The Last Voyage (1960)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Good concept, poorly executed.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

THE LAST VOYAGE is a little-known but surprisingly excellent American disaster movie from 1960. It feels very much like the producers saw and loved A NIGHT TO REMEMBER and wanted a slice of the same action. This film's gimmick was that they sunk a real ship for greater authenticity, although some superimposed special effects are stil utilised. The film starts the disaster action from the get-go and never lets up until the final scene. It feels very much like a precursor to the disaster cycle of the 1970s and is easily on par with THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE. Robert Stack is the dogged hero trying to rescue his trapped wife and George Sanders the idiot captain who refuses to call for help. My favourite character is hulking crew man Woody Strode, stripped to the waste and helping out at every turn. The film's remarkable suspense scenes and incredibly realistic climax help to lift it into classic status and I look forward to revisiting it in future.

Leave it up to the noble and sexy and ex- footballer and extremely capable Woody Strode and Edmond O'Brien to save the day on this one. I can't believe I've never seen this movie before being a fan of the catastrophe genre of the day. Of course I wasn't even born yet when this movie was made but I'm a die hard fan of TCM and prefer the classic movies over most anything put out today. I was pleasantly surprised to see George Sanders as the Captain here as well....

"The Last Voyage" is an American disaster film written and directed by Andrew L. Stone and released in 1960. Robert Stack and Dorothy Malone star as a couple traveling on the SS Claridon en route to Japan with their Shirley Temple-like daughter. A fire starts in the boiler room and the damage leads to an explosion, which threatens to sink the ship. George Sanders plays the in-denial captain who thinks his ship is unsinkable and Woody Strode a crewmember who assists the couple. There are similarities in the story to the sinking of the SS Andria Doria, which sank four years earlier.The trailer advertised the film as "91 minutes of the most intense suspense in motion picture history" and it's actually not far from the truth (up to that time) as this is a very suspenseful film from beginning to end. Another plus is that they didn't use conventional sets and special effects; the movie's shot on a real ship, the French luxury liner SS Ile de France, which was scheduled to be scrapped before Stone rented it for $1.5 million. The vessel was partially sunk in shallow waters and the crashing of the towering funnel into the deckhouse is for real.Despite these impressive elements the film lost half a million at the box office and fails to break the threshold of greatness like 1972's "The Poseidon Adventure" and 1997's "Titanic." It's more consistently suspenseful from beginning to end, but this reveals its weakness: The film lacks the establishment of characters of those other films, which isn't to say there aren't parts of mounting anticipation. Nevertheless, instead of a great build-up to disaster it's more of an even-keel of suspense.Moreover, "The Last Voyage" lacks the deeper subtext of those more popular sinking-ship films. Whereas "The Poseidon Adventure" potently addresses the universal question "Why does a righteous God allow tragedy and death?" and "Titanic" explores the corruption of wealth and the unbiased idealism of youth, "The Last Voyage" is simply a movie about a sinking ship and the people trying to survive. Of course, it doesn't HAVE to be anything more than this and it's very good in its old fashioned way, but this one-dimensional approach also hinders it from greatness. However, the inclusion of likable Woody Strode in a prominent role well before the Civil Rights movement is indeed praiseworthy.The film runs 91 minutes and was shot in Sea of Japan off the coast of Osaka, although the final lifeboat scene was filmed in Santa Monica, California due to the poisonous jellyfish in the Japanese waters.GRADE: B

This movie isn't too bad for 1960. It is a G rated film and is kind of nerve racking. The narration reminds me of a docu-drama type of film along the lines of 13 Rue Madeleine or Boomerang. Some of the rescue scenes are very amplified and prolonged for tension effect. The lack of a film score in most of the movie is quite effective too. Dorothy Malone is quite beautiful in this and the little girl, although overly dramatic, does pretty well for such a small child.There is a major blooper at the end. No one thus far has mentioned it. I caught it right away when I saw it. This is the first time I have seen the movie since 1960 at the Boulevard Drive In Theatre on Camp Bowie in Ft. Worth. I recall this movie back then. It impressed me for its realism being an 11 year old at the time.The blooper concerns Edmund O' Brien. Count the people getting off the ship at the end and watch closely you will catch it. Also count them getting in the lifeboat once they swim out there and count them swimming. You will see the error. Its pretty big.JW.