Ship of Fools
|
Our Price: $72.89 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $36.77 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Ship of Fools
Movie Review: A must watch classic
Summary: 5 Stars
Ship of Fools is a cruise-board drama filmed in 1965, but set in 1933. It follows a group of voyagers heading from Mexico via Cuba to Bremerhaven, Germany.
The story involves people from different parts of society - the older Germans that are pro-Nazi, the Jewish salesman, the young idealist painter, the childless couple with a dog that they treat as a child. The ship's doctor falls in love with the socialite who took a stand against poverty.
The movie is in black and white, and won many awards for its set direction and art direction. It also got nominations for many of its actors. The cast features many well known faces - Jose Ferrer, Lee Marvin, Vivian Leigh, and many more.
The movie is very explicitly a social commentary, with differences shown not only between the first class passengers and the Spanish workers down in the hold, but also between different members in first class. There are women forced in prostitution, fathers yelling at kids, women seeking affairs, men contemplating leaving their wives. There is a lot of the traditional "if only they knew" kind of situation, with people thinking the Nazis would never take power - when of course the audience well knows that they do.
It's a fascinating look at the type of cruises offered in the first half of the 20th century - when there was almost always an Upper Class going for luxury and a Lower Class just trying to get to the destination in a cheap manner.
Highly recommended!
Movie Review: Sail away with an all-star cast
Summary: 5 Stars
The "Ship of Fools" is a German luxury liner sailing home from Mexico in 1933. Aboard are a classic roster of characters - the ship's noble doctor (Oskar Werner) who falls in love with the drug-addicted activist (Simone Signoret), the troubled young lovers (Elizabeth Ashley and George Segal), the over-the-hill grande dame (Vivian Leigh), the washed-up ball player (Lee Marvin), the pro-Furher German (Jose Ferrer), etc. The camera floats leisurely from group to group as they interact on the month-long cruise.
The most memorable character is the sensitive Dr. Schumann, who alone sees the foolishness of the passengers and the futility of his own life. Werner gives a wonderfully touching performance and the movie is best when he is on screen. Signoret is also very good as a contessa who is being taken to prison. Leigh and Ferrer are both over-the-top, playing a stereotypical drunken divorce and anti-Semite, respectively.
When this movie was made (1965), the story and characters were not as cliché as they are now. It's dated and predictable now; the ladies' costumes aren't right for the time, and it's soap opera all the way. Still, I enjoyed it and recommend it as fun and entertaining, and a good chance to see a lot of well-known actors in one place. "Ship of Fools" was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and acting awards for Werner and Signoret.
Kona
Movie Review: ' folly to be wise ......'
Summary: 5 Stars
STILL memorable after almost 40 years, and richly nominated, this slightly butchered version of the original lavish wide-screen masterpiece is still fairly effective. ESPECIALLY Vivien Leigh - possibly condensing the essence of her tumultuous life in this vignette - the Charleston sequence leading up to her 'mirror-monologue' is s stunning piece of work! AS is the romance between Simone Signoret and the lamented Oskar Werner [they broke the mould here ~ just revisit that death scene and the grand economy].IN ANY CASE - there's so much more to this little tale of misplaced strangers circa 1930ish on their way back to the fatherland [Germany] before 'you know who' really plunged it all into the toilet!
Costume design, cinematography, score [just WHERE is that album?], direction - all superior ~ cannot be duplicated today!
AND where is the original wide-screen version - with that great title sequence - slightly lost on us with this version?
Would great to have the choices....an interview or two perhaps .. and the ORIGINAL Theatrical Trailer??
Oh yes - the title? Refers to an old habit of removing the mentally impaired from dry-land and confining them shipboard - then there's also the Hieronymus Bosch painting .......
Movie Review: Film of substance and beauty
Summary: 5 Stars
You can never go wrong with a movie having Vivian Leigh as an actor. This movie had an impact on me when I saw it years ago and it had me glued to my seat when I saw it again years later. Vivian Leigh plays a completely different character here than in Gone with the wind and Streetcar named Desire. It just shows you how versitile an actor she was. I loved every moment of this film with the various characters (many of the actors also old favourites). They do not make movies like this anymore. Deffinately a film for the descerning movie goer. The title of the movie Ship of Fools is very appropriate to the time setting. People's negative attitutes toward social issues and differences are excelently portrayed in this film. Their way of thinking and impact it had on their lives due to certain events taking place in history is quite fitting for the title Ship of Fools. Unfortunately mankind will never learn from mistakes in the past and we are still dealing with exactly the same issues today, just in a different setting and flavour. Hightly recommended for the serious and art movie fan. The film being in black and white adds to the mystery of the time it portrays. Dont miss it.Movie Review: Enjoy the voyage--it's your life
Summary: 5 Stars
The ship, the Vera, is our planet, and we, its inhabitants, are the fools. That is almost a cliche in artistic circles, but it is given here with such grace and class that you will enjoy the ride. All the characters are worth watching, Michael Dunn, Simone Signoret, and Oskar Werner (oh, how I miss that man!) especially.
The failings, the foibles, and the cruelties of human beings are brought forth in this story, sometimes with graphic violence, and sometimes with gentle subtlety. It is much more true of the movie than the book. Porter made all of her characters flawed, so there are no heroes. The Germans of the novel are almost entirely hateful, and the chauvinism of the men must be intolerable to modern Western women, I would think. A few people are changed, but their roles in the story are not, except for Herr Glocken the dwarf, who is by necessity not as misshapen as she wrote him, and comes across as quite debonair and self-confident.
This is probably the only time I would ever say this: the movie is better than the novel. I recommend it highly.