Voyage of the Damned (1976)

The tragic 1939 voyage of SS St. Louis carrying hundreds of German Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany that seemingly no nation is willing to save from certain doom.

Director:

Stuart Rosenberg

Writers:

Steve Shagan (screenplay), David Butler (screenplay),

Stars:

Faye Dunaway, Oskar Werner, Lee Grant

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 1 win & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Faye Dunaway	...	Denise Kreisler
Oskar Werner	...	Professor Egon Kreisler
Lee Grant	...	Lili Rosen
Sam Wanamaker	...	Carl Rosen
Lynne Frederick	...	Anna Rosen
David de Keyser	...	Joseph Joseph
Della McDermott	...	Julia Strauss
Genevieve West	...	Sarah Strauss
Luther Adler	...	Professor Weiler
Wendy Hiller	...	Rebecca Weiler
Julie Harris	...	Alice Fienchild
Nehemiah Persoff	...	Mr. Hauser
Maria Schell	...	Mrs. Hauser
Paul Koslo	...	Aaron Pozner
Jonathan Pryce	...	Joseph Manasse

Storyline

937 Jewish Germans are offered safe haven in Havana, Cuba, in 1939. They depart Hamburg in high spirits, looking forward to their new life. However, after weeks of unsuccessful pleas they are forced to return back to Europe.

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Plot Keywords:

nazi | jew | voyage | germany | ship | 

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Taglines:

It lasted 30 days...You will remember it as long as you live.

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 December 1976 (USA)

Also Known As:

El viaje de los malditos

Filming Locations:

Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sir Lew Grade, Associated General Films, ITC Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

155 min 182 min (video)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Many PR handouts on the mircojacket of Robert Brown at BFI national Library say he is in this film but he cannot be seen in the final print

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Goofs

Several of the hairstyles worn by many of the actresses in the film are from the 70's, despite the fact that the events took place in 1939.

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Connections

Referenced in The Brady Bunch Variety Hour: Episode #1.5 (1977)

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Soundtracks

"Blue Moon"
(uncredited)
Written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart

User Reviews

A Largely Unseen Classic

Voyage of the Damned is a criminally little seen all star cast drama with a veritable who's who of cinema. the story is heartbreaking and true it was all to do with a mass propaganda exercise in which a thousand or more Jews were to leave hamburg for the sunny tropics of Cuba but were never allowed to disembark, the rest of the film shows the dramatic efforts in which the passengers do to seek asylum, magnificent the casting is Ben Gazzara headlines the film has real life humanitarian Morris Troper, Victor Spinetti, plays a German doctor who tries to get his kids off the ship, Orson Welles plays a Cuban diplomat, Katherine Ross is a kindly prostitute, and Malcolm Mcdowell plays a young steward.

this film is strangely listed on my VHS with the running time of 2 hours and fifty eight minutes, the current region 2 DVD is at a running time of 2 hours and thirty minutes! so it seems their has been some cutting.