Ship of Fools (DVD, 2003)

This 1965 movie about a 1933 ship sailing from Mexico to Germany seems dated in 2009. The stories in this "Grand Hotel" ship are all about prejudice and loneliness. It is a depressing ride; and while the main stars are living in the lap of luxury onboard the ship, they are really miserable.

The main story, which is somewhat good is about the ship's MD Wilhelm Schumann (Oskar Werner) and his relationship to a late boarder of the ship at Cuba, La Condesa (Simone Signoret). La Condesa's story unravels as the movie progresses, and we learn that she will be picked up in Spain and arrested. She was living with a man in Cuba that lived off Spanish workers who lived there in filth. Why she is being arrested I never figured out. But Schumann falls in love with her, and he is a married man with a wife and two sons in Germany. Both of these stars were nominated in 1965 as Best Actor and Best Actress; neither won.

Vivien Leigh, in her final performance, plays Mrs. Treadwell, a lonely American divorcee who has stripped her x-husband of his wealth for philandering on her. She is supposed to be about 50 years old and wants to be young again. It is a role similar to Blanche Duboise in "Streetcar Named Desire," and her Mrs. Stone role in the "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone."

Jose Ferrer plays Herr Rieber, who is a budding Nazi. He spouts his hatred of Jews and wants to see mixed races and Jews exterminated. The other passengers think that he is spouting something that could never happen, and we know that it does.

Lee Marvin won the Oscar that year for his performance in "Cat Ballou." But in this movie he plays a washed out baseball player who had been working in Mexico training baseball players there. He is drunk most of the movie and is looking only for a girl to take to bed. At the end, he gets sent to the wrong room.

David (George Segal) and Jenny (Elizabeth Ashley) are American lovers who have a very strained relationship. He is obsessed with helping the masses (Socialist?), and she just wants to get married. He finally tells her that he is looking for a woman who will just live for his needs. WHAT?

As a sort of Everyman, Michael Dunn plays Johann Glocken, who introduces the movie as a ship of fools and closes the movie with the comment "What does all this matter to us now? Nothing."

This movie was nominated for 8 Academy Awards in the year of "Doctor Zhivago" and "The Sound of Music." It actually won two: Best Black and White Cinematography and Best Screenplay Adaptation.

There are several German actors who have minor parts, and there is a boat load of Spanish workers who are being sent home to Spain from Cuba because the sugar crop has been burned by the ranch owners there. Two of the more interesting Germans are a couple who allow their Boxer dog to sit at the table in a chair while they eat, and a Jewish jeweler who is returning to his family in Germany and poses: "They can't kill all of the million and a half Jews in Germany!"

As I said at the beginning, there are better movies than this to watch. This one is very depressing.

Katherine Anne Porter was a genius in the short story genre. Her grand opus SHIP OF FOOLS is a disjointed vignettes of short stories that never really come together. Stanley Kramer has assembled a tremendous cast and the result is an unforgettable movie. The disparate passengers include an embittered Southern divorcee who longs for youth and love (expertly, as always portrayed by the great Vivian Leigh in her final film), the moral conscience of the movie (Oscar nominated Michael Dunn), young quarreling lovers (Elizabeth Ashley and George Segal) where unfortunately the movie spends to much time and they are most unbelievable characters in the film. Lee Marvin (on his way to stardom) plays a bigoted washed out ball player, Jose Ferrer an anti-semite with Nazi ideals but it is the touching shipboard romance between Simone Signoret as a drug-addicted La Condessa enroute to exile on Tenerife and the ship's doctor Oskar Werner (both Oscar nominated) that give the most touching and effective performances. When Signoret utters "I'm just a woman" and shugs, it is sums up her earthy nature. Leigh has a wonderful scene where in a drunken state does a wild charleston then poigently sees her age reflecting back in the mirror and puts on heavy make-up and is mistaken by Marvin as one of the Spanish prostitutes on board and forces his attentions on her in her cabin. In a sexually repressed frenzy she beats him senseless across his face with her shoe. A remarkable piece of acting. The three aforementioned stars are remarkable as is this most worthy movies compactly made and much more interesting to watch than reading the rambling book by Porter. A classic.

The movie is about a group of people on a Mexican vessel sailing to a pre-Hitler Germany. Naturally, the group have some mixed-matched characters including an advocate of Naziism, a Jewish man, a bitter divorcee, a has-been baseball player, etc. Then, there is Carl Glocken -- wonderfully played by Michael Dunn (nominated for an Oscar) who is something of a philosopher and guide for the audience. He is the one who observes it is a "ship of fools."

I bought it because of Michael Dunn. I'm collecting his other performances and an Oscar nominated one certainly seemed like one to get. My husband and I enjoyed it. He wasn't very enthusiastic about watching it, but he was pleasantly surprised. It often is humorous -- not in a rolling on the floor way, but with more subtle humor. The scene with Lee Marvin and Michael Dunn was the best!

Not all of the characters are likable, but they are all well portrayed. The cast is terrific!

This is one of the best movies I've ever seen. The quality is crisp and clear and there isn't a better cast of characters on screen. I especially loved that Oskar Werner was showcased so well. Not a better actor!

I would truly recommend this movie to others as well as this seller! It was an excellent bidding and buying experience.

An old movie with top notch acting and well known cast......set in late 1930's just before WWII broke out. Gypsies,Jews,politicians,Germa​n Citz., Americans on a cruise ship together,and shows how each persons thoughts on the current times were, which was so varied. Very entertaining, and I for one can watch it over and over and see something new every time.