Ship of Fools (Kramer) 1965 - Film No. 343

Co-Stars: Vivien Leigh, Lee Marvin, Jose Ferrer, Simone Signoret, Lee Marvin, George Segal

Plot: In 1933, a diverse group of passengers board a German passenger ship bound for Hamburg Or as the tagline puts it: EXPLORER, MISTRESS, VAGRANT, LOAFER, ARTIST, TRAMP ... THEY ARE ALL AT THE CAPTAIN'S TABLE!

Pros: Acting, Vivien Leigh, Signoret-Werner subplot, Lee Marvin, Flamingo Dancing

Cons: Too long, uneven, often pretentious & verbose script, dull direction, Jose Ferrer, Segal-Ashley story

Given the Best Picture Academy Award nomination, "Ship of Fools" is a surprisingly boring, banal film. Its "Grand Hotel" at sea with Nazi's and much less interesting. It goes on for 149 very long minutes.

What saves the film from being a complete bore are the actors. Leigh and Signoret are marvelous as middle-aged women with issues, and Werner provides some pathos as the world-weary doctor. Lee Marvin is solid as usual, playing a nasty American Redneck. If only the movie had simply focused on these characters!

The other actors do less well. Segal and Ashley are bland and forgettable, while Ferrer is simply awful as he shouts and sneers in a cartoon German accent. He's completely unconvincing as a Nazi or even a human being.

But the real problem is the script, which lacks focus and is very uneven. Too many characters and too many subplots - most of which are dull. The Segal-Ashely in particular is banal and uninteresting. He wants to be an artist, she wants commercial success. They fight, they make up, they fight again. Ho hum. Other pointless subplots: a 19-year-old German who becomes obsessed with having his first sexual experience and a 16-year-old girl is worried that she won't be able to attract a man.

Further, Kramer shoe-horns in a lot of pretentious statements about racism, antisemitism, the rise of Nazi Germany, and art. And he presents them in his usual ham-fisted, over-obvious, GET IT? manner. Worst line: "Listen, my friend," says a Jewish salesman, "there are one million Jews in Germany alone. What are they going to do -- kill all of us?**"

** = Note: There weren't 1 million Jews in Germany, there were only 600,000 and most of them left Germany before WW II.

Summary: An uneven Soap Opera, made watchable by some good acting (Leigh, Werner, Marvin and Signoret). Rating **1/2