SHIP OF FOOLS (1965) ¢ ¢ ¢
D: Stanley Kramer
Vivien Leigh, Oskar Werner, Simone Signoret,
Lee Marvin, George Segal, Elizabeth Ashley,
Michael Dunn, Jose Ferrer, Charles Korvin
Ensemble melodrama based on Katherine Anne Porter's novel, with the usual cross-section of humanity sailing from Mexico to Germany in 1933. Passengers include a washed-up ballplayer (Lee Marvin), a cynical divorcee (Vivien Leigh), an ambitious young artist (George Segal), a woman on her way to prison (Simone Signoret), the ship's doctor (Oskar Werner), a philosophical dwarf (Michael Dunn), a Nazi (Jose Ferrer), and more. There's some overstatement in this (Kramer had a reputation for that), but it has its moments, too. The best matchups: Marvin and Dunn talking about baseball, Werner and Signoret talking about anything, and Vivien Leigh, in her last screen role, talking to herself.
