The Long Voyage Home
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Movie Reviews of The Long Voyage Home
Movie Review: Very fine, but absolutely not a "John Wayne film"
Summary: 4 Stars
... and more an O'Neill play than a "Ford film." Traditionalist Wayne (and Ford) fans might be disappointed--his is a supporting role and his character is quiet (very few lines!) and passive, and even a bit dull-witted. It's disorienting witnessing scene after scene where Wayne is merely stuck in the background looking on as the story unwinds; knowledge of what Wayne was to become--perhaps the strongest and most distinctive acting presence of his times--disrupts any reading a viewer may have of the film. One sits on the edge of ones seat expecting The Duke to jump into the movie, and he just doesn't.
Otherwise it's an ensemble piece but with a terrific cast. The cinematography, as others have noted, is sensational. Rather than being part of a traditional John Ford or John Wayne DVD collection, this is a film that should have been remastered and released by a company like Criterion (like Young Mr. Lincoln). Then it would go to a more appropriate and possibly more appreciative audience.
Movie Review: A merchant ship''s crew tries to survive the loneliness of the sea and the coming of war.
Summary: 3 Stars
On the long voyage home from the West Indies to Baltimore and then to England, the British tramp steamer the Glencairn takes aboard a cargo of munitions, a circumstance which turns the natural complaining of the crew into a case of genuine fear. Those fears are realized when a heavy gale tests the mettle of the ship and in the storm, mountainous waves hurtle the sailor Yank to the seething deck, thus bringing him to his death as his shipmates, Ole Olson and Driscoll, watch helplessly. As they approach land, the crew begins to suspect their brooding, aloof shipmate, Smitty, of sending signals to the Nazis, but they discover that Smitty has really withdrawn in disgrace from his family and all those around him because of his alchoholism. This revelation forces Smitty to resolve to return to his wife and children, but the reunion is tragically doomed when a Nazi plane swoops down from the skies off England and Smitty is killed in the attack. Safely in port after their harrowing crossing, the crew channel their energies into making sure that Ole leaves the sea to return to his aged mother in Sweden, but after bidding his friends farewell, Ole is shanghaied aboard the Amindra . Rescued by Driscoll and his other mates, Ole's voyage ends happily. Not so for Driscoll, because in the rescue he is taken prisoner and sails off aboard the Amindra in Ole's place. As the remaining seafarers return to the Glencairn to resume their long journey, they learn that Driscoll perished aboard the Amindra when the ship was sunk by a torpedo.Movie Review: One of many Ford films that is severely underrated...
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of Ford's most underrated films, a beautiful, poetic, sad, and haunting depiction of men at sea, and the terrors and tribulations that they endure. It is based on several one act Eugene O'Neill plays, and Mr. O'Neill absolutely adored this film. He loved the way Ford and Dudley Nichols transcribed his plays into something beautifully cinematic. The cinematography is some of the best of Ford's career, courtesy of Gregg Toland, the genius cameraman behind the camera for Citizen Kane. The performances are quite special here, with special mention going to Thomas Mitchell, John Qualen, Arthur Shields, and the actor who plays Smitty (his name escapes me). John Wayne plays a Swede here with an accent no less, but he does it superlatively, and he shows a lot of depth and sweetness in this role. When Wayne was with Ford, he was his best, playing characters that weren't perfect and all too human. The sailors all feel like real people and not caricatures. There is a fight at the end of the film, and it's actually pretty brutal for its time. I liked it because it feels real, not choreographed. This is one of Ford's finest works, one that can seen many, many times. Ford made so many great films that many fall between the cracks, and this is one of them. It's really quite special. It's as good as anything he's ever done...
Movie Review: A different type of movie for Ford and Wayne
Summary: 4 Stars
The Long Voyage Home is yet another film featuring John Wayne and director John Ford, and though it may be very different from the other movies the duo made, it is as good, if not better, than some of their other collaborations. In the early years of WWII, the SS Glencairn, a freighter in the Atlantic, receives a shipment of ammunition to transport to England from the West Indies. The ship must then sail through the dangerous waters of the Atlantic, hoping to not run into German subs. This simple plot is very much secondary to the real storyline, the lives of the crew of the Glencairn. Over the course of the film, the viewer comes to know all of the crew pretty well through four separate stories from writer Eugene O'Neil; a party with local girls on the boat before setting sail, the accidental death of a crewman during a storm, a possible German spy posing as one of the crew, and the efforts of the crew to get one of their own on a boat home after the Glencairn docks. Don't go into this movie expecting action, it is a character driven movie with many great scenes of dialogue that lets the cast do their thing. It might not be your typical John Ford and John Wayne teaming, but The Long Voyage Home is a worthy addition to any fans of the director/star combo.
While John Wayne gets top billing, he really has a somewhat smaller supporting part. Wayne plays Ole Olsen, a Swedish sailor trying to save money to get back home to Stockholm. The Duke pulls off a good Swedish accent, and does an excellent turn overall in his supporting part. The star of the movie is Thomas Mitchell as Aloysius Driscoll, "Drisk" to the crew, a veteran Irish crewman who stands as the crew's leader through the movie. Ian Hunter is also very good as Smitty, an educated man who comes under the suspicion of the Glencairn's crew. The rest of the crew is a who's who of John Ford stock company actors including Barry Fitzgerald as Cocky, John Qualen as Axel Swanson, Ward Bond as Yank, Arthur Shields as Donkeyman, Joe Sawyer as Davis, and Jack Pennick as Johnny Bergman. The ensemble cast works perfectly together and holds the movie together through the four episodic storylines.
The DVD only offers one special feature, a featurette called "Serenity at Sea: John Ford and the Araner," which has some home movies of Ford on his personal ship. The B & W presentation looks really strong overall for a movie made almost 70 years ago, and shows what a good job cinematographer Gregg Toland did in shooting the film. So for a good ensemble character study that is beautifully shot and all builds to a surprising ending, check out The Long Voyage Home! John Ford and John Wayne fans will not be disappointed!
Movie Review: Poetic John Ford Film
Summary: 4 Stars
Along with "Anna Christie", these are two great adaptations of plays by O'Neil. Here we have a wonderful cast of typical Ford actors: John Wayne, Ward Bond, Barry Fitzgerald... a script by Dudley Nichols (Stagecoach), and a unique photography by Greg Tolland (Citizen Kane). Directed all by John Ford; what else can you wish for?
So what is it that keeps "The Long Voyage Home" from being one of Ford's greatest films? I think there's more of the spirit of Ford here than of O'Neil: The tabern brawls, the excess of drinking, the fist fights, the omnipresent Irishness... his seal is stamped all over the film, which -to me- takes away from the original plays. O'Neil liked this take on his plays? Sure, it's John Ford directing. But it's one more case of a great literary work that doesn't translate -as one would wish- to the big screen.
And what about the rough sea scenes? Makes "The Deadliest Catch" look like children's stuff. Sad and beautiful film. A poem in black and white about men at sea.