SHIP OF FOOLS (1965)

"It's a ship of fools!" wryly observes the philosophical dwarf and one-man Greek chorus (Michael Dunn) of the luxury vessel he and others are sailing to a pre-Hitler Germany – giving us both a preview of what's to come and a succinct commentary on life. The fateful cruise of Stanley Kramer’s SHIP OF FOOLS follows the intersecting lives of its passengers on a 36-day voyage. From the sad love affair between the ship's dying doctor (Oskar Werner) and a heroin-addicted passenger (Simone Signoret), to the fading relationship of two young American artists (George Segal, Elizabeth Ashley), the characters represent a cross-section of pre-war society including disciples of Nazism, wealthy Jewish men, sleazy dance troupers and the aforementioned bitter lovers, well played by such A-list actors as Vivian Leigh, Jose Ferrer and Lee Marvin. Especially fine is Werner, a respected stage actor who also graced such films as JULES AND JIM (1962), THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD (1965), and FAHRENHEIT 451 (1966) before his too-early death.