Morituri
by Bernhard Wicki
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Janet Margolin, Marlon Brando, Martin Benrath, Trevor Howard, Yul BrynnerDirector: Bernhard Wicki
Brand: BRANDO,MARLON
Cinematographer: Conrad L. Hall
Editor: Joseph Silver
Producer: Aaron Rosenberg
Producer: Barney Rosenzweig
Writer: Daniel Taradash
Writer: Werner J?rg L?ddecke
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 123 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-05-25
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Movie Reviews of Morituri
Movie Review: Unique WWII thriller with Brando and Brynner
Summary: 4 Stars
Morituri is an underrated WWII thriller that is anything but your typical war movie. Living in India in 1942, German defector Robert Crain is living the life of luxury until he is blackmailed by British Intelligence into undertaking a dangerous mission. Posing as an SS officer, Crain will board a German blockade runner in Tokyo that is carrying 7,000 tons of rubber destined for the war effort. An engineer in his army days, Crain must defuse all the explosives that will be used to scuttle the ship in case of a run-in with Allied ships. Then, when the ship cannot be destroyed, the ship will float right into an Allied ambush. But right away, the ship's captain is suspicious of his new passenger. Can Crain complete his mission before anyone catches on? Filmed in black and white which adds to the tension in a way, Morituri is an excellent movie that has never received much recognition. The drama is exciting from beginning to end, aided by Jerry Goldsmith's score, somewhat similar to his Von Ryan's Express music. Definitely give this movie a try.
In the lead role, Marlon Brando gives a very strong performance as Robert Crain, a German defector blackmailed into completing a suicidal mission for British Intelligence. Crain doesn't believe in war, no matter what the cause or end result, and only works so hard to complete the mission to increase his odds of surviving. Yul Brynner is equally good as Captain Mueller, the German captain of the ship suspicious of Crain's actual motives. Mueller is loyal to a cause that he doesn't truly believe in, a true soldier/sailor who follows his orders no matter what. Trevor Howard has a brief but good appearance as Colonel Statter, the Intelligence officer who confronts Crain in India. War movie buffs will surely appreciate Hans Christian Blech's part as Donkeyman, a great supporting role of a political prisoner forced to join the ship's crew. Some of the rest of the supporting cast includes Janet Margolin, Martin Benrath, Wally Cox, Max Haufler, Rainer Penkert, and Oscar Beregi Jr.
The DVD is a good purchase overall with a good-looking widescreen presentation in its original black and white format. Special features include two trailers, one short teaser and one regular theatrical trailer, along with three trailers for three somewhat similar war movies from Fox Flix. Not often talked about with WWII movies, Morituri has slipped through the cracks somehow, but don't miss this movie with great performances from Brando and Brynner, check out Morituri!
Summary of Morituri
Suspenseful action highlights this film in which Marlon Brando and Yul Brynner team up to defuse a Nazi freighter, poised to explode upon capture.Marlon Brando plays a world-weary, conscientious objector to all wars in the tense, thoughtful Morituri, an adult drama about wartime ethics and the price of commitment to a cause. Brando plays Robert Crain, a German deserter who escaped the Nazis with his fortune intact, happy to be sitting out the battle in British-governed India. His comfort is challenged when an intelligence official (Trevor Howard) essentially blackmails him into going undercover, posing as an SS officer taking passage on a German ship carrying tons of rubber for munitions. Crain's mission is to deliver the ship into Allied hands, but once he's aboard, he becomes a target of derision by the proud, anti-Nazi captain (Yul Brynner) and suspicion by a handful of Resistance members planning to scuttle the voyage. The dramatic irony in this film by German actor-director Bernhard Wicki is that Crain, who claims to take no sides and believes in nothing worth killing for, becomes a catalyst for a great deal of sacrifice and the underscoring of others' convictions with bloodshed. Janet Margolin has a memorable role as a half-mad, Jewish doctor who puts her life on the line to help Crain, and Brynner nearly steals the show in a tremendous performance as a man who has lost faith in everything. Some spectacular scenes give Morituri a certain electricity, including a complicated, unbroken shot taken (one presumes) from a helicopter that swoops in on the ship from a distance to catch a few lines of dialogue and a bit of action. --Tom Keogh
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