Review of Voyage of the Damned (1976) by Tonypolito — 18 Aug 2010

There's a true story here well worth telling - which is why TCM ran it. However, despite its stellar and robust casting, this film is totally uninformative and unentertaining - which is why TCM ran it in the middle of the night.

A group of 1939 Jews are set sail by Hitler in search of asylum, to prove the world doesn't want them. Though it saw the night lights of Havana and Miami, the ship ultimately disembarked into Western Europe just before its occupation, effecting the deaths of 600 of the passengers in the camps.

Weak dialogue and irrelevant fictionalized characters/subplots yields up 90 minutes of "Airport" on water, then another 40 minutes of it while harbored.

The American denial gets a two-minute treatment. No European disembarkation even shown, just the Captain's brief announcement of it. Fin.

Top-notch talent on deck trying to float this script, but it's still dashed upon the rocks; only Captain VonSydow's earnest delivery comes close to keeping this leaky ship above water.

Still, the viewer would have to search far and wide to find this many established names under one title. A boatload of industry notables scored at least a steerage ticket; Laura Gemser, once the soft-erotica "Emmanuelle," briefly appears as Orson Welles' roulette table arm-candy.

The casting budget's clearly inflated by set-piece scrimping - and most of the actors were told to bring their own ready-to-wear whites.

A viewer hoping to become informed on this moment-in-history will fare far better by a few minutes of Googling. After becoming duly informed myself, the film just seemed to drag like a two-ton boat anchor.

RECOMMENDATION: There's a condensed glimpse of an amazing roster of talent here - albeit working only at paycheck-speed - but that's the only real cargo on board.