A Última Viagem

A good decade before the disaster films of the '70s we had this engrossing, tightly knit disaster film about a luxury passenger liner's last voyage after a fire and explosions make it sinkable.

George Sanders is the Captain who doesn't want to alert the passengers and thinks the fire can be contained before things get worse. Robert Stack is traveling with his wife and daughter and having a wonderful time until they learn the hard way that the ship is doomed. Most of the film has him trying to find someone help him rescue his wife who becomes trapped beneath some steel girders. Fortunately for him, Woody Strode agrees to help and most of the suspense deals with their efforts to free her despite no help from the Captain or his crew--until Edmond O'Brien joins forces with them to free her.

All of the details are realistic and certainly the actors had to undergo some uncomfortable physical demands in going through their paces. Woody Strode is impressive both physically and otherwise as the man who gives his all to help Stack. He and Robert Stack give the strongest performances in their physically demanding roles.

George Sanders is rather bland as the stubborn Captain but since most of the action concerns Stack and his efforts to free Malone, it doesn't matter too much. Dorothy Malone is impressive as the woman who tells her husband and daughter to save themselves before it's too late.

A very engrossing thriller...but one that had me squirming uncomfortably while watching situations that seemed painfully real. A forerunner of James Cameron's TITANIC, it tells the tale in a swift one hour and thirty minutes with some of the action filmed aboard the real Ile de France.

Did you like 'The Poseidon Adventure' ?? If yes, you will love 'The Last Voyage'. This is one of the most believable pictures I've ever seen; and not without reason: did you know that most of the sinking scenes were shot on the French Liner 'Ile de France' right before it was sold to Chinese wreckers (by the way: that's the reason for all the Chinese Stewards in the picture)?? They actually flooded parts of the engine room for the shooting. And even the scene in the Dining room (at the end)was real; Wanna see how it REALLY is to see a ship sinking ?? Get this movie... The only really disappointing scene is the actual sinking of the 'Claridon'. But it's worth it anyway...

After a fire in the engine room, "Claridon" luxury liner captain George Sanders (as Robert Adams), in true disaster movie form, orders engineer Edmond O'Brien (as Walsh) his crew to make repairs without telling on-board passengers. But, when the ship suffers a subsequent explosion in its boiler room, everyone knows something has gone horribly wrong. Job-transferring from Sacramento to Tokyo, Robert Stack (as Cliff Henderson) finds beautiful blonde wife Dorothy Malone (as Laurie) pinned under some debris. Moreover, red-haired daughter Tammy Marihugh (as Jill) is left cowering on the side of their cabin, which has lost its floor.

Watching Mr. Stack rescue his daughter is a highlight, even though you know how this will play out; rest assured, filmmakers weren't in the habit of killing off cute little girls in the beginning of 1960 movies. From then on, the story focuses on Stack's efforts to save Ms. Malone while passengers and crew scramble for survival. Stack and Malone must consider the possibility that she - still pinned under a steel beam - should go down with the ship. One of the first crew people willing to help the couple is presciently cast Woody Strode (as Hank Lawson). Writer/director Andrew L. Stone and his wife Virginia make "The Last Voyage" an exciting trip.

******** The Last Voyage (2/19/60) Andrew L. Stone ~ Robert Stack, Dorothy Malone, Woody Strode, Edmond O'Brien

There's a part of me that says that if you want to watch a movie about the dramatic sinking of an ocean liner and the fate of its passengers you could just watch any of the several versions of the Titanic story - some of which were already out in 1960 when "The Last Voyage" was made. They, while heavily dramatized, do have the advantage of being based on a real incident. But there was no "SS Claridon" (although some say that some aspects of this film were loosely based on the sinking of the SS Andrea Doria a few years earlier.) Without the factual basis, this movie depends on the story itself, and as it turns out the story is pretty good and becomes increasingly tense as it reaches its last 15-20 minutes.

The movie opens with a fire in the ship's engine room. So we get right into the drama; there's no build up and no time spent introducing the characters. That initial fire is the beginning of a series of problems that make it clear that the Claridon is doomed; there's no hope of saving it. You might wonder - if things are made clear that early - where the movie is going to go, and I admit that for the first bit I was wondering this myself. But the writers made a very good decision: rather than giving us a huge collection of revolving stories we basically were given just one - a woman (Dorothy Malone) who's pinned in her cabin by debris after the explosions on board and who can't get free, and her husband (Robert Stack) who's desperately trying to save her as the water rises all around her. Throw in their daughter (played by an 8 year old Tammy Marihugh - who I thought was going to turn out to be an irritating child actor but who actually ended up putting on a pretty believable performance as the terrified child) and you have a series of sympathetic characters to root for, and you do empathize with their increasing desperation as things become more and more hopeless. You also have some tension in the crew that serves as a sort of backdrop, as the captain (George Sanders) seems reluctant to do very much at first, being more concerned with the ship (and a pending promotion) than with his passengers. I thought the performances were good all around. The special effects were also well done (the movie was nominated for a special effects Oscar) and even though this was made in 1960, this doesn't really have a dated feeling at all - although the very last scene showing the Claridon going under looked completely fake. One weakness throughout I thought was the repeated use of narration by George Furness (who also played one of the ship's officers who disagreed with the captain's handling of the unfolding disaster.) While it sped the movie along by recounting in a few seconds what might have taken several scenes to establish it just didn't seem to fit with the dramatic feel of the movie.

This was clearly an early entry in what would become a familiar genre in the 1970's: the disaster flick. Compared to most of those films this one stands up very well. It's better than anything in the "Airport" series and although I liked "The Poseidon Adventure" it avoids becoming gimmicky (in the way that the capsized ship was a gimmick in that movie.) Anyone who became a fan of those later disaster movies really should give this one a chance. (7/10)

When I was small I saw a movie on TV with my grandfather that scared the BEJEEPERS out of me: its images of a woman imprisoned by steel beams on an exploding, sinking ship have haunted me all these years. I was watching TCM today and when I saw the opening sequences of "The Last Voyage" I recognised it straight away as the movie with the poor lady trapped in the wrecked liner. As an adult I found the movie suspenseful: no wonder it terrified me as a kid. Dorothy Malone's performance masterly captures the wife's desperation, panic, and concern that her child and husband survive. Robert Stack makes the viewer feel the loyalty and drive that makes the husband battle to save his wife against the odds. It was great to see a movie from my early childhood present a black character who is every inch a hero as the leading character, who fights to rescue the wife as much as her husband does. The characters of the captain and the British main officer are finely drawn and the struggles of the officer to preserve the ship and take care of the passengers while the captain fails to grasp the seriousness of the situation make an effective counterpart to the husband's attempts to free his wife and daughter from the wreckage of their cabin. The overhead shots of the daughter perched on the edges of a hole ripped through several decks of the ship are horrifying and I'm sure they are responsible for my still being scared of heights. This movie's style is matter of fact, complete with a historical-sounding narration, but this increases the impact of the terror of the wife and the growing desperation and frustration of the husband as he races to find someone who will help them. The engineer's outburst at the captain reflects the growing tension that the film creates. This is not just another hokey disaster film in Technicolor - this is a film that shows how people facing danger and death keep their heads to honour their relationships, professions and their humanity. An unforgettable film, and one that puts the overblown special effects and underdeveloped characterisations of Titanic to shame.