W. Mayes from Lewiston, ME

This is an un-glamourous and most tedious side of merchant marine life is seen as the crew is viewed as they labor to deliver war supplies in U-Boat infested waters, from your view as an invisible shipmate. You see them work and sweat through the heat and the blowing wind and rains of storms that will swallow your ship if it can.

The tension of the crew is felt at they toil away, not knowing if the next ship they encounter is friend or foe. They know that there are submarine out there with many miles over the horizon, while others may be passing by just out of view or the one that may be going to action stations to put a torpedo into the side and send you to the bottom of the sea.

It's about friendships in war where some never get a chance to say goodbye and when you do there is never enough time.

The musical score has some beautiful moments. Some of these moments may bring a few tears to your eyes. It is not an epic and does not rank with the great ones, but is worthwhile, if you just take the time.

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