SHIP OF FOOLS

Oskar Werner and Simone Signoret

SHIP OF FOOLS (1965). Produced and directed by Stanley Kramer. Based on the novel by Katherine Anne Porter. 

"There are over a million Jews in Germany. What are they going to do -- kill all of us?" -- Lowenthal. 

"I've met women like you. You're 46-years-old and still think you're a coquette." 

"I didn't even see a Jew until I was fifteen." -- Tenny. "Maybe you were too busy lynching Negroes to take time for the Jews." -- Mary. 

In 1933 an ocean liner sets sail from Mexico to Germany with a motley group of crew and passengers. Dr. Wilhelm Schumann (Oskar Werner) is the ship's doctor, a married man with a heart condition who develops a romantic relationship with La Condesa (Simone Signoret), a woman who faces prison in Cuba because she spoke out against the oppressive government. David (George Segal) is an American "starving artist" who loves his girlfriend Jenny (Elizabeth Ashley), but fears she is too "modern" for him even as she fears he can only settle for the traditional wife who has no life or career of her own. Karl Glocken (Michael Dunn) is a dwarf who is not invited to the Captain's Table, any more than Lowenthal (Heinz Ruhmann), who is Jewish, but the two sit together and become friends. Bill Tenny (Lee Marvin) is a washed-up baseball player, and Mary Treadwell (Vivien Leigh) an aging and desperately lonely divorcee, who eventually have a distinctly unpleasant encounter. 

Vivien Leigh

Ship of Fools is not on the level of Stanley Kramer's masterpiece Judgment at Nuremberg, because even though it deals with matters German and (in part) with anti-Semitism, it doesn't have as good nor as powerful a story line. There are also some odd casting choices in this. Jose Ferrer as a Nazi? Simone Signoret as a Spanish noblewoman? Nonetheless Signoret did get a Best Actress Oscar nod, and Werner was also nominated as Best Actor. Both give good performances, although their love story isn't entirely convincing because one can't see any real on-screen chemistry between them, although they play well together. Poor Vivien Leigh is given the utterly thankless role of yet another desperate and aging woman to follow Blanche Dubois of Streetcar and Mrs. Stone of The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone -- Still attractive, she must have gotten awfully sick of it. Leigh was fifty-two at the time, playing forty-six, although she holds up better than Signoret, who was forty-four playing forty-two. The irony is that Mary Treadwell acts as if she's all washed up when down the hall La Condesa is getting action with the handsome ship's doctor! Leigh's performance is fine but her portrayal is dated.  

Lee Marvin and Michael Dunn

Michael Dunn, infamous as the evil Dr. Loveless on The Wild, Wild West TV program gives a notable performance, but although Lee Marvin has his moments, he seems to have wandered in from a different movie. Liz Ashley, in her pre-sex pot phase, is more than credible as Jenny, as is George Segal as her painter boyfriend. Charles Korvin is appealing as Captain Thiele. Jose Ferrer is completely miscast and not very good in the film, but there is fine work from two lesser-known actors: Alf Kjellin [Madame Bovary] is wonderful as Freytag, who is forced to leave the Captain's table because he is married to a Jewish woman, but suffers from great guilt because he abandoned her for his career; and Charles De Vries makes an impression as young Johann, whose elderly father is a miser. Werner Klemperer has some nice moments as a crew member who hopes to initiate a relationship with Mrs. Treadwell and is rather cruel to her when he is rejected. 

Ernest Gold's score is effective and Ernest Laszlo's cinematography deservedly won an Oscar. (The film also won as Best Picture, and the art direction also received a statue.) Abby Mann's screenplay, however, just doesn't delve deep enough into the characters, of which there are too many (the character of the ball player doesn't even belong in the movie). The film can't be said to be boring, as such, but it is never riveting the way the far superior Judgment at Nuremberg is. Still, it has memorable scenes, such as the sad one when Dunn observes that Lowenthal is a "fool", because he just isn't able to believe the dire and hopeless future for the Jews in Germany. 

Verdict: Despite many good moments, this should have been a much more absorbing and powerful picture. **3/4. 

POINT BLANK

Angie Dickinson, Lee Marvin, Carroll O'Connor

POINT BLANK (1967). Director: John Boorman.

"How'd we get into this mess?"

Walker  (Lee Marvin of The Big Heat) was betrayed by his associate, Reese (John Vernon) and his wife (Sharon Acker of The New Perry Mason) during a heist. Now Walker is on the loose and wants revenge on Reese, who is now trying to make time with his sister-in-law, Chris (Angie Dickinson). As part of his revenge Walker will take on top executives in the mafia-like group called the Organization. Point Blank is based on "The Hunter," the first of Richard Stark/Donald Westlake's Parker novels but it's much more confusing and less entertaining than the novel. In the early sections of the film the direction and editing are pretentious in that certain sixties style that was supposed to pass for being "cinematic" but only looks stupid. Parker/Walker is a stoic no-nonsense character but Lee Marvin still sort of walks through the movie, and Dickinson is badly miscast [the scene with Marvin and Dickinson in bed together has to be seen to be believed]. Vernon strikes a better note, as do Lloyd Bochner [The Night Walker] and Carroll O'Connor as other criminal bigwigs. Keenan Wynn plays an odd role and this is one of the rare times that the actor is unpersuasive. Transplanting the story from New York to L.A. doesn't help, although there are some interesting locations for the action.

Verdict: Some good scenes, but too illogical and silly at times. **1/2.

SERGEANT RYKER

Lee Marvin lashes out as Sergeant Ryker

SERGEANT RYKER (1968). Director: Buzz Kulik.

The theatrical release Sergeant Ryker was actually the first two episodes of [Kraft] Suspense Theatre from 1963 -- "The Case Against Paul Ryker" -- joined together and released as a movie five years later by Universal; it was not remade. Sergeant Ryker (Lee Marvin) has been convicted of treason because no one will believe his story of carrying out a secret mission for a military official who is now dead and can't back up what Ryker says. The prosecutor, Captain David Young (Bradford Dillman), wonders if Ryker had a fair trial, and also begins to question his guilt after he meets Ryker's wife, Ann (Vera Miles), who thoroughly supports him even if she's no longer in love with him. Young makes such a pest of himself trying to dig up evidence that will confirm Ryker's story that an outraged General Bailey (Lloyd Nolan) orders his court-martial, but not before Young, the man who convicted Stryker, defends him in his new trial. Complicating matters is the fact that Young and Ann Stryker are falling in love ... Sergeant Ryker is suspenseful, has some intriguing twists and turns, and is well-acted, with Miles and Nolan making the best impression. Dillman is vivid and striking, even if he does overact in some scenes, and Marvin, while not perfect casting, has some very strong moments as well. Murray Hamilton of Jaws gives a typically slimy and obvious performance as another captain and an associate of Young's.

Verdict: Fairly strong television drama turned into a pretty good movie. ***.

DONOVAN'S REEF

John Wayne and Elizabeth Allen

DONOVAN'S REEF (1963). Director: John Ford.

"What young girl of my age doesn't contemplate matrimony?" -- Miss Lafleur [Dorothy Lamour at 49]

On an island in French Polynesia lives bar owner Donovan (John Wayne) and his fighting buddy Gilhooey (Lee Marvin), who are always punching each other out over a long-ago offense neither can remember, and the local doctor Dedham (Jack Warden). While Dedham is off-island his daughter Amelia (Elizabeth Allen) from Boston society, who has never met her father, shows up on the island. [She has been told that Daddy's inheritance will go to her if she can prove moral lapses on his part, but this sub-plot is dropped pretty early, with no mention of it made again.] Donovan is afraid Amelia will have a bad reaction if she discovers that she has three "half-caste" siblings so he pretends the children are his own -- a bad idea. Meanwhile the island's governor (Cesar Romero) learns how much money Miss Dedham has and tries to interfere with her budding romance with Donovan. [When 56-year-old Wayne smooches with 34-year-old Allen, it's like she's kissing her father!] This is a perfectly amiable, minor-league film with more than adequate performances that holds the attention while never quite being side-splitting or terribly dramatic. But while it's sort of a slice-of-life movie in some ways, its presentation of Polynesian ways is rather cliched, and it's nowhere in the league of Ford's How Green Was My Valley. For some reason, Ford doesn't use nearly enough close ups, possibly to minimize the age difference between the romantic leads. Dorothy Lamour isn't given much to do as a saloon entertainer who hopes to marry Gilhooey. Some amusing scenes and beautiful scenery, and Dedham's children are adorable. Allen was basically a theater actress who starred on Broadway in the Richard Rodgers-Stephen Sondheim collaboration Do I Hear a Waltz?

Verdict: This shouldn't work at all but somehow it entertains in spite of itself. ***.

THE BARBARA STANWYCK SHOW VOLUME 1

THE BARBARA STANWYCK SHOW. Volume 1. 1960.

When she was 53, Barbara Stanwyck did one season of a half hour anthology show in which she starred in most of the compelling mini-dramas. The show was a class production, with a nice dramatic theme and a moderately expensive look. While there were a few mediocre episodes, in general the stories were good and some could have been expanded into feature-length. Among the more memorable were: "The Miraculous Journey of Tadpole Chan," in which Babs is a woman in Hong Kong who helps a little boy get to the United States;"The Secret of Mrs. Randall," in which Stanwyck is a widow in a war with her mother-in-law [a superb Doris Packer] over an ex-con who may have stolen a payroll; "Size 10," in which she plays the head of a fashion house who has to question her loyalties when one of her top designs is stolen; "Big Career," in which she is a businesswoman with a philandering husband and a disapproving mother-in-law [Elizabeth Patterson, "Mrs. Trumble" of I Love Lucy, in an excellent turn]; and "Confession," in which she's teamed romantically with -- of all people -- Lee Marvin as a lawyer who helps her get even with her jealous husband. Guest-stars on the show included everyone from Yvette Vickers to Ralph Bellamy to Anna May Wong to Gene Raymond. An excellent actress, Stanwyck is outstanding in virtually every episode aside from "Shock," in which she plays a mother who is traumatized by the death of her little daughter. She doesn't quite get a grip on the more dramatic moments, a very rare occurrence for this gifted woman.

Verdict: Good classic television. ***.

GORILLA AT LARGE

GORILLA AT LARGE (1954) Director: Harmon Jones.

When people start getting murdered at a carnival, the police wonder if the culprit is the star attraction, Goliath the gorilla, or someone in an ape suit. Suspects for the latter include the owner Cy Miller (Raymond Burr); his wife, Laverne (Anne Bancroft), who is a trapeze artist who works with Goliath; Joey Matthews (Cameron Mitchell), who has a crush on Laverne; Kovaks (Peter Whitney), Laverne's ex-husband; and a few others. The cops on the case include Lee J. Cobb (The Exorcist), Lee Marvin (Raintree County), and Warren Stevens (Phone Call from a Stranger). [Clearly this is one low-budget movie that has a very interesting cast.] This is a modestly entertaining, generally well-acted thriller that holds the attention if nothing else. Director Hrmon Jones did mostly television work, including a few episodes of Perry Mason. NOTE: Midnite [sic] Movies' remastered DVD looks great in high definition.

Verdict: Fun, even if most of the cast went on to much better things. **1/2.

VIOLENT SATURDAY

VIOLENT SATURDAY (1955). Director: Richard Fleischer. 

While a group of criminals gather in Bradenville to plan and commit a robbery, we are treated to vignettes about some of the townspeople. The problem with this caper movie is that it wants to be something else, a small town drama, with the robbery almost being incidental (it fact it takes place in only a couple of minutes). The soap opera gets in the way of the caper story, and the look at small town life -- a man (Richard Egan) with a philandering wife, a librarian (Sylvia Sidney) with debts, a mousy bank manager (Tommy Noonan) who's sort of a peeping tom -- isn't all that interesting. There are so many actors hardly any of them really get a chance to shine. Victor Mature is the nominal hero; Stephen McNally is the head of the crooks; Ernest Borgnine is an Amish farmer [!]. J. Carrol Naish and Lee Marvin are as flavorful as ever as two members of the gang. Virginia Leith is a pretty nurse who arouses passions before becoming The Brain That Wouldn't Die. A much better Richard Fleischer film is Fantastic Voyage. 

Verdict: Not worth the time it takes to tell. **.

RAINTREE COUNTY

RAINTREE COUNTY (1957). Director: Edward Dmytryk.

John Shawnessy (Montgomery Clift) lives in a Northern county which has the legend of a mysterious, magical raintree in the swamps, which he tries to find but fails. He is loved by Nell (Eva Marie Saint) but winds up married to a neurotic Southern gal named Susanna (Elizabeth Taylor), who fears that her true mother was a Cuban black woman with whom her father supposedly had an affair. What's worse -- for essentially racist Susanna -- John is an abolitionist ... and then the Civil War breaks out. If this all sounds interesting be warned that it's stretched out to a tedious 2 hours and 48 minutes and the movie never really jells. Part of the problem is a meandering script without any major focus, but director Dmytryk isn't much help, either. Clift gives a good performance, but it was clearly affected by the shattering car accident he was in that occurred during filming. Elizabeth Taylor deserves an A for effort but she's not really up to playing a character that has so many different facets and psychological problems. Rod Taylor is good as a swaggering rival of John's, and Lee Marvin certainly scores as the charismatic Flash, with whom John has a race and who winds up in the Army with him. But the best performance is from Eva Marie Saint, who stands by John through thick and thin, and who is better than the picture deserves. DeForest Kelley shows up briefly as a rebel soldier. Fine cinematography by Robert Surtees and a good score by Johnny Green, but this is mostly a bore.

Verdict: Three hours of your life you can never get back. **.