#feel bloated and overblown. idk‚ less than the sum of its parts (some of which are profoundly affecting: Victor Spinetti silently weeping
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Voyage of the Damned (1976)
"Will we ever come back?"
"It's only a temporary madness. Of course we come back."
#voyage of the damned#stuart rosenberg#david butler#steve shagan#faye dunaway#oskar werner#lee grant#sam wanamaker#lynne frederick#julie harris#wendy hiller#maria schell#max von sydow#malcolm mcdowell#georgina hale#orson welles#james mason#katharine ross#victor spinetti#a... conflicting film. the true story of the voyage of the St. Louis‚ carrying Jewish refugees from Germany on the eve of WW2‚ and the#efforts of her captain‚ and of various individuals aboard and elsewhere�� to secure the safety of her passengers as country after country#refused them entry; that is a powerful story and deserved telling and telling well. and sometimes this nails it: more than once i was in#tears‚ there are individual scenes of great impact‚ and deeply moving performances and writing contained here. but just as often‚ the sheer#spectacle of the treatment risks obscuring the message; this was an 'all star' movie‚ heavily promoted as such‚ and at 2.5 hrs long it can#feel bloated and overblown. idk‚ less than the sum of its parts (some of which are profoundly affecting: Victor Spinetti silently weeping#as he waits to hear if his children will be allowed to join him in Cuba‚ every scene with Katherine Ross). the cast might be distractingly#starry (and also unfortunately mostly gentile‚ a disappointing misstep by producers) but some are doing incredible work here#of particular note is Werner‚ in his final ever screen role‚ and at this point more or less written off by the film world as a hopeless#alcoholic who couldn't be trusted to turn up‚ let alone act: he delivers one of his finest‚ most complex performances and in the process#recaptures some of the magical screen presence of his youth
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