THE LONG VOYAGE HOME

US, 1940, 105 minutes, Black and white.
John Wayne, Thomas Mitchell, Ian Hunter, Barry Fitzgerald, Wilfrid Lawson, John Qualen, Mildred Natwick, Ward Bond, Arthur Shields.
Directed by John Ford.

The Long Voyage Home is an adaptation of Eugene O’ Neill’s play. It focuses on a group of sailors, aboard the ship Glencairn, their interactions with each other, hard times, good times, conversations, relationships with women, the drinking, the dangers of war. It is a cross-section of characters and the ensemble cast does justice to this range. John Wayne is the featured actor (with a Swedish accent) but Thomas Mitchell is also one of the main stars. A number of John Ford regulars including Mildred Natwick, Barry Fitzgerald, Ward Bond and Arthur Shields are also in support.

It is said that Eugene O’ Neill favoured this film as the best film adaptation of any of his plays. Some of Eugene O’ Neill’s earlier plays were filmed like Anna Christie as well as Strange Interlude. Other films include Ah, Wilderness and Desire Under the Elms. Later came Long Day’s Journey Into Night as well as an epic version of The Iceman Cometh. O’ Neill’s plays tend not to be filmed in more recent decades. They are particularly theatrical and strong on dialogue. (O’ Neill appears in Warren Beatty’s Reds in the form of Jack Nicholson.)

Ford was at the peak of his powers at this particular stage, having won an Oscar for The Informer in 1935. He had teamed with John Wayne for Stage Coach (written by Dudley Nicholls) and was to continue working with Wayne for the next twenty years, especially in westerns. Thomas Mitchell had won an Oscar for his supporting role in Stage Coach.

Ford was to win another Oscar in the following year for How Green Was My Valley (beating Citizen Kane) but the film was photographed by Gregg Tolland who photographed The Long Voyage Home.

The Long Voyage Home is well worth seeing as a dramatisation of Eugene O’ Neill as well as being a John Ford film.

1. The film is considered a classic. Why? cinematic techniques of the forties, exploration of themes, direction and acting? Eugene O'Neill said it was the favourite film of any of his plays. Why?

2. Audience response to Eugene O’ Neill’s plays? Their bleak outlook on life? Their impact on American audiences, world audiences? The significance of the prologue and the words of epilogue?

3. The importance of the war setting, the propaganda atmosphere of the film? Did it add to or detract from the dramatic impact?

4. The importance of the presentation of the sea, the atmosphere of ports, ships, the sailors’ world? Audience response to the sea and sharing the sailors' response? An isolated enclosed world, a claustrophobic atmosphere, a unified society with its possibility of clash, friendship and loyalty? The sea and the sea as a microcosm of the wider world? A way of understanding human nature in a cross-section of humanity? How successful was the film in this?

5. The significance of the title, a symbol of life, a long voyage home? The emphasis on the length, the fact that It was a voyage, home being the goal? The irony that so many did not reach home?

6. The creation of atmosphere in the openings the police, exotic ports, drunken sailors, violence, the smuggling of arms, the war atmosphere?

7. The portrayal of men and human nature? The varying types on the ships, the detail and nature of their interactions? Important interactions, petty quarrels and interchanges?

8. The focus of the first part of the film on Smitty, a sign of contradiction and puzzle? His personal background, explanation of himself, his role in the war, their not understanding him, the importance of his death and the sailors’ attitudes?

9. Driscoll as the leader, his mischievous nature, engaging friendliness. his drinking, the importance of his leading Olsen astray and then saving him, the irony and sadness of his death?

10. Olsen as the hero of the second part of the film, John Wayne’s performance, the sailor-type, his story about his Swedish background, the farm memory, his wanting to go home, the importance of getting the ship home, his being friendly and led by his friends, Freda and her almost making him fall? How sympathetic and interesting a hero?

11. Comment on the characters of the various supporting cast, the Irish sailors, their types, their dream etc.

12. The significance of the war and its impact?

13. The details of life on shore, drinking and enjoying themselves?

14. Audience response to the press-gang sub-plot, to Freda and her role in getting men pressed into service? The ugly aspects of life?

15. The beginning of the film as dreary round starting again, the end of the film the same? Its comment on the long voyage of life? How much insight into human nature? How wise a film?