Rewriting the Classics?

[moira finnie]

Do you ever find yourself wishing you could rewrite a few classic movies?

A few minutes of Ship of Fools (1965) this afternoon reminded me that the boatload full of big and small stories in that Stanley Kramer film sometimes shortchanged certain characters and lavished attention on others who were sort of annoying, rather than revelatory. That particular movie seemed to have at least four good stories to tell. For instance, I could have done with less of the slobbering baseball player Lee Marvin. Sorry, but for me, this is not Lee's finest portrayal by a long shot--and normally Marvin has no problem making repellent characters riveting.

I would have loved a movie that focused on Heinz Rühmann and Michael Dunn as the two outcasts on the boat--one because he was a Jew (who also happened to be a patriotic German) and the other because he was a dwarf (and perhaps the most perceptive individual on the ship). These two actors would never have an American commercial movie made about them, but I'm sure you get my drift.

Are there any other changes you would like to make in this movie? Are there other films that cry out for rewriting or the shifting of the film's focus from central to other characters?

[JackFavell]

I'd like to see individual movies devoted to each of these characters -

Simone Signoret - OK. Her movie could include Oskar Werner. I found her the most fascinating character in the movie this time, and that is saying a lot with Viv in the cast.
Michael Dunn - as always, brilliant.
Vivien Leigh
Heinz Ruhmann
George Segal not because he was so very interesting, but because I just like him. He has a high likability factor.

Well, maybe it would have just been better had they cut the George Segal section out, I felt it was weak, though I liked the plot idea of a woman giving up her being for a man. It just didn't seem to belong in this particular movie.

About the dog - that section of the story suddenly reminded me of The Wild Bunch's ants versus scorpion.

I think the scene with Marvin and Leigh at the end is great, I just wish that his character had more to do than drool... it would have been better if he and Viv had more scenes together, they are like fire and ice - a little like Viv and Marlon. They could produce electricity if given a chance. Maybe a whole movie with them could have been amazing? Even if not, it would have been interesting.

[MissGoddess]

Interesting thoughts. Wendy, I share your revision ideas. I wanted more from Lee and he didn't give. I liked the Signoret and Werner couple, too, and this is saying a lot for me as I am not particularly a fan of either performer. I find them both usually lackng in humor. They felt warmer and there were moments of rueful humor that I enjoyed. I like George Segal, too. He is quite good in Invitation to a Gunfighter. Doesn't try to steal the show from Yul Brynner, but still good as a man robbed of his home while serving in the civil war. I also liked him in that spy movie from the sixties, the one with the famous theme music (ha, not Bond).

But oh, that show he's in now on TV Land looks like drech.

Moira, I've seen Michael Dunn in many tv shows of the period, but this is one of the few big screen roles he seemed to get.

Usually, my "re-write" fantasies mean subtituting tragic endings for happy ones. Like the end of Will Penny. I feel the audience DESERVED a more hopeful ending after all we went through during the course of the film.

[JackFavell]

I agree about Will Penny!

It's taken me a while to warm to Simone Signoret, but I really like her now. Her biography was one of the most interesting I've ever read, but I think as an aging woman she has more appeal for me nowadays. She was very, very moving in this movie, her eyes and face were so emotive, expressive of lost chances and like you said, humor at life's absurdities. She remained very classy at the end, and she reminded me of that scene in The Lady and the Bullfighter where they describe Katy Jurado as having "stature".

[charliechaplinfan]

I watched this movie because it was Vivien's last but found my focus shifting to Oscar Werner and Simone Signoret, I really enjoyed their romance but I would have rewritten it so that the doctor realised his mistake in not leaving with her and went off in search of her at the next opportunity. I'd love to see Werner in more, so taken have I been with his portrayal here and also in Jules Et Jim that I looked him up on the imdb, a man with talent and demons in equal measure, with a lovely accent. I love Simone Signoret, she never fails to deliver on screen. (I'd recommend The Widow Couderc to anyone who hasn't seen it).

Heinz Ruhman and Michael Dunn are wonderful but their parts aren't big enough, I would rather lose other segments and expand others.

Lee Marvin didn't come across, he either needed his part expanded and given more dimensions, as his confrontation with Vivien was a good scene, not his best work. I wish Viven had more to do. The Spanish dancers could have gone for me, as could the daughter who transforms herself with encouragement from other passengers and her parents. Elizabeth Ashley and George Segal's segment could have dissappeared too.

I'd expected more confrontation between the German passengers with it being set as Hitler seized power but it keeps making stabs at it but never fully gets there, like it was a film that was meant to say something but never fully got there.