The artists who participated were Thomas Benton, Grant Wood, George Biddle, James Chapin, Ernest Fiene, Robert Philipp, Luis Quintanilla, Raphael Soyer and Georges Schreiber. The artists insisted on three things to ensure a quality effort: freedom of choice on subject matter, studios on the production lot, and a projection room for viewing rushes.

No other undertaking of this magnitude and purpose had been done before in Hollywood film making. Wanger offered a commission of over $50,000 to encourage the artists to participate, these funds were secured with the help of Reeves Lowenthal, the director of the Associated American Artists. He hired nine prominent American artists, all painters, to document the dramatic scenes during the film's production. Independent film producer Walter Wanger made film-making history during the production of this film. A newspaper headline reveals that the Amindra has been sunk in the Channel by German torpedoes, killing all on board.īarry Fitzgerald, John Wayne and John Qualen in The Long Voyage Home The next morning, the crew straggles back to the Glencairn to sign on for another voyage. Driscoll and the rest of the drunk crew rescue Ole, but Driscoll is clubbed and left on board as the crew makes its escape. He drugs Ole's drink, and his confederates shanghai him aboard another ship, the Amindra. He has his eye on Ole because he is the biggest and strongest of the lot. In spite of their determination to help Ole, the crew is incapable of passing up the opportunity for a good time drinking and dancing in a seedy bar to which they have been lured by an agent for ships looking for crew members. Reaching England without further incident, the rest of the crew members decide not to sign on for another voyage on the Glencairn and go ashore, determined to help Ole return to his family in Sweden, whom he has not seen in ten years.

In the war zone as they near port, a German plane attacks the ship, killing Smitty in a burst of machine gun fire. Opening the box against Smitty's vigorous protests, they discover a packet of letters from Smitty's wife revealing the fact that Smitty has been an alcoholic, dishonorably discharged from the British navy. After they assault Smitty and restrain and gag him, they force him to give up the key to a small metal box they have found in his bunk. They are also concerned that Smitty might be a German spy because he is so aloof and secretive. When the crew discovers that the cargo is high explosives, they rebel, but are easily cowed into submission by the captain and the ship sails. The next day the ship sails to pick up its cargo for its return trip to England. The crew carouse until a drunken brawl breaks out and the ladies are ordered off the ship and denied any of their promised compensation. On a sultry night in a port in the West Indies, the crew has been confined to the ship by order of the captain, but Drisk has arranged to import a boatload of local ladies. Among them is their consensus leader, a middle-aged Irishman named Driscoll a young Swedish ex-farmer, Ole Olsen a spiteful steward nicknamed Cocky a brooding Lord Jim-like Englishman, Smitty and a burly, thoroughly dependable bruiser, Davis. The crew is a motley, fun-loving, hard-drinking lot. Film critics and scholars have noted Gregg Toland's distinctive cinematography, which serves as a precursor of the film noir aesthetic and hinted at his work for Orson Welles' film Citizen Kane (1941).Ī British tramp steamer named the SS Glencairn is on the long voyage home from the West Indies to Baltimore, and then to England during World War II. While not one of Ford's best-known works, The Long Voyage Home continues to be well received. Ford set the story for the motion picture, however, during the early days of World War II. The original plays by Eugene O'Neill were written around the time of World War I and were among his earlier plays. The film was adapted by Dudley Nichols from the plays The Moon of the Caribbees, In the Zone, Bound East for Cardiff, and The Long Voyage Home by Eugene O'Neill. It features Barry Fitzgerald, Wilfrid Lawson, John Qualen, Mildred Natwick, and Ward Bond, among others. It stars John Wayne, Thomas Mitchell and Ian Hunter. The Long Voyage Home is a 1940 American drama film directed by John Ford.

Imdb long road home