Voyage of the Damned *** (1976, Faye Dunaway, Oskar Werner, Lee Grant, Sam Wanamaker, Lynne Frederick, Katharine Ross, Max von Sydow, James Mason, Malcolm McDowell) – Classic Movie Review 8319

Director Stuart Rosenberg’s honourable 1976 wartime drama Voyage of the Damned was nominated for three Oscars: Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Lee Grant), Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (Steve Shagan and David Butler) and Best Music, Original Score (Lalo Schifrin). Katharine Ross won a Golden Globe as Best Actress in a Supporting Role – Motion Picture, and there were five other Golden Globe nominations.

Based on the 1974 book Voyage of the Damned by Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts, it is the tragic true story of the 1939 voyage of the ocean liner SS St Louis carrying hundreds of German Jewish refugees fleeing unwanted from Nazi Germany just before the Second World War.

The 937 Jews were put on the ship to Havana, denied entry into Cuba and the US, and finally allowed to land in Belgium, when the governments of Belgium, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom each agreed to accept a share of the passengers as refugees. This proved fatal for two thirds of them when the war started two months later. More than 600 of the 937 passengers, who were not resettled in the United Kingdom but in the other European countries, were deported and died in Nazi concentration camps.

Faye Dunaway and Oskar Werner star as Denise Kreisler and Professor Egon Kreisler, with Lee Grant as Lili Rosen, Sam Wanamaker as Carl Rosen, and Lynne Frederick as Anna Rosen, plus Katharine Ross, Ben Gazzara, Max von Sydow, James Mason, Malcolm McDowell and Jonathan Pryce.

Dunaway, Grant, Ross and Gazzara take the acting honours.

Voyage of the Damned is produced by ITC Entertainment and released by Avco Embassy Pictures.

Producer Lew Grade, who helped to finance the film, said he felt it should have done better at the box office, its disappointing returns adding to his company’s financial troubles.

Voyage of the Damned runs 155 minutes but a version running 182 minutes, released in 1980 on a double-cassette Magnetic Video, was released in 1980. The current video version from Artisan/Live is the original cinema version.

It was filmed on board the chartered Italian ocean liner Irpinia fitted with two false funnels to resemble the ocean liner SS St Louis. It was also shot on location in Barcelona, Spain; St Pancras Chambers in London; and at the EMI Elstree Studios in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire.

The Oscar-nominated score, composed, arranged and conducted by Lalo Schifrin, played by the London Studio Orchestra, was released on a soundtrack album by the Entr’Acte label in 1977.

The main cast are Faye Dunaway as Denise Kreisler, Max von Sydow as Captain Schroeder, Oskar Werner as Professor Egon Kreisler, Malcolm McDowell as Max Gunter, Orson Welles as José Estedes, James Mason as Dr Juan Remos, Lee Grant as Lili Rosen, Katharine Ross as Mira Hauser, Ben Gazzara as Morris Troper, Luther Adler as Professor Weiler, Michael Constantine as Luis Clasing, Denholm Elliott as Admiral Canaris, José Ferrer as Manuel Benitez, Lynne Frederick as Anna Rosen, Helmut Griem as Otto Schiendick, Julie Harris as Alice Fienchild, Wendy Hiller as Rebecca Weiler, Paul Koslo as Aaron Pozner, Nehemiah Persoff as Mr Hauser, Georgina Hale as Lotte Schulman, Brian Gilbert as Laurenz Schulman, Fernando Rey as President Bru, Günter Meisner as Robert Hoffman, Leonard Rossiter as Commander Von Bonin, Maria Schell as Mrs Hauser, Victor Spinetti as Dr Erich Strauss, Janet Suzman as Leni Strauss, Sam Wanamaker as Carl Rosen, Jonathan Pryce as Joseph Manasse, Ina Skriver as Singer and Laura Gemser as Estedes’ friend.

Paul Koslo (1944–2019).

Paul Koslo, veteran character actor in Vanishing Point (1971), The Omega Man (1971), Joe Kidd (1972), The Stone Killer (1973) and Mr Majestyk (1974), died at 74 on 9 January 2019. He was born on 27 June 1944 in Germany and raised in Canada.

 © Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8319

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