"Ship of Fools" is a drama set almost entirely aboard an ocean liner in 1933. It's based on a 1962 novel of the same title by Katherine Anne Porter. The American author wrote the novel over 20 years from memories she had. At the age of 41 in 1931, Porter had taken this very voyage from Veracruz, Mexico, to Bremerhaven, Germany. It was a time of great civil unrest in many nations around the world that were struggling during the Great Depression. Although that isn't particularly apparent in the story of this film, that time also saw the rise of a nationalism among many Germans, spurred on by the rising Nazi party. This is a subtle plot within this overall story.
Some of the IMDb reviews on this film liken it to "Grand Hotel" of 1933. Apparently, some think of any film with a large group and several small stories of individual members as a type of "Grand Hotel." All one needs to dispel that thought is to recall the popular comedy romance and drama TV series of 1977-1987, "The Love Boat." Indeed, some daytime soap operas would surely fit in the same mold.
No, "Ship of Fools" is its own story, the only similarity with "Grand Hotel" or others being that it's a story and film of many smaller stories of characters in the main who happen to be together in the same time and place. The ship and voyage from Mexico to Germany, with stops at Cuba and Spain, is the rope that pulls the whole things together. Within the big picture are strings of themes such as German nationalism and anti-Semitism, class distinctions and bias, and wealthy listlessness and hedonism. And among these are threads that tie some of the characters together - broken and dysfunctional families, rebelliousness, pride, infidelity, emptiness and longing, and romance.
That 's a lot for any film to capture, but "Ship of Fools" does quite a good job of it. All of the cast are very good in this film. Four of this cast had won or would win Oscars in their careers -- José Ferrer, Vivien Leigh (two), Simone Signoret, and Lee Marvin. Three others would be nominated. At least two of the supporting cast had fled the Nazis in the 1930s. This is Vivien Leigh's last movie. The two-time Oscar winner would die of tuberculosis just two years after this movie was released.
Four of the cast give especially good performances. José Ferrer is superb as an obnoxious, highly opinionated, bigoted, anti-Semitic Nazi-lover. Simone Signoret is excellent as La Condesa, who will be jailed on a Spanish Island for encouraging and helping oppressed Spanish laborers in Cuba. Oskar Werner gives a marvelous performance as the ship's doctor, Schumann. He has a serious heart condition, has been estranged from his wife and two sons, and cares about people, including the 600 workers in steerage being returned to Spain. And, Alf Kjellin as Freytag gives a sterling emotional performance for being ostracized by the captain's head table guests because his wife is Jewish. And, for his sorrowful and regretful testimony to Mary Treadwell about his estrangement from his wife.
Michael Dunn, a midget actor who only lived to be 38, is very good as Glocken, a passenger who introduces the cruise and closes it directly to the movie audience. He and Lowenthal (played very well by Heinz Rühmann), a Jewish businessman, are seated together, off to the side of the captain's table. They talk and philosophize about not being considered worthy to dine with bigots and others.
Here are some favorite lines from this film.
Captain Thiele, "What would you have liked to have been, Willy?" Dr. Schumann, "A good doctor." Captain, "Don't you think you are?" Schumann, "Fair to middlin'."
Dr. Schumann, "When I think of the things I have seen on this ship - the stupid cruelties, the vanities. We talk about values. There's no values (sic). They're done with, rid of our lives of. And we were the intelligent civilized people who carry out orders we are given. No matter what they may be. Our biggest mission in life is to avoid being fools. But we wind up being the biggest fools of all."
Mary Treadwell, "Did you see the makeup on those girls? Do men really find that attractive?" Lt Huebner, "Some apparently do." Treadwell, "Hmmm. I would think that men would like to know what they were gettin'."
Lt. Huebner, "Then why did you lead me on during this trip? You never considered my feelings at all, did you?" Mary Treadwell, "No. And I'm sorry for that."
Lt. Huebner, "Mrs. Treadwell, I am only a third grade officer on a second rate ship. But it has given me an opportunity to observe people."
Lt. Huebner, "I have seen women like you before - 46-year-old women who are still coquettes. They travel on boats often, always searching for something. You know where that searching ends, Mrs. Treadwell? It ends in a nightclub with a paid escort who tells you the lies you must hear."
Some of the IMDb reviews on this film liken it to "Grand Hotel" of 1933. Apparently, some think of any film with a large group and several small stories of individual members as a type of "Grand Hotel." All one needs to dispel that thought is to recall the popular comedy romance and drama TV series of 1977-1987, "The Love Boat." Indeed, some daytime soap operas would surely fit in the same mold.
No, "Ship of Fools" is its own story, the only similarity with "Grand Hotel" or others being that it's a story and film of many smaller stories of characters in the main who happen to be together in the same time and place. The ship and voyage from Mexico to Germany, with stops at Cuba and Spain, is the rope that pulls the whole things together. Within the big picture are strings of themes such as German nationalism and anti-Semitism, class distinctions and bias, and wealthy listlessness and hedonism. And among these are threads that tie some of the characters together - broken and dysfunctional families, rebelliousness, pride, infidelity, emptiness and longing, and romance.
That 's a lot for any film to capture, but "Ship of Fools" does quite a good job of it. All of the cast are very good in this film. Four of this cast had won or would win Oscars in their careers -- José Ferrer, Vivien Leigh (two), Simone Signoret, and Lee Marvin. Three others would be nominated. At least two of the supporting cast had fled the Nazis in the 1930s. This is Vivien Leigh's last movie. The two-time Oscar winner would die of tuberculosis just two years after this movie was released.
Four of the cast give especially good performances. José Ferrer is superb as an obnoxious, highly opinionated, bigoted, anti-Semitic Nazi-lover. Simone Signoret is excellent as La Condesa, who will be jailed on a Spanish Island for encouraging and helping oppressed Spanish laborers in Cuba. Oskar Werner gives a marvelous performance as the ship's doctor, Schumann. He has a serious heart condition, has been estranged from his wife and two sons, and cares about people, including the 600 workers in steerage being returned to Spain. And, Alf Kjellin as Freytag gives a sterling emotional performance for being ostracized by the captain's head table guests because his wife is Jewish. And, for his sorrowful and regretful testimony to Mary Treadwell about his estrangement from his wife.
Michael Dunn, a midget actor who only lived to be 38, is very good as Glocken, a passenger who introduces the cruise and closes it directly to the movie audience. He and Lowenthal (played very well by Heinz Rühmann), a Jewish businessman, are seated together, off to the side of the captain's table. They talk and philosophize about not being considered worthy to dine with bigots and others.
Here are some favorite lines from this film.
Captain Thiele, "What would you have liked to have been, Willy?" Dr. Schumann, "A good doctor." Captain, "Don't you think you are?" Schumann, "Fair to middlin'."
Dr. Schumann, "When I think of the things I have seen on this ship - the stupid cruelties, the vanities. We talk about values. There's no values (sic). They're done with, rid of our lives of. And we were the intelligent civilized people who carry out orders we are given. No matter what they may be. Our biggest mission in life is to avoid being fools. But we wind up being the biggest fools of all."
Mary Treadwell, "Did you see the makeup on those girls? Do men really find that attractive?" Lt Huebner, "Some apparently do." Treadwell, "Hmmm. I would think that men would like to know what they were gettin'."
Lt. Huebner, "Then why did you lead me on during this trip? You never considered my feelings at all, did you?" Mary Treadwell, "No. And I'm sorry for that."
Lt. Huebner, "Mrs. Treadwell, I am only a third grade officer on a second rate ship. But it has given me an opportunity to observe people."
Lt. Huebner, "I have seen women like you before - 46-year-old women who are still coquettes. They travel on boats often, always searching for something. You know where that searching ends, Mrs. Treadwell? It ends in a nightclub with a paid escort who tells you the lies you must hear."