i came into this movie when brando was talking about mozart and the girl tells him what happened to him. did anyone else find her role in the movie from there on out astounding and to be the most depressing story they'd ever heard. i found the attitude and action of the men held captive to be disgusting.
shareYeah, that part always gets to me. And the way she exits the film was down right depressive-but as damaged as she was, I maybe it was for the best
All of us use the techniques of acting to achieve whatever ends we seek. Marlon Brando
Did the American crew captives basically make her have sex with them in exchange for them to do the 'revolt.'
shareI was kinda wondering the same thing, all of a sudden we see her in in a corner crying, but she was so messed up we dont know if this was from being basically gang raped by the American crew or because shes just crying... Anyway, I thought her role was the best and most interesting part of the movie, the subplot IMO takes away from the whole movie because shes so much more interesting than the main plot.
shareShe wasn't raped by the dissenting members of the american crew.
She had resigned herself to accept their demand of giving them sex in exchange of their participating in the break-out
But those disgusting bastards would probably have raped her if she hadn't offered herself to them.
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Paimanish is correct. As to whether her fate is for the best, I don't think so. Many people live with having had experiences as bad or worse, and we are not to decide for them whether they are better off some other way.
This movie takes an awfully dim view of American servicemen. I wonder if this was a first in motion pictures to make them out to be quite this bad.
The film was made by an anti-Nazi german director with a particularly different point of view. He was making a point about the irony of anti-semitism amongst American servicemen.
Many jewish soldiers experienced this including my father and, by the way, Irwin Shaw as "suggested" in The Young Lions.
Quite right, but I still wonder whether there were movies with such a negative portrayal of American servicemen before this movie. Certainly not as many as there would be from the late 1960s onward.
shareI think one notable example would be Billy Wilder's Stalag 17.
shareThough the character William Holden plays has an ultimately positive ending, he's mostly characterized as a self-serving cynic who could care less about his fellow soldiers and the war. Perhaps the comic setting gives Wilder a wider latitude as say, science fiction gave some writers and directors the ability to voice unpopular views.
Other examples in drama would be both From Here to Eternity and The Young Lions, both released earlier than Morituri and both considerably more well-known although the comments about Morituri on this site alone indicate its fame and reputation is justifiably increasing over the years.
I still wonder whether there were movies with such a negative portrayal of American servicemen before this movie.
Saw this last night on moviestvnetwork.com. She said something to the effect that she was headed for Australia. Though why she was headed there on a freighter? Who knows?
According to a later scene she had been in the United States attending school and living with an American family. Why she was headed for Australia I have no idea.
Interestingly I saw Janet Margolin in another movie last night; "Enter Laughing." Basically the same physical appearance but I didn't even realize it was the same person until I saw her name in the credits. Acting!
She said something to the effect that she was headed for Australia. Though why she was headed there on a freighter? Who knows?
According to a later scene she had been in the United States attending school and living with an American family. Why she was headed for Australia I have no idea.
She tells the German officer on the Japanese sub that she is a nurse and on her way to Australia to be part of a surgical unit. She wasn't military, but the American freighter was part of the Merchant Marine fleet which means it would have been part of the war effort. The sailors are civilians, but they would basically work for the military during the war.
shareHe was making a point about the irony of anti-semitism amongst American servicemen.
I'm sure I can't find a copy of the script online as Daniel Taradash's properties are all copyrighted, I'm sure. So I can't perfectly reproduce the dialogue, but when the survivors of the u-boat's sinking of the American ship are being transported to the cargo ship, one of the Americans is grumbling about the special treatment your kind or people always gets. He's speaking directly to Janet Margolin's character and he spits at her feet. The William Redfield character then angrily responds to the grumbler, "We've heard enough of your garbage!"
You may have missed this, if you didn't what did you think they were talking about. It is in keeping with the dark tone of the entire film, one of its many attributes.
WELL DONE!
shareCorrect, but you have the sequence of events a bit out of order. Yes, the one American seaman did scowl at Esther Levy (Janet Margolin's character) and spit at her - this took place during the transfer of prisoners (American merchant seamen) from the Japanese submarine to the freighter. A good bit later, after Esther is being more or less protected by Capt. Mueller - who seems to have taken pity on her - he sends her up to the bridge to tend to a sick prisoner. It is there that the same American seaman who spat at her earlier confronts her again and says to her, "You, up here. Us, living in a dungeon. Your kind always wind up living rich." The injured prisoner, also an American, says to him, "Shut up, you crackpot. We're sick of hearing that garbage."
But those disgusting bastards would probably have raped her if she hadn't offered herself to them.
I don't even know why she was in the film.
Sure, she was easy on the eye, but her character held absolutely no interest for me, and only seemed to create a sub-plot that was not even related to the main story.
The film could have got by quite well without her.
Hmmmmm.
The Opener of the Way is waiting....
Are you crazy? She's a big part of the movie. And Margolin was a good actress.
shareher character raises the stakes for brando in the 3rd act; it's a great example for screenwriters.
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