Voyage of the Damned (1976) Imprint

[James Luckard]

https://viavision.com.au/shop/voyage...ollection-354/

I bought the Imprint set. I saw the film once on TV as a kid, hadn't seen it in probably 35 years.

The film has some interesting moments, but it feels weirdly disjointed, like a 6-hour miniseries cut almost incoherently down into a feature. Characters are constantly referring to things we haven't seen or heard about as if we have, there must have been tons and tons and tons of deleted scenes that never made it into either cut.

For example, in the opening, Janet Suzman plays a mother sending her two young girls alone on the ship to Cuba. The whole scene plays out as if we have an understanding of whatever is causing her to stay behind, but that scene seems to have been cut, so the whole scene is just confusing.

Later on, when the ship is stuck in Havana harbor, the captain recommends that Oskar Werner form a committee and lead it, to represent the passengers. We never see a single scene with this committee in the theatrical cut, though its existence is mentioned a few times. We see one brief scene in the extended cut.

The whole movie is like this. Huge stars are left with three or four scenes that feel like portions of a larger whole we haven't seen.

The extended cut doesn't fix this, unfortunately. It adds a few scenes, one of which is EXCELLENT, but it also just adds a lot of extra padding onto existing scenes.

The theatrical cut is a dated but watchable old HD master, probably from the DVD era.

The extended cut is sourced from a digitized commercial VHS, so it's only really for archival purposes.

As for the bonus features:
- Malcolm McDowell interview - 16 mins, he shares assorted memories of filming
- Billy Williams doc - 1hr, I didn't watch, it covers the whole career of the DP, it isn't specific to this movie
- commentaries - I didn't listen to them

Because the extended cut is virtually unwatchable, I'm gonna put the timecodes for the added scenes, so people can skip right to them:

DELETED SCENES IN THE EXTENDED VHS CUT:

1) 35:00-40:00 - scene with Malcolm McDowell and a former concentration camp inmate discussing his ordeal. One of the best scenes in the film, and key to McDowell's character, bizarre that it was cut from the theatrical version.

2) 49:30-50:20 - Lee Grant teaches the children on the ship Spanish, in preparation for a new life in Cuba. Minor scene

3) 57:15-58:00 - Julie Harris cares for the two children traveling without their parents. It's mentioned in the theatrical cut that she will care for them, but we never see this, strangely. This is also her only real scene in the film, otherwise she's just present in crowds, she must have had more scenes in an earlier version.

4) 58:40-59:00 - the captain discusses the crossing with an officer, I see why this scene was cut

5) 1:39:40-1:40:30 - the captain meets with the passengers' committee and discusses how to deal with the fact that they won't be allowed off the ship

6) 2:00:00-2:02:04 - the head of Nazi intelligence in Havana meets with a Nazi spy aboard the ship and gives him microfilm to smuggle. Bizarre scene that feels like it belongs in a political thriller, I see why it was cut

7) 2:02:04-2:03:30 - the captain meets with Ben Gazzara to discuss the political situation around the ship. Very important scene that explains a number of key plot points that are never explained in the theatrical version, should never have been cut

8) 2:10:45-2:11:15 - Malcolm McDowell and his girlfriend talk about the cheerful people they can see on the shore in Havana. Nice little scene that deepens their relationship

9) 2:15:30-2:17:25 - a group of male passengers meet in the gym and discuss being patient and waiting versus doing something drastic. This scene should never have been cut, it sets up a later scene with this group that makes no sense in the theatrical cut

10) 2:18:25-2:19:25 - the captain discusses the order to leave Havana with Ben Gazzara and his officers

11) 2:23:35-2:26:05 - the captain leaves the ship in civilian clothes and visits the German ambassador to Cuba, begging for an audience with the Cuban President. This deleted scene is confusingly referenced in the theatrical version, it should never have been cut

12) 2:36:05-2:37:20 - the same group of male passengers meet in the gym again and decide to hijack the ship to stop it from going back to Germany. Again, this scene sets up the actual attempted hijacking at the end of the theatrical version, which comes out of nowhere

As I mentioned, there are little scene extensions here and there at other points, usually just a line or two, but these are the truly meaningful deleted scenes.

The extended cut fills a few plot holes and explains a few gaps, but the film still feels very choppy, as if half of it is missing.