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That was an excellent one.

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Blistering performances.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Initially I was inspired to view Vivian's swan song. However, it appeared too much of a rehash of Blanche for any redeeming merit. She most likely required the cash for medical bills. Very sad to see her deteriorate so quickly, a most ardent beauty.I found it most difficult to comprehend how most every single person had to have a breakdown and some sad sack story that overly dramatized such minor plot lines given the grand Nazi takeover sentiment. It appears that due to lack of material, each storyline was extended beyond boredom and to punch it up EVERYONE had to cry, including Dirty Dozen hero Lee Marvin. It had to have been his double since you really could not see his face. I am certain he defiantly refused to relinquish his bravado image and most likely under duress to even have that scene shown.My favorite couple was the doctor and the contessa. Simone retained her appeal and you could see that she portrayed an awareness of her great beauty, albeit years ago. The doctor was the most sympathetic of characters who did not overplay his role and the subtlety played off in spades.I also appreciated the scene with the 16 year old boy willing to kill his grandfather to provide relief for a modicum of much needed loving. Now that was as close to reality as it got in this terrible script! Overall, overkill on the characters, length of film and uninteresting plot lines.Recommend for Vivien fans and seeing Lee Marvin breakdown. This reminds me of "Sleepless in Seattle" when Tom Hanks cries over Trini Lopez dying in the Dirty Dozen. Who would have thought he may have seen this film and was inspired for that scene!!

Stanley Kramer's movie legacy includes several great films that test the limits of individual freedom against the conventions, social pressures and threats that often dictate how we think and behave. These can come in conflict with our own judgement and conscience. In this movie, set on a German passenger ship in 1933, we encounter tragic figures who are at odds with the accepted standards or have found themselves isolated from the mainstream. The ones who try to follow the line of least resistance become rather pitiful themselves. The narrator Michael Dunn makes it clear in his opening and closing monologues that these characters could be any of us. Michael Dunn plays the role of a midget named Glocken, who is comfortable with living on the margin because his own stature has placed him there since his birth. Vivien Leigh as Mrs. Treadwell has become isolated by a loveless marriage where her husband's behaviour has made her a pariah. She took his money and spends her time on ocean liners leading a solitary life. A Jew on the ship is forced to eat at a separate table with the midget and another German who married a Jew is forced to join them because of the pro-Nazi sentiments of some of the passengers. The Contessa, played by Simone Signoret, is one person who put compassion into action, albeit controversial, supplying peasant workers with arms. In return, she faces a prison sentence. This behaviour seems to the viewer to be commendable given the other characters on the ship and is totally at odds with the passengers who turn away from Jews persecuted in their homeland. We see sad people trying to determine which of their fellow German passengers might have Jewish connections. Another couple are distraught by the near loss of a dog while showing no sympathy for the man who drowned trying to rescue it. The most interesting character is the doctor, played by Oskar Werner, who has a brief romance with Simone Signoret. A man of 41, he has already suffered a heart attack and senses his days may be numbered. He yearns for a life that he has not yet lived and admires the Contessa for her courage. The acting is excellent, particularly Werner, Signoret, and Leigh. Any of these people could be ourselves because of circumstances that unfold in a cruel and unforgiving world. The slow pace of the movie is not everyone's cup of tea but for me, the pace made it that much more enjoyable. Excellent character acting among the cast of characters make this movie a treasure.

Ship Of Fools is not an easy film by any standard; too many characters, multiple story lines, the main theme and its length all present certain challenges for a casual viewer. However, if you invest yourself from the beginning, I promise you it is a rewarding ride and you will be glad that you have seen it. Of all the Oscar nods it has received were well deserved, especially Oscar Werner and the magnificent Simone Signoret, who are the heart and soul of the picture. In fact, the film truly began for me with the Signoret's entrance. I found myself anticipating her scenes throughout the film. The other actors are all quite good, even if not fully developed. Until the last 30 mins or so I kept wondering why Vivien Leigh took this micro-minor, underdeveloped role in the first place. Except for her monologue towards the end, she was rather wasted in the picture. There is a certain beauty and class in the film's cinematography (the glorious black and white serves the story well), art direction and the costumes (although not correct for the period, I thought). The director did a nice job in keeping it all together while telling the story; in someone else's hands running these many characters and story lines would have been a disaster. "Ship" is not for everyone, but if you appreciate the history, well written screenplays and strong acting performances, you will have all of it and then some. Take a chance, get on board, relax and appreciate this film for what it truly is: a work of art!

Alec Wilder, discussing the songs of Rodgers and Hammerstein said that he felt almost obligated to don Evening Dress before listening to them and the same may be said about the movies of Stanley Kramer; this is a guy who doesn't do confections or soufflé's, only Social Significance. When we speak of the Lubitsch 'touch' we envisage a snowflake fashioned from gossamer, if there were, God forbid, a Kramer 'touch' it would surely be a sledgehammer rampant on a field of moral tracts. Viewers who had read the best-selling novel by Katherine Ann Porter - best known for the short story rather than the novel - would have known what to expect but what of the good burghers of Upper Sandusky or Peoria who might, quite reasonably, take a gander at the title and figure Marx Brothers - Stateroom - on hard-boiled egg. Never fear, Kramer has it covered, step forward Michael Dunn to top-and-tail it via pieces direct to camera. Given that he is, as he is allowed to say himself (AH, those far-off days of non-PC, where are they now) a dwarf, there's an impish part of me that thinks as a Talking Head this is ridiculous given that there's not much else of him. Be that as it may he tells us that this is, indeed, a ship of fools and even manages to make it sound as though it means something. The cruise ship in question is en route from Vera Cruz to Bremerhaven and the passengers are mostly German returning to their homeland (there's a nod somewhere in there to the reverse traffic in 1945 when Nazi war criminals were fleeing to the relative safety of South America but don't reach for it, you'll risk nosebleed. Porter set her novel in 1932 but Kramer moves it forward one year because, wait for it, kiddies, 1933 was the year Hitler became Chancellor, now, how about THAT for SIGNIFICANCE. What we have here, of course, is a Microcosm, a Grand Hotel with a keel, of you will - or even if you won't, and the movie Grand Hotel came out in 1932. You could, of course, do this sort of stuff all day but sooner or later you have to get around to the cast. In what was destined to be her last film Vivien Leigh draws top billing but is blown away by Simone Signoret with second billing and a shade more screen time. In fact with about eighteen minutes tops on screen Signoret leaves everyone dead in the water and you don't know how good it feels to be able to use this phrase in a context that is actually applicable, she even makes Osker Werner look good. Lee Marvin gives the impression he's in another film altogether whilst George Segal and Jose Ferrer phone it it. Ironically for a guy who doesn't do frivolous Kramer throws in an ending right out of musical comedy as the remaining passengers (Signoret disembarked en route) walk down the gangplank in Bremerhaven to the accompaniment of an OOM-PAH Band. You couldn't make it up. Ten out of ten for Signoret, six for everything else.