JohnHowardReid An exciting spy thriller, produced on a remarkably lavish budget. Filming aboard a real freighter adds tremendously to the film's sense of authenticity and realism. The spectator really feels caught up in the events on the screen. Skillful performances help a lot here. Although Marlon Brando is still inclined to mumble — with a German accent yet — one soon forgets about his mannerisms and concentrates on the double role he is playing. Other performers also register strongly, particularly Yul Brynner as the principled captain, Martin Benrath as his unprincipled first officer, Hans Christian Blech as a mutinous donkeyman, Oscar Beregi as the suspicious Admiral and Janet Margolin whose portrayal of a girl with a death wish is one of the film's most memorable. Actually it is wrong to describe the performances with a single adjective, as each contributes a rounded, realistic portrait. One of the signs that the film is adapted from a novel is this development of characters who are realistically sketched with more than one side to their nature. This characterization is preserved in Daniel Taradash's concentrated screenplay. Most of the action takes place on the freighter. In fact, the introductory scenes are a trifle slow and one was evidently designed to build up a role for Trevor Howard whose part is confined to the introduction. But once on board the freighter with the camera prowling down cramped companionways and infiltrating the greasy, grime-laden passages of the engine room, excitement mounts both from the interplay of character and external action.Bernhard Wicki's direction is extremely capable and uses his real locations most effectively. The action scenes are thrillingly handled with some spectacular explosions and extras milling about realistically, topped by some breathtakingly effective tracking and crane shots obviously filmed from a helicopter. Conrad Hall's atmospheric black-and-white photography, is, despite the hazardous conditions of filming in confined quarters, technically flawless. Composer Jerry Goldsmith has contributed a haunting leitmotif, the sets are enormous and realistic, the film editing is as smooth as silk. Production values, as said, are exceptionally lavish. It's rather odd that a movie featuring two super-stars like Brynner and Brando seems to have disappeared. Even more odd, when that movie offers such terrific entertainment. Perhaps the title is no help. And of course it's in black-and-white!

robinsdh Finally saw this flick from the beginning by streaming it on Netflix. Slow pace by today's standards but worth slowing down for. Various motivations complicate and drive the plot.Was surprised it was in B&W in the mid-sixties but adds to atmosphere.Some good camera angles such as the one following a conspirator as he races from bow to stern to warn our hero.I find suspenseful and worth the viewer's "wait" for something to happen.But I'll admit I'm amused that Trevor Howard is "guest staring" like it's a series.As I noted at first, it can be seen with a Netflix account. Too bad that's the only way but that's where you'll find lots of good movies.BTW: look for Starfish Island on the Web and see what you get.

tomsview When Marlon Brando was asked why he was in a movie such as "Morituri", he replied that he had three households to support and was paying alimony to two women. His answer made perfect sense even if the movie doesn't.Marlon Brando plays Robert Crain, an anti-Nazi German living in India during World War Two. He is coerced by British intelligence into stopping a ship, the Ingo, with its load of rubber from reaching the Nazis. Posing as an official named Kyle, he is to disarm explosive charges that have been planted around the ship, and arrange for it to rendezvous with US warships mid-ocean.As Kyle sets out, the Nazis order Captain Rolf Mueller, played by Yul Brynner, to sail the Ingo to France. Although Meuller is a fine seaman, he has a drinking problem and unresolved issues with just about everything. He is also anything but a committed Nazi, and is dangerously outspoken about Hitler. Kyle is fortunate in his choice of vessel because the Ingo is the ship of the 'Good Germans'. Meuller's crew is by-and-large anti-Hitler, and die-hard Nazis are definitely in the minority. Other than First-Officer Kruse, it would be hard to get a decent Heil Hitler out of the rest of the crew even on the Fuhrer's birthday. Kyle goes about disarming the explosives and despite a few close calls all goes well until a Japanese submarine delivers a German admiral and a cargo of prisoners. Among the prisoners is a Jewish woman, Esther Levy, played by Janet Margolin, an actress who deserved a better role than this. Her character in "Morituri" is over-wrought and over-written.After Kyle explains his mission to her she agrees to help him. The Nazis have left her with such a low-level of self-esteem that she attempts to convince the mainly American prisoners to take over the ship by offering them her body. The script of "Morituri" is rich with heavy-handed touches such as this; the events that befall Esther's character expose a certain degree of misogyny on the part of the filmmakers.During movies of the 60's, there was a trend to paint the Germans in a more favourable light after two decades of portraying them as one-dimensional heavies. However, "Morituri" goes so far in the other direction that it is the American prisoners who are painted as the villains. Meuller takes to the bottle and performs an over-the-top drunk scene before collapsing at Brando's feet. Brando, on the other hand, plays Kyle with such considered understatement that he too comes close to overacting. We have seen Brando's German before as well as his sailor – his Kyle not only incorporates a great deal of Christian Diestl from "The Young Lions" but also has a touch of the foppishness of Fletcher Christian from "Mutiny on the Bounty".The film limps to a close as Meuller and Kyle join forces to save the ship for the Allied cause. Although "Morituri" has authentic-looking scenes at sea, these don't save the story from becoming becalmed. This is because the principals are so well intentioned and honourable that the whole thing comes across as one-note, and not a particularly convincing note at that.

arjunkaul I'll quickly cover this film and then go on to talk about IMDb and its rankings scheme in general.Morituri was for me a big surprise as I wasn't expecting much. Frankly Im not very used to watching black and white films and most films from that era do seem rather dated to me. This movie rocked my socks. It was tight, gripping, and moving. Like a well written thriller played out on screen by arguably the greatest leading men of all time - Marlon Brando and Yul Brynner. If you haven't already seen this, watch it right now. Its worth your time and $.Now lets have a look at IMDb rankings. The Dark Knight was released in 2008 and has about 637,794 votes. Casablanca released in 1942 has about 207,358.There's no logical or artistic reason why The Dark Knight is rated higher than Casablanca on IMDb's ranking. Therefore if you're reading this, do your best to promote the films that you really like because there are millions of fools doing the same for substandard, trashy ones. Now I'm not saying the Dark Knight is trashy but just used that title as an example.