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Morituri

1965, Movie, NR, 128 mins

Morituri: Review

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Captain Mueller (Yul Brynner) is a German seaman assigned during WW II to deliver a cargo of much-needed rubber from Japan to occupied France. Though the politically neutral Mueller feels the assignment is foolish, he is overruled, and the ship--partly crewed by political prisoners of the Nazi government--prepares for the voyage, a mission fervently supported by Mueller's first officer, Kruse (Martin Benrath). Robert Crain (Marlon Brando) is a wealthy deserter from the German army now living in India under the guise of a Swiss national. He is approached by Colonel Statter (Trevor Howard), a British intelligence man, who threatens Crain with exposure unless he goes undercover for the British war effort. Crain is assigned to pose as an SS observer aboard Mueller's ship, where he can be instrumental in helping the British capture the vessel. Crain undertakes the mission, leaving Statter with the salutation morituri te salutamus, a phrase once used by Roman gladiators that means "We who are about to die salute you." Brando and Brynner both give strong performances, and MORITURI is a handsome film, photographed in black and white often to stunning effect by Oscar-nominated Conrad Hall. Unfortunately, the work as a whole is not what it could have been, a victim (like so many other films) of various misunderstandings and indifferences. Bernhard Wicki, a German director working for the first time in Hollywood, found himself face-to-face with the conglomerate powers of the California movie business which insisted on tight schedules and budgets, a restraint the meticulous director found unbearable. Despite the problems the studio created over money and budgets, producer Aaron Rosenberg did manage to get hold of an authentic merchant vessel from circa 1938 to serve as Brynner's ship. The 540-foot Scottish ship was found docked in Yokohama harbor and subsequently chartered to California, where the film was to be shot. Eighty thousand dollars were put into the creation of an authentic-looking Japanese submarine, a remarkable replica built entirely of plywood. Moss Mabry was nominated for a Best Costume Design Oscar. MORITURI was inspired by the fictionalized memoirs of a partly Jewish German who was stationed as a naval attache in Tokyo during WW II. When his heritage was discovered by authorities, he was returned to Germany on a freighter similar to that portrayed here and sent to the Russian front as part of his punishment. leave a comment
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