Guest Author - Judith Hodges

Because of a recent search on the classic film site for an article on Ship of Fools, I decided to rent it from Netflix. Since Ship of Fools is not an upbeat movie and 2 ½ hours long, it took me awhile to watch it. If you plan to watch this movie, here are a few things you should know.

Ship of Fools (1965) is about a group of travelers divided into classes, nationality, and religion on a pre-World War II voyage. The movie takes place on a ship traveling to Europe. The working class group being sent home from Mexico is left on the ship's decks. The upper class Germans sit at the captain's table discussing how the Jews are the German people's problem. The German Jew sits with the non-Jewish little person (Michael Dunn). The painter with a heart for the working class is mean to his girlfriend. Ship of Fools is a perfect name for this voyage.

Ship of Fools is Vivien Leigh's last film. She died 2 years after its filming. Simone Signoret who is better known in France than in America plays La Condesa, a woman on the way to prison. She meets the German doctor played by Oskar Werner. (Fahrenheit 451) He is a man trying to figure out his life. George Segal plays David the Painter. He is in the movies Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Fun with Dick and Jane. Lee Marvin is the angry American ex-baseball player that drinks too much and dislikes people of other races unless they are prostitutes.

Ship of Fools is an adult movie. It is not something for children, however it is a movie worth watching. Beware that the title may sound like a happy love story, but this Katherine Anne Porter story is far from it.

Get your own copy at Ship of FoolsDVD or rent from Netflix.com.