Ship of Fools (1965)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Stanley Kramer

Writers:

Katherine Anne Porter (novel)
Abby Mann (screenplay)

Release Date:

October 1965 (Austria)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | War

Tagline:

EXPLORER, MISTRESS, VAGRANT, LOAFER, ARTIST, TRAMP ... THEY ARE ALL AT THE CAPTAIN'S TABLE!

Plot:

Passengers on a ship traveling from Mexico to Europe in the 1930s represent society at large in that era...

Plot Keywords:

Traveling | Ship | 1930s | Cruise | Racist

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 13 nominations

Cast

Vivien Leigh	...	Mary Treadwell
Simone Signoret	...	La Condesa
José Ferrer	...	Rieber (as Jose Ferrer)
Lee Marvin	...	Tenny
Oskar Werner	...	Dr. Schumann
Elizabeth Ashley	...	Jenny
George Segal	...	David
José Greco	...	Pepe (as Jose Greco)
Michael Dunn	...	Glocken
Charles Korvin	...	Capt. Thiele
Heinz Rühmann	...	Lowenthal (as Heinz Ruehmann)
Lilia Skala	...	Frau Hutten
Barbara Luna	...	Amparo
Alf Kjellin	...	Freytag
Christiane Schmidtmer	...	Lizzi

Runtime:

149 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German | Spanish

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | UK:12 (2007) | UK:A (1965) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | Spain:7

Company:

Stanley Kramer Productions

Trivia:

Vivien Leigh's last film.

Goofs:

Continuity: As the passengers disembark at the end, Johann pauses on the steps to watch Amparo walk by, when Tenny appears walking down the steps behind Johann. Immediately the film cuts to a shot of the gangplank above, where Tenny is seen just leaving the ship.

Quotes:

Mary Treadwell: Tell me. Wouldn't it unnverve you to have an affair with me?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Bob Newhart Show: Ship of Shrinks (#3.9)" (1974)

Soundtrack:

Heute abend geh'n wir bummeln auf der reeperbahn

What kind of fool am I?

Vivien Leigh sits opposite redneck Lee Marvin in the ship's upper deck restaurant, Marvin confesses to Leigh he never new what a Jew was until he was 15, "You were too busy lynching blacks" is her replay. I thought to mention it just to give you a hint of the sort of cruise ship we're travelling on. We sail through a sea that goes from the sublime to the ridiculous. Abby Mann is a master at drawing characters with long shadows and Kramer a master at capturing them. Think "Judgement at Neuremberg" Here you'll feel sea sick sometimes but the trip is worth taking. I mean. Vivien Leigh and Lee Marvin in a sad comedy of errors. Simone Signoret as a drug addicted countess and Oskar Werner her kindly, tragic, doctor, pusher. Highly charged, beautifully written moments. The lower decks for the down trodden is full of extras. George Segal and Elizabeth Ashley try both decks and and a deck all their own with melodramatic regularity. Jose Ferrer and Heinz Rhumman have one of my favourite exchanges. Ferrer, the German military tells Rhumman, the German Jew, that he should admit that the Jews are great part of the German problem. Rhumman calmly agrees and ads "true, but not only the Jews, also men who smoke the pipe are great part of the German problem" "Why men who smoke the pipe?" Shouts Ferrer. To what Rhumman replies "Why the Jews?" Michael Dunn addresses us directly, asking us to find ourselves among the passengers. Okay.