''Morituri'' (also known as ''The Saboteur: Code Name Morituri'') is a 1965
war film
War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about naval, air, or land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle scenes means that war fi ...
about the Allied sabotage during World War II of a German merchant ship carrying rubber, a critical product during the war. The film stars
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he received numerous accolades throughout his career, which spanned six decades, including two Academ ...
,
Yul Brynner
Yuliy Borisovich Briner (russian: link=no, Юлий Борисович Бринер; July 11, 1920 – October 10, 1985), known professionally as Yul Brynner, was a Russian-born actor. He was best known for his portrayal of King Mongkut in the ...
,
Martin Benrath
Martin Benrath (9 November 1926 – 31 January 2000) was a German film actor. He appeared in more than 60 films between 1954 and 2000.
Partial filmography
* ' (1954), as Michael Godeysen
* ''The Angel with the Flaming Sword'' (1954), as J ...
,
Janet Margolin
Janet Natalie Margolin (July 25, 1943 – December 17, 1993) was an American theater, television and film actress.
Early life
Margolin was born in New York City, the daughter of Benjamin and Annette (née Lief) Margolin. Her father was a Russi ...
,
Trevor Howard
Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith (29 September 1913 – 7 January 1988) was an English stage, film, and television actor. After varied work in the theatre, he achieved star status with his role in the film ''Brief Encounter'' (1945), followed by ''T ...
and
Wally Cox
Wallace Maynard Cox (December 6, 1924 – February 15, 1973) was an American actor. He began his career as a standup comedian and then became the title character of the popular early U.S. television series ''Mister Peepers'' from 1952 to 19 ...
. It was directed by
Bernhard Wicki
Bernhard Wicki (28 October 1919 – 5 January 2000) was an Austrian actor and film director.
Life and career
Wicki studied in the city of Breslau such topics as art history, history and German literature. In 1938, he transferred to the d ...
. The filming occurred almost exclusively on an old German freighter.
Plot
Robert Crain (
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he received numerous accolades throughout his career, which spanned six decades, including two Academ ...
) is a wealthy German engineer and
pacifist
Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...
who fled to India under a fabricated Swiss identity after being conscripted into the ''
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...
'' at the start of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. He is blackmailed by English Colonel Statter (
Trevor Howard
Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith (29 September 1913 – 7 January 1988) was an English stage, film, and television actor. After varied work in the theatre, he achieved star status with his role in the film ''Brief Encounter'' (1945), followed by ''T ...
) and the
Allies
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
into participating in a plan to seize a shipment of rubber, which is in short supply and essential for both sides' war efforts, that will soon be carried by the German merchant ship ''Ingo'' from Japan to Nazi-occupied
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...
. As all German merchant ships are under orders to scuttle themselves to prevent the capture of their cargoes by Allied forces, Crain's task is to use his engineering knowledge to disable the scuttling charges on the ''Ingo'' before the Allies move to take the ship. Crain is provided with fake documentation and a cover story: he is ''
Standartenführer
__NOTOC__
''Standartenführer'' (short: ''Staf'', , ) was a Nazi Party (NSDAP) paramilitary rank that was used in several NSDAP organizations, such as the SA, SS, NSKK and the NSFK. First founded as a title in 1925, in 1928 it became one of ...
'' Hans Klein, a high-ranking
SS officer needing to return to Germany.
Aboard the ''Ingo'', Crain finds the captain, Mueller (
Yul Brynner
Yuliy Borisovich Briner (russian: link=no, Юлий Борисович Бринер; July 11, 1920 – October 10, 1985), known professionally as Yul Brynner, was a Russian-born actor. He was best known for his portrayal of King Mongkut in the ...
), to be a patriotic German whose humanistic inclinations are at odds with Nazi principles. The first officer, Kruse (
Martin Benrath
Martin Benrath (9 November 1926 – 31 January 2000) was a German film actor. He appeared in more than 60 films between 1954 and 2000.
Partial filmography
* ' (1954), as Michael Godeysen
* ''The Angel with the Flaming Sword'' (1954), as J ...
), is a fanatical Party member who keeps a close eye on the captain, and the crew is a mix of Nazi loyalists and political prisoners who were pressed into service due to labor shortages. Crain begins covertly locating and disarming the scuttling charges. To deflect suspicion about his movements, he uses the charges to convince Kruse, who is unaware of the scuttling protocol, that he is secretly tasked with protecting the ship from a saboteur, and stokes Kruse's doubts about the captain's loyalties. Later, after one of the prisoners tries to kill Crain, he enlists them in a plan to have the Allies take the ship, while also winning Mueller's grudging trust by persuading him not to fire the scuttling charges when the ship is almost torpedoed by a Japanese submarine due to its disguise as a British merchantman.
That submarine has two German Naval officers aboard, along with a number of American prisoners and Esther (
Janet Margolin
Janet Natalie Margolin (July 25, 1943 – December 17, 1993) was an American theater, television and film actress.
Early life
Margolin was born in New York City, the daughter of Benjamin and Annette (née Lief) Margolin. Her father was a Russi ...
), a young German-Jewish woman who has been raped and tortured by her Nazi captors. Complications arise when the submarine meets with the ship to transfer Esther and the prisoners. Despite the horrors Esther was subjected to, she is still openly defiant of every German she encounters on board the ship, including Mueller and Crain. When Mueller is alone with her, he is able to overcome her expectation that he too is a brutalizer, adding that he will assist her to escape once the ship gets to Europe, a hope that is soon dashed when Kruse also learns that she is Jewish. Later Crain persuades her to join in his plot, but she is disgusted by his lack of commitment to the anti-Nazi cause.
The two German Naval officers, who are familiar with military personnel and operations in the Far East, become suspicious of Crain's SS identity and return to the submarine to check on his credentials by radioing to Berlin, giving Crain less than 24 hours to complete his mission. While awaiting the Naval officers' report Captain Mueller hears that his son, a German Navy officer, has been decorated for sinking an Allied hospital ship. Disgusted by this, Mueller becomes drunk and reveals in a rage the full extent of his anti-Nazi beliefs, which gives Kruse a reason to declare the captain unfit and take command of the ship. Meanwhile, about to be exposed, Crain organises a mutiny. For it to have any chance of success the American prisoners would need to participate, but when Esther appeals to them for help some only agree on condition that she is sexually compliant with them.
Just before the mutiny occurs, Kruse receives the submarine radio message that Crain's SS identity is false, and arms the loyal part of the crew. The mutiny is then easily defeated and Kruse kills Esther for her part in it, but - though Mueller maintains he is "no traitor" and refuses to aid him - Crain is able to elude his pursuers long enough to detonate the scuttling charges he had not yet disabled. The surviving crew abandon ship, during which the anti-Nazi German sailors make sure the wounded Kruse drowns. Crain and Mueller are then the only persons left on board. Barrels of lard in the ship's hold spill open, expand and act as a stopper, temporarily keeping the ship afloat. Crain asks the captain to radio the Allies for rescue, and is surprised when he does so.
Cast
*
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he received numerous accolades throughout his career, which spanned six decades, including two Academ ...
as Robert Crain
*
Yul Brynner
Yuliy Borisovich Briner (russian: link=no, Юлий Борисович Бринер; July 11, 1920 – October 10, 1985), known professionally as Yul Brynner, was a Russian-born actor. He was best known for his portrayal of King Mongkut in the ...
as Captain Mueller
*
Janet Margolin
Janet Natalie Margolin (July 25, 1943 – December 17, 1993) was an American theater, television and film actress.
Early life
Margolin was born in New York City, the daughter of Benjamin and Annette (née Lief) Margolin. Her father was a Russi ...
as Esther Levy
*
Trevor Howard
Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith (29 September 1913 – 7 January 1988) was an English stage, film, and television actor. After varied work in the theatre, he achieved star status with his role in the film ''Brief Encounter'' (1945), followed by ''T ...
as Colonel Statter
*
Martin Benrath
Martin Benrath (9 November 1926 – 31 January 2000) was a German film actor. He appeared in more than 60 films between 1954 and 2000.
Partial filmography
* ' (1954), as Michael Godeysen
* ''The Angel with the Flaming Sword'' (1954), as J ...
as Kruse
*
Hans Christian Blech
Hans Christian Blech (20 February 19155 March 1993) was a German film, stage and television character actor who found success in both Germany and Hollywood.
He made his English film debut in the 1951 picture ''Decision Before Dawn''. In this and ...
as "Donkeyman"
*
Wally Cox
Wallace Maynard Cox (December 6, 1924 – February 15, 1973) was an American actor. He began his career as a standup comedian and then became the title character of the popular early U.S. television series ''Mister Peepers'' from 1952 to 19 ...
as Dr. Ambach
*
Max Haufler
Max Haufler (4 June 1910 – 25 June 1965) was a Swiss actor and film director.
Partial filmography
* ''Le règne de l'esprit malin'' (1938) - Criblet
* ''Farinet ou l'or dans la montagne'' (1939) - Gendarm
* ''Steibruch'' (1942) - Näppi
* '' ...
as Branner
*
Rainer Penkert
Rainer Penkert (23 June 1921 – 11 April 2012, in Munich) was a German actor.
Selected filmography
* ''Our Miss Doctor'' (1940) - Bierlinger, Primaner
* ''Menschen in Gottes Hand'' (1948) - Karl Renken
* ''Anonymous Letters'' (1949) - Axel Brack ...
as Milkereit
*
William Redfield as Baldwin
*
Oscar Beregi Jr.
Oscar Beregi Jr. (May 12, 1918 – November 1, 1976) was a Hungarian-born film and television actor. He was the son of actor Oscar Beregi Sr. and often was billed simply as Oscar Beregi. Beregi was most famous for his roles in ''The Twilight ...
as Admiral Wendel (credited as Oscar Beregi)
* Martin Brandt as Nissen
* Charles De Vries as Kurz
*
Carl Esmond
Carl Esmond (born Karl Simon; June 14, 1902– December 4, 2004) was an Austrian-born American film and stage actor, born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary. Although his age was given as 33 in the passenger list when he arrived in the USA in January 19 ...
as Busch
*
Martin Kosleck
Martin Kosleck (born Nicolaie Yoshkin, March 24, 1904 – January 15, 1994) was a German film actor. Like many other German actors, he fled when the Nazis came to power. Inspired by his deep hatred of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, Kosleck made ...
as Wilke
* Norbert Schiller as Steward
*
Robert Sorrells
Robert D. Sorrells (June 29, 1930 – June 11, 2019) was an American television actor. He died in prison while serving an indeterminate life sentence for murder.
Acting career
As an actor, Sorrells is probably best known for his role as the bas ...
as Koeniger, German Crew Member
* Rick Traeger as Crew Member
*
Ivan Triesault
Ivan Triesault (born Johann Constantin Treisalt; in Reval (now Tallinn) – January 3, 1980 in Los Angeles) was an Estonian-American actor. His parents were from the island of Hiiumaa.
Life
His first stage appearance was at the German Theat ...
as Lieutenant Brandt
Reception
The film did not do well on its original release and was a financial disaster. In an attempt to increase its commercial appeal, the film was reissued in 1965 under a new title as ''Saboteur: Code Name Morituri.'' Critic
Bosley Crowther
Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...
of the ''New York Times'' criticized it for being "turgid." He praised Brando's performance, however, saying:
On review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, ''Morituri'' holds a score of 75% based on 8 reviews, with an average rating of 7.3/10. The title "Morituri", the plural of a Latin word meaning "about to die," is a reference to a phrase used by
Suetonius
Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; c. AD 69 – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire.
His most important surviving work is a set of biographies ...
, ''
Ave Imperator, morituri te salutant
''Avē Imperātor, moritūrī tē salūtant'' ("Hail, Emperor, those who are about to die salute you") is a well-known Latin phrase quoted in Suetonius, '' De vita Caesarum'' ("The Life of the Caesars", or "The Twelve Caesars"). It was reported ...
''. (Hail Emperor, they who are about to die salute you.)
Box office
According to Fox records, the film needed to earn $10,500,000 in rentals to break even and made $4,045,000.
Awards
The film was nominated for two
Oscars
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
in the
38th Academy Awards
The 38th Academy Awards, honoring the best in film for 1965, were held on April 18, 1966, at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California. They were hosted by Bob Hope.
The ceremony was broadcast on the ABC network and was ...
(1966) for
best black-and-white cinematography (
Conrad L. Hall
Conrad Lafcadio Hall, (June 21, 1926 – January 4, 2003) was a French Polynesian-born American cinematographer. Named after writers Joseph Conrad and Lafcadio Hearn, he was best known for photographing such films as '' In Cold Blood'', ...
) and
best black-and-white costume design (
Moss Mabry
Moss Mabry (July 5, 1918 – January 25, 2006) was an American costume designer.
Biography
He started off designing costumes for his high school plays, but actually studied mechanical engineering at the University of Florida. He later went to ...
).
''Meet Marlon Brando''
After having appeared in a series of box office disappointments, Brando agreed to promote ''Morituri'' for the studio by participating in a day-long press junket at the
Hampshire House
Hampshire House is an apartment building and hotel located at 150 Central Park South in Manhattan, New York City, on the southern edge of Central Park between Sixth and Seventh Avenues. It contains 155 apartments on 36 floors.
History Origi ...
.
[''Meet Marlon Brando'' (1965) – Fandor.](_blank)
/ref> This event was the subject of ''Meet Marlon Brando'' (1966), a 29-minute black-and-white documentary film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...
directed by Albert and David Maysles
Albert Maysles (November 26, 1926 – March 5, 2015) and his brother David Maysles (January 10, 1931 – January 3, 1987; ) were an American documentary filmmaking team known for their work in the Direct Cinema style. Their best-known films i ...
and Charlotte Zwerin
Charlotte Zwerin (born Charlotte Mitchell, August 15, 1931January 22, 2004) was an American documentary film director and editor known for her work concerning artists and musicians. However, she is most known for her editing contributions to th ...
. Brando was praised for his performance in the documentary by critic Howard Thompson who wrote, "The actor was never more appealing than in this candid-camera cameo, his best performance."
The documentary premiered at the New York Film Festival
The New York Film Festival (NYFF) is a film festival held every fall in New York City, presented by Film at Lincoln Center (FLC). Founded in 1963 by Richard Roud and Amos Vogel with the support of Lincoln Center president William Schuman, it is ...
in 1966. Since then, it has aired on French television but was not shown in its entirety in the United States until specialised streaming service Fandor
Fandor is a film streaming service, dedicated to independent films, documentaries, international titles, and classics, and is a division of the American entertainment company, Cinedigm. Relaunched in 2021, Fandor offers thousands of films, rang ...
made it available on November 15, 2013.Bernstein, Paula. "Exclusive Clip from 'Meet Marlon Brando,' Maysles Brothers Doc, Available for the First Time"
''Indiewire,'' 14 November 2013
References
External links
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*
*
*
*
{{Bernhard Wicki
1965 films
1965 drama films
20th Century Fox films
American black-and-white films
Films based on German novels
Films scored by Jerry Goldsmith
Seafaring films
American World War II films
World War II films based on actual events
World War II spy films
American war drama films
1960s English-language films
Films directed by Bernhard Wicki
1960s American films