A minor, eccentric offering from Fellini, involving an odd assortment of passengers who set sail in 1914 for the small island of Cleo. The purpose of their voyage ("the voyage of life?" one character queries) is to scatter the ashes of their friend, a famous opera diva. While the
first-class cabins contain businessmen, opera colleagues, comedians, royalty, and various patrons of the arts, the steerage contains a slew of Serbo-Croatian freedom fighters on the run after assassinating Archduke Ferdinand--the catalysts of WWI. If that isn't enough variety, there is also a
rhinoceros on board. Tensions rise when an Austro-Hungarian battleship arrives and demands that the revolutionaries be turned over to their custody.
With a line of logic that is as scattered as the diva's ashes, AND THE SHIP SAILS ON is a frustrating film which never quite comes together, and which has little basis in either psychological or physical reality (it was photographed entirely on Cinecitta sets, which Fellini shows us). The picture
is worth watching, if only for the scenes with the rhino and the lengthy opening sequence, which begins as a scratchy, sepia-toned silent film that gradually but gloriously develops into a colorful sound picture. leave a comment