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Voyage of the Damned

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For the Doctor Who Christmas episode, see Voyage of the Damned (Doctor Who). For the Frasier episode, see Voyage of the Damned (Frasier episode).
Voyage of the Damned
film poster by Richard Amsel
Directed byStuart Rosenberg
Written byDavid Butler
Steve Shagan
Produced byRobert Fryer
William Hill
StarringFaye Dunaway
Oskar Werner
Lee Grant
Max von Sydow
James Mason
Malcolm McDowell
CinematographyBilly Williams
Music byLalo Schifrin
Distributed byAVCO Embassy Pictures
Release date
  • 22 December 1976 (1976-12-22)
Running time
155 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Voyage of the Damned is a a 1976 drama film, which was based on a 1974 book written by Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts with the same title.[1] The story was inspired by true events concerning the fate of the MS St. Louis ocean liner carrying Jewish refugees from Germany to Cuba in 1939.

Director and cast

The 1976 film was directed by Stuart Rosenberg, with a screenplay by David Butler and Steve Shagan. It was produced by ITC Entertainment and released by Avco Embassy Pictures.

The cast included Faye Dunaway, Laura Gemser, Lee Grant, Oskar Werner, Sam Wanamaker, Lynne Frederick, Luther Adler, Wendy Hiller, Julie Harris, Nehemiah Persoff, Paul Koslo, Jonathan Pryce, Max von Sydow, Malcolm McDowell, Orson Welles, James Mason, Katharine Ross, José Ferrer, Ben Gazzara, Fernando Rey, Maria Schell, Janet Suzman, Helmut Griem, Victor Spinetti and Denholm Elliott.

It was also the final film starring Oskar Werner.

Plot

Based on actual events, this film tells the story of the 1939 voyage of the MS St. Louis, which departed from Hamburg carrying 937 Jews from Germany, ostensibly to Havana, Cuba. The passengers, having seen and suffered rising anti-Semitism in Germany, realised this might be their only chance to escape. The film details the emotional journey of the passengers who gradually become aware that their passage was planned as an exercise in propaganda, and that it had never been intended that they disembark in Cuba. Rather, they were to be set up as Pariahs, to set an example before the world. As a Nazi official states in the film, when the whole world has refused to accept them as refugees, no country can blame Germany for the fate of the Jews.

The Cuban Government refuses entry to the passengers, and as the liner waits off the Florida coast, they learn that the United States also has rejected them, leaving the ship no choice but to return to Europe. The captain tells a confidante that he has received a letter signed by 200 passengers saying they will join hands and jump into the sea rather than return to Germany. He states his intention to run the liner aground on a reef off the southern coast of England.

Shortly before the film's end, it is revealed that the governments of Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom have each agreed to accept a share of the passengers as refugees. As they cheer and clap at the news, footnotes disclose the fates of some of the main characters, suggesting that more than 600 of the 937 passengers who did not make it to the UK ultimately lost their lives in Nazi concentration camps.

Production

The movie was filmed on location in Barcelona, Spain, St. Pancras Chambers in London, and the EMI Elstree Studios in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire.

Actual death toll

The true death toll is unclear. The book of these events estimates a much lower number of deaths. By using the survival rates for Jews in various countries, Thomas and Morgan-Witts estimated 180 of the St. Louis refugees in France, 152 of those in Belgium, and 60 of those in the Netherlands would have survived the Holocaust. Adding to these the passengers who disembarked in England, they estimated that of the original 936 refugees (one man died during the voyage), roughly 709 survived and 227 were slain.[2][3] (See the relevant article.) In 1998, Scott Miller and Sarah Ogilvie of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum traced the survivors from the voyage. They concluded that a total of 254 refugees died at the hands of the Nazis.[4]

Alternate version

The complete, uncut version of the film was 182 minutes long. It was released only once, on the Magnetic Video label in 1980.

Awards

The film was nominated for three Academy Awards:

It was nominated for six Golden Globe Awards, winning one:

It was nominated in the categories of:

Soundtrack

Untitled

The film score was composed, arranged and conducted by Lalo Schifrin and the soundtrack album was released on the Entr'Acte label in 1977.[5]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Lalo Schifrin

No.TitleLength
1."Main Title"2:21
2."House Painter March"1:49
3."Hotel Nacionale"2:18
4."What's Past is Past; Affirmation of Love"2:51
5."Lament"2:30
6."The Arrival; Theme of Hope"3:21
7."The Captain; Goodbye Aunt Jenny; We Need Help"3:11
8."So Many Things I Wanted to Say"2:08
9."To Be A Woman"2:07
10."Tragedy; Time Pulse"3:59
11."Our Prayers Have Been Answered"2:16
12."End Credits (Foxtrot)"2:30

Personnel

See also

References

  1. ^ Thomas, Gordon and Witts, Max Morgan (1974). Voyage of the Damned. Konecky & Konecky. ISBN 1-56852-579-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ Rosen, pp. 447, 567 citing Morgan-Witts and Thomas (1994) pp.8, 238
  3. ^ Rosen, Robert (2006-07-17). Saving the Jews (Speech). Carter Center (Atlanta, Georgia). Retrieved 2007-07-17.
  4. ^ http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27373131
  5. ^ Payne, D. Lalo Schifrin discography accessed March 16, 2012
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