Voyage of the Damned
Voyage of the Damned is a 1976 drama film directed by Stuart Rosenberg. It features a big cast including Faye Dunaway, Max von Sydow, Oskar Werner, James Mason, and Malcolm McDowell. The movie is based on a 1974 book by Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts and tells the story of the ship MS St. Louis and 937 Jewish refugees trying to escape Nazi Germany.
The plot follows the passengers as anti-Semitism worsens in Germany. They escape by sea, hoping to reach Cuba, but Cuba, the United States, and Canada refuse them entry. With nowhere safe to go, the ship drifts toward Europe. The captain considers a drastic plan to run the liner aground near England so the passengers can be saved. In the end, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom agree to take some refugees, giving them a chance at safety.
The true death toll from the refugees’ fate is uncertain. Some estimates say hundreds of the passengers who did not resettle in Britain were murdered by the Nazis. The film uses these grim facts to show a human tragedy and the cost of turning away people in danger.
Production notes: the movie had a budget of about $7.3 million and opened in December 1976. It was shot on a real Italian liner standing in for the St. Louis, with additional filming in Barcelona and London. Lalo Schifrin wrote the music, and a soundtrack album was released in 1977. The film did not perform strongly at the box office, earning around $1.75 million in its initial release. An extended version running longer was shown on TV, and a later, longer cut was released on home video.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 11:57 (CET).