Ship of Fools

It’s true, the world is quite the bowl of mixed nuts.  Some of the most interesting interactions you will ever see are of complete strangers from all walks of life crammed into one place.  As the title suggests, this ship, sailing the Atlantic in 1933, is full of all kinds of fools and their time together can be just as enlightening as it can be disheartening.

Stanley Kramer directs a whole slew of characters and big name stars in this film voyage. Some of the passengers include a proud German spouting Nazi ideals (José Ferrer), a young artistic couple with a rocky relationship (George Segal and Elizabeth Ashley), a lonely old rich woman (Vivien Leigh), a crass American man (Lee Marvin), a kind Jewish salesman (Heinz Rühmann) and a little person who observes life onboard and narrates to us (Michael Dunn).  Along the way, the ship picks up hundreds of poor Mexicans immigrating to Europe.  Since the accommodations are all accounted for, they have to sleep on the lower deck, but are just happy to be aboard.  There’s also the ship’s doctor (Oskar Werner) who becomes close to a woman being transported to a prison (Simone Signoret).

When dealing with so many different people in a film, it’s especially important to make sure every character has a distinct voice, motive and style.  Characters too similar to each other can easily confuse the viewer, but thankfully that is not a problem at all here.

It is easy to see that all these characters represent their present world of 1933.  Ferrer’s character is often rambling on about his pure German race, and most people just shrug and turn away.  Rühmann’s Jewish man doesn’t believe anything will really come of the German’s blind hatred of his people.  Sadly, it is only Dunn’s character who is separated enough from the rest of society to see that it will happen.  And Segal’s passionate artist becomes more and more disheartened as upsetting events unfold around the ship.

Some of the most memorable scenes are when the Flamenco dancers are entertaining.  The dancers costumes are beautiful and around the room passengers are enjoying the festive atmosphere wearing party hats.  Ferrer appropriately wears a devil horns cap.  All around the dancing are the little personal stories unfolding more.  Segal refuses to dance, Marvin is drunkenly trying to lure one of the young dancers to sleep with him and a teenage girl is upset that no one has asked her to dance.  It’s all entertaining drama to watch at a distance.

There is a story and a character for everyone in Ship of Fools.  It might not make a bad party film, if hosted well  Perhaps try the murder-mystery style of assigning characters to your guests.    It is not often that a good film can mold so many memorable characters and compelling stories into one solid film.  Between the intelligently constructive narrative and the beautiful black and white cinematography, I completely recommend Ship of Fools.

“I have my own minority group.”

Moulin Rouge

Haven’t we come across this one before?  Ah, Moulin Rouge from 2001 is a remake while this Moulin Rouge is the original.  Directed by John Huston and pulled together by an independent studio, I got the feeling I would enjoy this.

The story fictionalizes the life of Post-Impressionist painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (José Ferrer), who spends his time drinking and sketching the dancers on table cloths at the Moulin Rouge.  It isn’t until the crowd has left that Toulouse stands and we see he is unusually short, just in the legs, triggering a sudden burst of sympathy and mystery about him.  As if the film sensed my curiosity, we get the back story: he’s from a well to do family (father being a Count), rode for the hunt and was taught to dance eloquently, family with big mansion on estate. But as a boy he fell down the stairs, breaking both legs badly and they are stunted.  No woman will ever love him because of this, so he moved to Paris to become a painter.

One night leaving the Moulin Rouge he comes across Marie (Colette Marchand), one of the dancers at the Moulin Rouge, being harassed.  Toulouse steps in and boldly claims that she is with him.  He lets her stay the night and an unlikely friendship forms, even love.  But there are risks and jealousies that plague a relationship with a girl from the Moulin Rouge.  Their initial relationship is short, best to let birds fly, but their paths may cross again.

His pain from losing Maria is what seems to put his painting career into overdrive and soon he’s a success, but he drinks way too much.  Isn’t that how we imagine artists of all sorts?  Poor by choice and drunk as skunks.

Let’s discuss the differences between the two like named films.  2001 is a flashy musical focusing on a love story between a dancer and a poor writer.  Toulouse is the name of a minor character, who kinda wrangles the protagonist into the bohemian revolution.  In comparison, 1952 is much more subdued, except for one scene in the MR near the beginning there is no singing and the love story isn’t all that lovely.  1952 focuses on the art, Toulouses’s paintings, the post impressionist movement and Toulouse’s life in general.  Also, I doubt today’s viewers would want to see a love story between a dancer and a guy with stubby legs, so push him to the back for some comic relief and send in MacGregor for the sex appeal.

Being the ex-art student with a love of the Van Gogh era this film is more appealing than the 2001 version.  On a more personal level, I found myself able to relate to the story behind poor Toulouse’s crippled condition.  But for today’s average viewer, they’ll probably get more into 2001.  I would recommend this for anyone who enjoys post impressionist art or anyone who can relate to physical setbacks.

“One should never meet a person whose work one admires; What they do is always so much better than what they are!”