Morituri (1965)

good back-story, and good acting

An absolute waste of money

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Unbelievably good direction of camera crew. Fantastic helicopter shots with NO CGI! Inside the ship, closeups turning into wide shots back to closeups of other people. Brando is very good but watch Brynner talking about his cigar - what a master. Wally Cox should have been nominated for an Oscar. especially if you have seen his later films and TV shows. But it is the direction (Bernard Wicki) of the camera work that is the reason all movie buffs should watch this twice. Amazing work.

Two German citizens on different sides of the war effort find themselves at the center of a clandestine cargo-grab in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Marlon Brando plays the first, a pacifist expat who's arm-twisted into aiding British intelligence as a counter agent, while Yul Brynner takes charge as a disillusioned sea captain in charge of a precious Nazi payload. Though they're constantly at-odds, for reasons both above the surface and beneath, the two men have much more in common than either would like to admit. This makes for an interesting conflict, as both attempt to conceal a secret that would otherwise serve to potentially unite them. Commendable for the constant churn of its plot, which changes shape by the minute and drives its players to scramble in response, it deserves special marks for exploring the deep humanity of the cast. With but one exception, a first mate who's as dedicated to the Reich as Hitler himself, this vessel is awash in shades of grey, and that's a refreshing change of pace. Level-headed and even-handed, it keeps us guessing and even serves to shock on one jagged, violent occasion.

Surely one of the greatest war movies ever made. Brando and Brynner have both flawless performances. Brynner is a giant in his role. The film addresses a relatively unexplored subject, the need to supply the Nazi army. in this case, with rubber would be transported to Germany in a cargo ship that sets sail from Japan. It infiltrated the freighter a member of the British intelligence (Brando) in order to derail the mission. Brynner is the ship's captain, honest and conscientious man who no longer has illusions with Nazism. Janet Margolin, beautiful, plays a Jew who during the trip is collected along with other refugees on the ship. Film made in black and white has a great shot and was made exactly 50 years ago. It is a powerful movie with great acting of the cast and I think it is a film that did not have the deserved welcome as it is of great value as a cinematographic work. A great movie!

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.