Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

Gripping story with well-crafted characters

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

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

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!

Stanley Kramer made some really great films in the 50s and 60s, but this ain't one of 'em. The film suffers from an over-pretentious egotism about existential angst and finding meaning in a meaningless existence—really tired fair, especially when it is not done well. The really tired, dated subplot is that of David (George Segal) and Jenny (Elizabeth Ashley). Their silly conversations about gender roles, self expression, and "belonging together" get really old very fast. The thread dealing with Lowenthal, Glocken, and Rieber is the most relevant, entertaining, and thought provoking. Lowenthal is the most telling role of the film. A truly tragic figure who has no idea of the enormity of his delusions about being a German Jew in 1933.But the whole thing is a mess when all is said and done. The thread about Wilhelm and La Condesa is really a waste, since I can't imagine leaving my dog for the mega-frumpy Simone Signoret, never mind a wife and two sons. Oskar Werner is very genuine, but Signoret is her usual over-rated, tedious self. The two performances just don't mesh, and the result does not ring true.Tenny (Lee Marvin) really is an ape, as Mrs. Treadwell observes. A truly ugly American in the most stereotypical sense. The thread dealing with the wheelchair preacher, his nephew, and the flamenco whore seemed really worthless to me, just a cheap shot by Kramer at religion and morality. But the acting really is brilliant all around, I must admit. Leigh is especially poignant as Mrs. Treadwell, probably the meatiest role in this film. She is thoroughly reprehensible, and without sympathetic appeal. And yet….. we pity her even if she won't pity herself.

There's pretty much agreement that "Ship of Fools" is a good film. With a dream cast, it's become a respected staple, yet not quite a classic.I've watched the film several times, and I kept wondering what was preventing it from a still greater achievement. My conclusion is in its ultra realistic look and feel. Director Stanley Kramer uses the same technical style as in his "Not As a Stranger": crystal clear, razor- sharp photography, lots of stark, revealing close ups, and a pretty stationary camera for lengthy dialog scenes.However, I feel the production could have been done in a more expressionistic, softer tone to achieve a higher poetic and universal level. As it stands, the work seems rather earth-bound, speaking to its particular period. One doesn't feel it offers a very strong revelation for us today---that its enacted foibles and fallacies applies equally to contemporary standards.An example of the latter might be what Stanley Donen achieved in the lengthy dialogs and soliloquies of "Long Day's Journey into Night." Here one feels a timelessness and universality, and one notes softer photographic lenses and subdued lighting employed.However, in "Ship of Fools" the cast can't be bettered, and it may be admitted that Porter's book may have been a daunting project to film. So what we have in this effort is a 3:4-star achievement.

I really love this movie and will not repeat all the things that fellow posters have already mentioned but then some. Simone Signoret and Oskar Werner broke my heart, especially when she picks up a medical book to read to ill Oskar Werner and cites "Lady Chatterley" instead. Their spontanous embrace after this is one of the most moving love scenes I have ever seen. Vivian the Great does the most of the little stuff she has to do with. A shame that in her latter years she chose to play these wornout types of women (Mrs. Stone f. ex.) whereas she still had so much spunk and sexiness going for her. Her scenes are still a joy to watch, sometimes Scarlett, sometimes Blanche. Michael Dunn, Werner Klemperer, Lee Marvin and Charles Korvin are very good. The young lovers/artists are downright annoying. Whenever I saw them I remembered that French "philosopher" in "Funny Face" and it made me laugh. I don't know the book but their "artistic/sadomaso angst" is 50's, 60's stuff and they didn't add anything to the story. Elisabeth Ashley did a fine job though. Who agrees with me that she looked like a young "Rose from Upstairs-Downstairs"? And now - brace yourself - here comes a German point of view. I saw this with an English DVD (you get Hindi subtitles among others but not German ones)but I believe I understood. I still really had a hard time to figure out who would have spoken German and English and Spanish if it were for real. Funny moment when Heinz Rühmann accused José Ferrer of speaking an odd German accent (Rieder was "Bosnian, but close to the border") in English. Okay. On a more serious note I was really annoyed about the casting of Heinz Rühmann, Nazi pet who gave up his Jewish wife in real life not to get his Nazi mentors cross (I wonder what he thought of Herr Freitag, a part I would have given him). His jolly good shoes delivery of Julius Löwenthal without a second layer was terrible. Did anyone ever believe he was the bearer of the Iron Cross? As far as I know they were awarded to "war heroes". Did he put the enemy to sleep with his stories or wore them out by snoring? Gerd Fröbe, Hans Albers and a lot of other (German) actors would have added more depth to his relentless optimism and delusion. He didn't do anything with this tragic part. I really wonder what 2nd thoughts Stanley Kramer had to give Rühmann the part. José Ferrer was believable as an opportunistic gold digger who would sell for everybody for his own advantage. But that was the stuff most Nazis were made of I guess. Cudos to his German lines and the song, they were impeccable. A let down is the Spanish pimp who stressed they were no Gypsies (who were killed by the Nazis also later on) and the friendship between Spain and Germany. Yet Hitlers pal Franco did only come into power in 1936.