Max Von Sydow does an excellent job portraying the compassionate captain trying to find some way of saving his passengers despite the personal risk to himself and his family back in Germany. An all-star cast populates the passengers with strong performances coming from Faye Dunaway, Oskar Werner, Wendy Hiller, Maria Schell, as well as Sam Wanamaker and Lee Grant who both get a memorable scene of hysteria each.

The attempts on land to solve the problem of the ship make up the other part of the film. Most of these cameos are brief, although Ben Gazzara and especially Katherine Ross standout.

The direction isn't particularly inspired, and if it weren't for the compelling story and cast, the film would have been far less effective. It is darkly photographed, which adds to the atmosphere of the story and sets and costumes are all authentic and well done.

Voyage of the Damned isn't a great film, but the plight of its characters and the fact that it really happened will keep viewers watching until the end.

JUDEN IST VERBOTEN..!! (Rating: 4.00)
Review : The ill fated voyage of the SS.St Louis has long passed into folk lore as one of the nazi propaganda machines more devious creations. All courtesy of Dr Joseph Goebbels. Briefly the idea was to allow a specially selected group of some 900 jewish refugees to leave Germany ostensibly to Cuba and then wait for the fallout when their visas were refused entry first by Cuba then the US, Canada and other so-called 'democratic' countries. The reasons given for refusal were couched in political jargon but the underlying translation was, 'sorry but we dont want to be overrun by thousands of jewish migrants, take your problems elsewhere'. Juden ist verboten !. The nazis would chomp with glee at these actions which would of course support their aryan theories that the jews were a race apart, and that the policies of other nations were indeed no different from Hitlers germany. Sad to say the plan worked all too successfully.

The star studded cast here give mixed portrayals of a cross section of the ships passengers. They are led by Oskar Werner and Faye Dunaway as Egon & Denise Kreisler. Max von Sydow gives an understated performance as the beleaguered ships captain, determined to stay neutral and non-political despite being caught in the middle of some diplomatic pointscoring. After the war his courage and bravery is honoured by world jewish congress. Lee Grant tends to overact her role but unforgettable is James Mason as Remos, the incorruptible foreign minister determined to save two young girls following a personal appeal by their father to a certain influential high class prostitute. Played superbly by Katherine Ross her parents are also on the ship and their is a brief but tearful reunion scene as the mother realises her daughters true profession. But this is just one story of many. No doubt the story is full of historical inaccuracies and the purists will howl at this but for all that it is still a watchable film re-enacting one of the more shameful episodes of WWII not entirely of the nazis own making.

Voyage of the Damned (Rating: 5.00)
Review : The true story of the SS St. Louis at the start of WWII with Jewish refugees endevaoring to escape Nazi Holocaust, being sent from port to port in search of a haven to survive. As usual, petty politics complicated their lives and in the end they were forced to sail back to Europe where most of them perished at the hands of Nazis and their Europen sympathisers. It is a (possibly forgotten) lesson in priorities...One that still has not been learned by today's democracies.

Excellently acted true story of Jews during WW2. (Rating: 5.00)
Review : All-star cast (Faye Dunaway, Oskar Werner, Sam Wanamaker, Maria Schell, Julie Harris, Max von Sydow, Wendy Hiller, etc.) recreate the true and gripping story of a shipload of Jews seeking to emigrate from Germany during the Second World War. They have been granted passage on a German ship but then cannot find a country that will take them in.

Beautifully executed from start to finish, this movie is based on the book of the same title. It has great acting, interesting characters and a poignant story. The action of the movie has an upbeat ending, but the final frames of the movie inform us of the ultimate fate of each passenger.

a great little flick ! (Rating: 5.00)
Review : I rented this movie one night because the title caught my eye as did the list of the stars.This movie is very long but extremly well scripted,casted,acted and edited.Story a german cruise ship the St.Loise(mispelled)filled with 937 Jewish refugees. The ship is enroute to Havana but the Nazi government made a deal with some Havana officials not to allow them to dock or let anyone off.The best performances are Lee Grant(oscar nomination and Golden Globe nomination),Osker Warner,Malcom Mcdowell,Katharine Ross(Winner of the Golden Globe best supporting actress),Faye Dunaway,Orsonne wells,Julie Harris, Jonathan Pryce the list goes on and on please rent this great movie!1!!!!