The story of the MS (not SS) St Louis is the real life “Ship of Fools” It tells the tragic story of over 900 Jewish refugees who were allowed to leave Germany in 1939 aboard an ocean liner with the Nazis knowing full well that their port of destination (Havana) would not take the passengers. An appeal to the United States and later Canada failed to get permission for them to land in North America so they were forced to return to Europe where the Nazis crowed that no one wanted the Jews so stop blaming Germany. However, through the courageous actions of the German captain, they found accomodations outside of Germany. Tragically when Western Europe fell, a number of the passengers later wound up in concentration camps. 227 of the 936 refugees did not survive the war. That’s the real story in a nutshell.
When executive producer Sir Lew Grade and director Stuart Rosenberg decided to make a film of the 1974 book VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED, they went back to the 1965 fictional film SHIP OF FOOLS to use as their template. This was also in keeping with the multi-character films of the era such as AIRPORT and THE TOWERING INFERNO. We see a microcosm of the ship’s passengers and crew from the heroic captain (Max von Sydow) to a virulrent undercover Nazi officer (Helmut Griem) to an ill- fated romance between a German crew member (Malcolm McDowell) and a Jewish passenger (Lynne Frederick). Other significant characters are played by Faye Dunaway, Oskar Werner (his last film), Wendy Hiller, and Orson Welles (at his heaviest). Powerful (even if the fashions aren’t always historically correct and the accents certainly aren’t) and also very accessible, VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED should be seen for its historical value alone.
The original film clocked in at 182 minutes but was cut to 155 minutes for general release. That footage was put back in for its VHS release but it is the general release version that is on this new Blu-Ray/DVD combo. Most welcome is the restoration of the film’s original widescreen aspect ratio which wasn’t available on the previous Lionsgate release of a few years ago. It appears that Shout Factory, who released this title, has acquired the rights to a number of Sir Lew Grade’s 1970s films. THE EAGLE HAS LANDED, THE CASSANDRA CROSSING, THE DOMINO PRINCIPLE and even the notorious RAISE THE TITANIC are now being issued in freshly restored versions. These films are a welcome addition to the current catalog as they have been out of circulation for far too long.
The Capsule Critic 