OVP: The Last Voyage (1960)

Film: The Last Voyage (1960)

Stars: Robert Stack, Dorothy Malone, George Sanders, Edmund O'Brien, Woody Strode, Jack Kruschen

Director: Andrew L. Stone

Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Visual Effects)

Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

Disaster movies have been around Hollywood for as long as they've made pictures.  We've talked about early films on this blog like The Hurricane and In Old Chicago, both of which were disaster films of the 1930's, and you can go back to the infamous Saved from the Titanic (starring real-life Titanic survivor Dorothy Gibson to find examples in the Silent Era).  The 1960's are an interesting era to look at for disaster films, though, as this isn't really one of the heyday periods for the genre, certainly not when compared with those earlier films in the 1930's or the true renaissance period for the genre, the 1970's, when movies like The Poseidon Adventure, Earthquake, and The Towering Inferno were conquering the box office.  As a result, I was fascinated by what The Last Voyage would bring-would it be similar in tone to the 1930's or the 70's, and what I found was that while it is definitely something that the 1970's would be more inspired by, there are a lot of growing pains that made those later all-star extravaganzas so much more delicious.

(Spoilers Ahead) The SS Claridon is a luxury liner nearing the end of its time at sea, and will soon be scrapped.  Its captain, Robert Adams (Sanders), though, has a spotless record and has every confidence in the ship, even though in the film's opening scenes there's a fire happening in the boiler room.  This is noticed but dismissed in passing by Cliff (Stack) & Laurie (Malone) Henderson, both traveling with their daughter Jill to Tokyo for work.  When an explosion rips apart the ship, Laurie is stuck under a pile of debris, and Jill is trapped in an adjoining room in what has basically become the equivalent of an open elevator shaft.  The three Hendersons, along with a crew that is being led by a delusional Captain Adams, must figure out a way off of the ship, as this, for the Claridon, is definitely "the last voyage."

The movie itself is a clunker in terms of its actual plot, with all of the impressive call sheet running for cover not just because of the fast-sinking ship, but also because they're pigeonholed into some truly egregious acting scenarios.  Dorothy Malone (Oscar Winner Dorothy Malone, let's not forget) spends 80% of the film stuck under a piece of fallen wall, with Robert Stack attempting to save her.  Seriously-like an hour of the film's 90 minute run time is just us hearing how Malone's Laurie isn't going to be saved...except she is in the end as Stack & Woody Strode come to her rescue.  The plot, particularly for a disaster film, is too thin, not just because the movie is rife with cliche, but it doesn't give the character any room for growth after the first explosion.  Even George Sanders (again, Oscar Winner George Sanders), can't save it as a stoic captain who won't believe the ship will sink.  Also, Tammy Marihugh's Jill is beyond annoying in proof that child acting is a difficult skill to pull off.

The movie's sole claim to fame, though, is impressive.  The Last Voyage was nominated for Best Visual Effects, and it's a richly-deserved nomination.  The film used an actual French ocean liner that was being decommissioned, giving it a proper authentic feel and makes the actual explosion effects pop.  There are sequences in the film that feel deeply real, perhaps too real if film legend is to be believed (supposedly Edmund O'Brien was so worried about safety on the set that he left in protest, only to return to a safer set...and the script being rewritten so that his part wasn't as big as it had been).  The actual boiler room flooding & the captain's quarters being capsized are among the most impressive moments.  It's hard to watch this and not thing the more formidable Poseidon Adventure and Titanic didn't clear owe an homage (if not just a "you're copying me") from The Last Voyage's brilliant effects sequence.