During the final voyage of the liner Claridon, a boiler explosion rips a hole in its hull. While Captain Robert Adams (George Sanders) and Engineer Walsh (Edmond O’Brien) first attempt to keep the ship afloat, and then get the passengers to safety, Cliff Henderson (Robert Stack) struggles to save his trapped wife (Dorothy Malone).
All the tropes of the ’70s disaster flick are in place in The Last Voyage, a lackluster production which exists only to show how well constructed those later films were—something that is easy to miss without the contrast. With far too many static shots of two-person conversations and crewmen running up and down stairs, the movie is surprisingly drab. It ought to be able to drum up some excitement considering the multiple explosions, fires, and of course, the rushing water, but it doesn’t.
The Last Voyage appears to be an action picture, but is really a melodrama, with all the over-acting that implies (yes, by comparison, the people in The Towering Inferno are subtle). Instead of action, the story focuses on the conversations of the crew and the angst of a man and his wife.
Robert Stack (best known as Eliot Ness on TV’s The Untouchables) is the straight-laced, all-American husband, which is unfortunate as he’s much better in tough-guy roles. As he protectively holds his daughter, his expression and body language implies he wants to dash her to the ground, pull out some revolvers, and begin taking out anyone in his way. He just doesn’t have the suburban vibe. But then, if I had a daughter as annoying as his, I’d likely toss her into the nearest large fiery hole. And he’s got to be tense, being married to a woman who only knows defeat. I understand her giving up (eventually), and even wanting to sacrifice herself so that her husband and kid will leave her and get to safety, but that’s all she does. Her first thought is, “Leave me here to die,” and that’s all she says for the next hour. Even if you sympathize with her, she doesn’t make for electrifying viewing.
It’s not a complete wash. The real liner S.S. Ile de France was used, and partly sunk, giving the movie a realistic feeling. And there’s a proper sense of doom in the slowly flooding engine room. But anything good is countered by the predictability of the story (you always know what’s going to happen as it will be the opposite of whatever the captain is sayings), and a pretentious and pointless narration, that pops in randomly to tell us the ship is sinking in the most overblown language.
If you feel the need to watch a ship sink, try The Poseidon Adventure.
Other reviews of films featuring George Sanders: The Son of Monte Cristo (1940), The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), The King’s Thief (1955), Village of the Damned (1960).