Morituri

Rating:
Summary: Underrated and in some ways gripping
Review: Brando plays a German who bolted from Deutschland when the war was about to start. He is recruited against his will by Statter (Trevor Howard), a British officer to attempt to save for the British a cargo of rubber on its way form Japan to France. Aside from the suicidal aspects of the project as pointed out by Brando's character Schroeder and its improbability in the real war, the movie has a mostly believable and compelling plot. The compassionless brutality of the ... is better and more realistically portrayed in this film than all but a few others, and it is graphically emphasized by the black and white format. A one point, a beautiful, young woman is casually shot with evident relish between the eyes by the ship's second officer, who is an enthusiastic .... Some American captive sailors are shown as cringing brutes without a great deal more moral cognizance than their Nazi captors. Yul Bryner struggles between loyalty to the Fatherland and his inner ... imperatives. In some ways, the movie is a polemic, but in others not. In any case, it is a gripping thriller, and the acting is uniformly excellent.

Rating:
Summary: Great Brando Flick
Review: Classic world-war 2 drama about a Nazi cargo ship wanted by the allies. British Intelligence sends a counter-espionage German agent who balances on the ship between life & death. A cool little film,very gripping. I was entertained immensely,any film Brando is in is worth buying in my view.

Rating:
Summary: Underrated and in some ways gripping
Review: I am a Marlon Brando fan. To be honest I see no reason to see this movie if you are not. For a 60's Brando film this is probably one of the best. He seems to care. His German accent wears thin by the end of the film, but the plot is relativly engaging. Check it out.

Rating:
Summary: Worth Seeing Once
Review: I am a Marlon Brando fan. To be honest I see no reason to see this movie if you are not. For a 60's Brando film this is probably one of the best. He seems to care. His German accent wears thin by the end of the film, but the plot is relativly engaging. Check it out.

Rating:
Summary: Not a bad WWII movie
Review: I just happened across this movie off the Satellite. So I decided to buy it because I found it a pretty fair WWII movie. Marlon was using his "Young Lions" German accent. Yul Brenner was the ships captain. Subversion of the Third Reich working aboard ship. Failed mutiny but lots of acting and developemnt of characters. Not just blowing up ships. Not a great movie but holds your interest and entertaining if you like Brando and Brenner (I do!)

Rating:
Summary: The quest to steal Hitler's rubber...
Review: It's thought by many that Marlon Brando was probably one of the greatest actors to grace the silver screen, if not one of the weirdest (at least later in his life). Based on that alone (his acting, not his weirdness), I purchased Morituri (1965), having heard little to nothing about the film. The fact it also stars Yul Brynner didn't hurt either. Regardless, I am glad I picked this one up, as it's really quite good.

The title, as far as I can tell, is Latin meaning `for those about to die', which seems apt after watching the film. Directed by Bernhard Wicki, someone I've never heard of, probably because he was an Austrian who mainly directed German films, the film stars Marlon Brando and Yul Brynner. Also appearing are Janet Margolin (Nevada Smith), Trevor Howard (The Third Man), and a German actor I've never heard of named Martin Benrath who I thought was quite good.

The film, set during WWII, begins with German Captain Rolf Mueller being given charge of a cargo ship, leaving Japan and destined for occupied France, one that contains critical raw materials, mainly rubber, important for Germany's war effort. He's none too happy with his assignment, as some of the crew is made up of undesirables and political prisoners destined to be tried upon arrival (I would guess they wouldn't be to eager to reach their destination). The Allied forces, on learning of the contents of the ship, approach Robert Crain, a German demolitions expert and ex-patriot hiding in English ruled India, for the purpose of getting him on the ship, not to blow up the ship, but to disarm the scuttle charges (apparently German ships contained explosives so that if they were to get captured, the captain was to detonate the explosives and `scuttle', or sink, the vessel to keep it out of enemy hands). The Allies want the contents of the ship, not only to hinder Germany's war efforts, but also to assist their own. With assistance, Crain does get aboard the ship, under the guise of an SS security officer named Hans Kyle. Members of the SS, it seems, were not entirely popular by any one's account, especially not by other Germans (think the police and their dislike for their own internal affairs division). This creates complications for Crain/Kyle, as he must secretly search the ship for an unknown number of explosive charges, disarm them, within a certain amount of time, all while keeping the captain and the crew `in the dark'. Not only that, but the ship is forced to take on a group of American prisoners for transport. Things are getting hairier by the minute...

Most of the film takes place on a cargo ship, providing for a very claustrophobic, tense atmosphere throughout. Brando plays his role in a very subdued manner, but it works well. I thought his German accent a bit odd, not entirely bad, just odd, but I got used to it, especially since the movie runs about two hours. Not only did Brando have the acting chops to pull off his character, but he also had the physique, as he had to run, climb, swing and crawl to get around the ship to disable the explosive charges. He seemed very within character, especially the parts when his character discussed his feelings against against war in general. Brynner was also very good as a non-party German, who, while maybe not believing in his leaders political motives, wasn't a traitor either. I really liked the diverse complexity, including compassion and kindness, of his character, the sailor committed to his duties, forced to captain this particular ship with a questionable crew. There was a great deal of character development throughout, which served well to really display the differences among the German people in general with regards to their feelings and loyalties towards their leadership and/or their country. I thought the direction of the film to be really good, as the camera always seemed position in such a way to capture the best possible point of view for that particular scene. The story moved along well, although some will say it was too slow, but I didn't think so...I found myself pretty much glued to the screen, enjoying all aspects of the movie. One of my favorite scenes was when Crain/Kyle is confronted in closed quarters by two German officers from the submarine, which delivered the American prisoners. His ability to play on their own sense of paranoia as they questioned him about his reason for being on the ship was very intelligent and interesting to watch. The plot is complicated, but if you can watch with no distractions, you should be able to follow it along well.

The anamorphic wide screen picture on this DVD looks pretty good, but I did feel it could have been cleaned up a little. There were some very minor flaws visible every once in awhile, but the main thing I noticed was the `softness' in the black parts when scenes were heavily shadowed. It's kind of hard to explain, but a bit more noticeable than the other flaws. As far as special features go, there's a teaser trailer for the film (I'm unsure who made this, but after watching the movie, I felt the person who did make it had no idea or even a sense of what the film was about, as it presented something other than what the movie was, at least I felt), and original theatrical trailer, and trailers for some other, older Fox war films like Crash Dive (1943), The Hunters (1958), and What Price Glory (1952). All in all, I thought Morituri was very decent, well made film rich with characters and a complex plot that rewards those with the patience to enjoy the more sophisticated side of films (I'm not trying to be snobby here, but I do feel this film hasn't gotten the attention it deserves, unduly so).

Cookieman108


Rating:
Summary: Brando's All this and World War 2
Review: MAD magazine once compared movies made after the war with movies made during the war. This is DEFINITELY one made after the war. Somewhat sympathetic toward our German hosts, Brando as an SS officer but in reality a hired spy for the Allies and Yule Brenner in one of his best roles as a Captain for the German Merchant marine now unsure of his countries policy and beliefs. Improbable but interestingly written, the plot surrounds a vital shipment of Rubber bound for the Axis powers. Brando is blackmailed into stopping it by not allowing it to fall into enemy hands. He has a toxic relationship with Brenner, a Captain with a reputation for being drunk on duty.He frequently mocks Nazi ideals and is disappointed in his son, a Nazi sub officer who sinks hospital ships for a living. He even tries to hide a Jewish woman from the usual crew of fanatics on board in a "good samaritan" sequence which never would have appeared in a war period picture. Filmed in appropriate and errie Black & White, it features an excellent supporting cast and Brando in a very interesting role. Well worth it, off the beaten path of the usual war picture and shows imperfections on all sides. The Title is based on the salute of Gladiators in ancient Rome about to die in the arena.

Rating:
Summary: Exceptional war drama
Review: Marlon Brando plays a German deserter and ex-patriot living in British occupied India unwillingly drawn into a war he doesn't believe in. Blackmailed by a British Commander (Trevor Howard), Brando goes undercover on a German freighter to try and disable explosives designed to scuttle the ship in case of capture. The hardnosed Captain (Yul Brynner) has Allied prisoners and a concentration camp survivor (Janet Margolin)that he's ferrying from Japan to German. More importantly, his precious cargo is desperately needed to fuel the war effort in Germany.

Fox has done a great job transferring this fine film to DVD. The widescreen presentation and rich Deluxe vividly come to life with remarkable clarity and sharpness. While a couple of sequences look a bit soft, on the whole, the transfer is remarkably accurate and rich.

There really aren't any extras to speak of on this DVD. That's a pity. We do get the original theatrical trailer and preview trailer though.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent underrated movie!
Review: Morituri is an excellent Film which suprisingly is virtually unknown.It is an epsionage thriller set aboard a German freighter in WW2 which is taking back rubber from Japan.A German agent working for the British is on the ship to try and deliver the rubber into allied hands.

Marlon Brando is the agent and is as usual excellent in his role. But the best performance comes from Yul Brynner as Captain Mueller who is sick of the war and Hitler and the Nazis. Also Trevor Howard puts in a brief performance as the cynical Col.Slater which is good too. Excellent piece of cinema!

Rating:
Summary: The more I watch, the more I like
Review: The first time I watched this film, I must admit that I fell asleep during it. But over time, after viewing it several times, I found that it was not as bad as I initially thought. In fact it was somewhat entertaining. Some parts of the film are indeed gripping, but for the most part the film is slow-paced. Brando gives a captivating performance, considering what he has to work with, as a saboteur sent to disarm explosives on a ship traveling from Japan to Germany. But I believe top honors go to Yul Brynner in his performance as a grouchy, no nonsense sea captain, who seems more concerned with lighting up a cigar than anything else. Brynner provides a nice and interesting contrast to Brando's cool, slick and self-contained character. And not to be overlooked, actress Janet Margolin, gives a powerful performance as a Jewish refugee that makes the ultimate sacrifice to aid in the effort of disarmimg the ship, her performance alone deserves a star. Overall, I recommend this film with reservations. If you're looking for a faced paced edge of your seat thriller, look elsewhere. But if you're just looking for a decent 1960's Brando film that gets better over repeated viewings then you've come to the right place.