Ship of Fools

Stanley Kramer built his reputation as a director with a long series of earnest but mediocre films that were widely praised in their day for dealing--even if in a pedestrian fashion--with serious social issues. Ship of Fools (a shipboard variant of Grand Hotel), which appeared in 1965 (two years before his better known Guess Who's Coming to Dinner), is a slice-of-life look at a varied group of passengers on a German ocean liner traveling from Mexico to Germany in 1933, the year of Hitler's accession to the chancellorship. The overriding theme is pervasive prejudice, expressed most crudely in a vicious anti-Semite (played as a total boor by Jose Ferrer) but found, in terms of class as well as race, in other characters as well. Based on Katherine Anne Porter's well regarded if contrived 1962 novel, the script--as adapted by Abby Mann--sacrifices the book's subtlety in favor of the blunt moralizing in which Kramer specialized. Still, it's a moderately interesting voyage, thanks to a weirdly eclectic cast, which brings together Vivien Leigh (in her final role), Oskar Werner, Lee Marvin, Simone Signoret, George Segal, Jose Greco, and Michael Dunn (Dr. Loveless on the old Wild Wild West TV series!). Although boasting a crisp transfer, Ship of Fools is presented full-frame on an extras-less disc, making this an optional purchase, at best. (F. Swietek)