The Long Voyage Home: John Ford

People sometimes ask me why John Ford is my all-time favorite director. There are myriad reasons why, but one of the main ones is that Ford had an unparalleled eye for authentic human drama that was decades ahead of his time. While his contemporaries were still mired in the mud of melodrama, Ford was creating films with authentically human characters. So is it any surprise that Ford would eventually direct a film based on the work of Eugene O'Neil, the playwright that introduced realism into the American theater? The Long Voyage Home is a screen adaptation of four of O'Neil's plays: The Moon of the Caribees, In The Zone, Bound East for Cardiff, and The Long Voyage Home. The film follows the crew of the SS Glencairn, a cargo ship traveling from the West Indies to Baltimore and then to England during World War Two. They carry a precious cargo of high-explosives. This sounds like the set-up to a wartime thriller. But instead, Ford morphs this film into a character study of the men who inhabit the tired little ship. Each one has their own story. There's Ole Olsen (John Wayne), a young Swede who has been away from home for ten years and is terribly homesick (as a side note, I just want to point out that watching John Wayne act with a Swedish accent was both hilarious and strangely satisfying). There's Smitty, a dour Englishman who is accused of being a German spy due to his strange habits. But, no, he isn't a spy. His reclusiveness is due to his great shame of being an alcoholic who ran away from his family. And, of course, there's Driscoll, the stout, hard drinking Irishman with a short temper that masks a loyal heart. Over the course of the film, they will experience heartbreak and tragedy, despair and loss. I was genuinely taken aback by this film. John Ford always had a subtle tragic streak running throughout his career, but The Long Voyage Home seems to betray an unusual pessimism. I wouldn't recommend it for somebody who is just starting to explore the filmography of John Ford. But it is nevertheless a film of enough import that every Ford scholar should hop on board for at least one trip.

6/10