Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

The movie, based on Anne Porter's book, presents a tapestry of several characters on an ocean voyage. Their vessel is a German luxury linear sailing from Veracurz, Mexico to Bremerhaven, Germany in 1933. All of the crew and most of the passenger on the ship are German, but there are also Spanish , Mexican, and American passengers too. The prologue and epilogue of the movie are presented by on of the passengers, a dwarf, Carl Glocken (Michael Dunn). In the prologue, Glocken looks into the camera and tells the audience: "My name is Carl Glocken and this is a ship of fools. I'm a fool. You'll meet more fools as we go along. This tub is packed with them. Emancipated ladies, ball players, lovers, dog lovers, ladies of joy, tolerant Jews..dwarfs..all kinds. And, who knows? If you look closely enough, you may find yourself on board." As the ship embarks, the ship's captain (Charles Korvin) asks the ship's doctor (Oskar Werner), to take his place at the captain's table the first night since he has seen the passengers, and he tires of such people. The most obnoxious guest at the captain's table is Rieber (Jose Ferrer), who speaks loudly of racial purity and society ridding itself of undesirables, while extolling the glorious future of Germany. Though the guests at the table tolerant his speech, most seem mildly annoyed by it. Noticeably absent from the captain's table is an elderly Jewish man, Lowenthal (Heinz Ruehmann) and the dwarf, Glocken. (These two are forced to sit at a side table.) One of the great satirical paradoxes that the movie creates is making Lowenthal and Rieber cabin mates. While Lowenthal is good-spirited about the situation, his snoring only further aggravates Rieber's disgust. Soon after the voyage begins, the ship stops to take on a large group of revolutionary Mexican peasants who are immediately placed in steerage and hosed down like a heard of cattle. At the same time, La Condesa (Simon Signoret) comes aboard as a political prisoner. Other characters on the ship include: an aging American divorcée , Mary Treadwell (Vivien Leigh); a washed up baseball player, Tenny (Lee Marvin); and two American lovers, Jenny and David (Elizabeth Ashley and George Segal). There is also a troop of Spaniards—headed by Pepe (Jose Greco). While on stage, these Spaniards seem to entertain the other passengers as flamenco dancers and musicians; while off stage, they become pimps and prostitutes. (The relationship between the Spaniards and the Germans seems like one between sycophants and masters and may foreshadow the relationship between Franco's Spain and Hitler's Germany later in the 1930s).The four Americans don't escape satire either: they all are self- absorbed, hedonistic, and superficial. At one time, Tenny tells Glocken that the outside curve ball ended his baseball career and "ruined his life." Glocken retorts that it is hard to imagine that anything that 99% of the world's population had never even heard of could ruin anyone's life!! Another vignette in the movie shows a Mexican peasant drown after jumping overboard to save one of the German passenger's dog. Both the characters and their situations vary from sad, to silly, to absurd.The worst developed relationship in the movie is between La Condesa and the ship's doctor. The ship's doctor " a bad heart" and is running away from the responsibilities of his wife and family. He tries to help La Condesa free herself from drug addition, but later learns how much more valuable and responsible her life has been than his.The most sadly prophetic conversation in the movie is between Glocken (the dwarf) and Lowenthal (the good natured Jew). After referring to Bach and Beethoven, Lowenthal claims to be more of a German than a Jew. "After all," he says, "There are a million Jews in Germany. What are they going to do—kill us all?While disembarking from the ship in Bremerhaven, Glocken looks into the camera again and delivers the movie's epilogue to the audience: "Oh, I just hear you say, what does this have to do with us?""Nothing."(chuckles sarcastically).

Like the song says, "Love! Exciting and new!". Not so fast! Screenwriter Abby Mann wants to take you on a different voyage where everything including love is painfully and excessively ironic. Oh, also it's a German cruise ship and it's 1933. Surprise! Made in 1965 and filmed in black and white (which won artistic points with critics and the academy), this is a stunning cast of actors including Vivian Leigh (brilliant as usual in her last film role before succumbing to mental illness), George Segal, Lee Marvin, Jose Ferrer and Michael Dunn. It's enough to kindle interest in the story line but somewhere along the way the movie loses it's pacing and "drowns" (see what I did there) in a long and melodramatic soap opera where the characters, introduced as nuanced and thoughtful, degrade into dumb downed maladaptive stereotypes that give in to "overboard" (did it again) dramatics. The result is a feeling of being trapped on a... well, a cruise ship with awful people. Bon voyage!

I agree with the opinion that "Ship of Fools" is a flawed great film, and it is one of the many movies that made 1965 a most memorable year in cinema. Here, we have Vivien Leigh in her final outing, and she shines, whether by herself, or when she plays opposite up-and-coming Lee Marvin. Marvin would enjoy this year, as he won an Oscar for another movie, "Cat Ballou."So many of the other performers turn in great performances. I personally enjoyed both Henry Calvin and Werner Klemperer, especially because the latter's character showed such depth. Mr. Klemperer, thankfully, was given a role with real dimension, and he holds his own against Ms. Leigh.What really mars this movie for me is the costuming. This is supposed to be 1933, but so many of the styles here scream 1964-65, when the movie was made. This is especially so with many of the supporting players, such as George Segal, Elizabeth Ashley and BarBara Luna, and— sadly—some of the more major players, such as Oskar Werner (his glasses) and even Ms. Leigh. I felt this distracted from the overall production. It was not as if Columbia Pictures had the same difficulties as Fox, which was in terrible shape from "Cleopatra," and which DID manage good costuming with "The Sound of Music."Overall, this is a compelling film, despite its flaws. Well worth watching!

"Ship Of Fools" (1965) movie is better than K. A. Porter's book, and possibly the best ensemble top actors movie ever made.The movie got two Academy Awards....one for best cinematography, and the other for best art direction. Both deserved."Ship Of Fools" (1965) also deserved (but did not get, sadly) multiple "Best Actor" and Best Actress" awards ["Best Supporting Actor/ Actress awards, also].High quality, in-depth acting of true talent and accomplishment have seldom ever reached the levels achieved in this movie, done repeatedly, again and again and again, from start to finish.The movie contained at least half a dozen (possibly more) Academy Award winner best actor performances.....at least three best actor academy award winners performed (incredibily) in this movie (Lee Marvin, Vivien Leigh, and Jose Ferrer), and others (some who may have gotten academy awards I overlooked) were also wonderful in all ways (Simone Signoret, Oscar Werner, Michael Dunn, Elizabeth Ashley, George Segal, Gila Golan, Jose Greco, and Barbara Luna....who sang the famous "Dites Moi" song in South Pacific on the Broadway stage when she was a little girl in 1949!).The titles at the start of movie are incredible, and deserve to be ranked with the best of all movie titles ever presented (someday, a special award for movie titles will be established....if this has not already been done, it is certainly an unmet need.....movie titles are important, are an art unto themselves, and a major asset to movies when done well.........see the titles for Bullitt 1968 and North By Northwest 1959 as only two examples of "the best of the best movie titles...the "Ship Of Fools" 1965 movie titles are part of the "the best of the best.") The Abby Mann written screenplay is really an original screenplay with an original story, by far better than the best selling Katherine Anne Porter novel also titled "Ship Of Fools" .... not at all the same as the book....better! Stanley Kramer's direction is wonderful.Original music by Ernest Gold in the movie includes a German language song performed very well by Jose Ferrer. The title of the song is "Heute abend geh'n wir bummein auf der Reeperbahn," and it is a true "gemutlicheit" German language song, indeed, even if it was written in the USA for a Hollywood, English language movie.This movie is a true gem, and deserves to be ranked as one of the best movies of all times.All movie actors (I am one) should see this movie....it's a chance to see "the best of the best" one after the other after the other after the other.Acting just doesn't get better than is the case in "Ship Of Fools" (1965).-------------- Written by Tex Allen, SAG Actor Email Tex Allen at [email protected] Visit WWW.IMDb.Me/TexAllen for movie credits and biography information.