Satan's ship

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Movie
German title Satan's ship
Original title Dante's inferno
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1935
length 89 minutes
Rod
Director Harry Lachman
script Philip Klein ,
Robert Yost
production Sol M. Wurtzel
music RH Bassett ,
Peter Brunelli ,
Hugo Friedhofer ,
Samuel Kaylin
camera Rudolph Maté
cut Alfred DeGaetano
occupation

The Ship of Satan (original title: Dante's Inferno ) is an American film drama with Spencer Tracy and Claire Trevor from 1935. The film is based in part on motifs from Dante's Divine Comedy .

action

Jim Carter works on a luxury steamer. When he pretends to have broken his arm, he is released without notice. Before leaving the ship, however, in the face of the wealthy passengers, he vows that one day he will have as much money as they do. Then the show producer Pop McWade offers him a job as a cleaner in an amusement park. In his carnival show entitled "Dante's Inferno", which is based on Dante's Divine Comedy , visitors can marvel at a number of historical personalities as statues, such as Cleopatra , Salome , Virgil , Mark Antony and Alexander the Great - whom Jim henceforth used as a model takes.

Initially, the show, with its metaphorical staging of hell, only runs moderately. But when Jim tries his hand at barking, more and more people flock to the show, and “Dante's Inferno” is finally a success after all - to the great delight of McWade and his niece Betty, who sells the tickets. Betty and Jim soon get closer and soon get married. In the following years Jim plans his own show, which should be even bigger than McWades. After the birth of his son Alexander, he tries to attract investors for his project. He receives many commitments from other amusement park entrepreneurs. Only Dean, the owner of a prime location attraction, refuses to voluntarily cede his location to Jim. Then Jim buys Dean's lease and doesn't hesitate to ruin his business.

At the opening of Jim's new spectacle, Dean jumps out of desperation to death, to the horror of everyone. Without any remorse, Jim lets the show go on, expands his company and plans to build an extravagant casino on a ship, where the beautiful and the rich are supposed to give each other a hand. McWade, who has loyally supported Jim so far, is not impressed by this idea, which is why they both become increasingly estranged. After building inspector Harris found a botch in the construction of Jim's office and insisted on having it rebuilt, Jim threatens him with losing his job. Betty then watches as Harris takes an envelope from Jim. The stage on Jim's show collapses shortly afterwards, and McWade barely gets away with his life. Feeling guilty, Harris then kills himself and leaves a suicide note in which he admits to having taken bribes from Jim. Jim is now charged with bribery.

Jim denies Harris was ever at his house, which Betty falsely confirms in court. When Jim is acquitted for lack of evidence, Betty explains that she only lied to protect their son Alexander and that she wants to file for divorce in Reno as soon as possible . As Jim's ship, the S. S. Paradise , is about to leave, Betty discovers that Alexander has disappeared. She fears that he has been kidnapped and immediately sends Jim a telegram to the ship. While the gambling is in full swing there and the mood is high, Jim receives the message and immediately rushes to his cabin, where he finally finds Alexander. Jim's assistant Jonesy had the idea to take Alexander on the ship as a surprise guest for his father. Outraged, Jim blames Jonesy for saying that a floating gambling den is not the place for a kid. After sending Betty a message, a fire suddenly breaks out. Panic immediately spreads among the passengers, and shots are fired during the battle for the lifeboats. Together with Captain Morgan, Jim tries to steer the ship towards the coast. Before the ship sinks, it reaches the safe beach. Betty arrives there shortly afterwards and is relieved to see Alexander safe. Jim hugs her and confesses that McBride was right and that he made his own real hell out of greed. From now on he wants to lead a new life with Betty and Alexander, in which love and decency count more than power and money.

background

As early as 1924, the Fox Film Corporation filmed Dante's Divine Comedy under the title Dante's Inferno , from which a dream sequence in the 1935 version was used again with the addition of sound effects. According to a July 28, 1935 article in the New York Times , up to 14,000 people worked on Satan's Ship . Around 4,950 technicians, architects, artists, carpenters, stonemasons, 250 electricians and 3,000 extras were employed for the scene of the inferno. Produced by Fox, The Ship of Satan was brought to US cinemas by the newly formed 20th Century Fox on May 31, 1935, following the merger of Fox Studios with 20th Century Pictures .

The film marks Rita Hayworth's screen debut , in which she appeared in a supporting role as a dancer under the name Rita Cansino. Her father Eduardo Cansino, who was a celebrated dancer of the 1920s and 1930s, choreographed his daughter's dance. However, there were delays in the schedule during filming when Hayworth's dance partner Gary Leon sprained his ankle during rehearsals. Though Hayworth's contribution to The Ship of Satan was minimal, 20th Century Fox re-released the drama at the height of its fame during World War II and, unlike when it was first released, put its name on top of all advertisements. In 1948, lead actor Spencer Tracy commented:

“Rita Hayworth's first film was Satan's Ship . It was the last one I did under my old contract with Fox, and one of the worst films ever made anywhere, at any time. The fact that she made this big screen debut is proof enough that she deserves all the recognition she is getting today. "

The filmed raw material of the film still exists today. A 2003 Rita Hayworth documentary called Rita , produced by Turner Classic Movies and Playboy founder Hugh Hefner , features some of this material showing 16-year-old Hayworth rehearsing with her dance partner Gary Leon.

Reviews

"After the short, rousing Hollywood production of Dante's vision of hell, the plot immediately returns to its original lack of imagination," wrote Weekly Variety about the film at the time. For Andre Sennwald of the New York Times , The Ship of Satan was "all in all [...] a pretty hot mix of noise and madness". In all probability, “no other film this season has put its audience in such a miserable state of self-consciousness and terror”. Spencer Tracy acts "with the usual vitality and persuasiveness". Henry B. Walthall conveyed "sympathy and a pleasant sincerity in his role of the modern prophet". Claire Trevor is "nice, but colorless as a wife".

Hal Erickson from the All Movie Guide found retrospectively that the audience "got to see an elaborate production of hell for almost ten minutes [...]" which was "excellently filmed" by cameraman Rudolph Maté.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cf. Notes on tcm.com
  2. ↑ “Rita Hayworth's first film was Dante's Inferno , the last one I made at Fox under my old contract and one of the worst pictures ever made anywhere, anytime. The fact that she survived in films after that screen debut is testament enough that she deserves all the recognition she's getting right now. " Spencer Tracy cited. after Gene Ringgold: The Films of Rita Hayworth . Citadel Press, Secaucus 1974, p. 64.
  3. ↑ "Immediately following the brief, stirring picturization of Hollywood's conception of Dante's version of Hell, the story reverts to its native dullness." Weekly Variety quoted. after Gene Ringgold: The Films of Rita Hayworth . Citadel Press, Secaucus 1974, p. 64.
  4. ↑ “All in all, Dante's Inferno is a pretty blistering assortment of sound and fury, and the chances are that no picture of the season has beaten its audiences into quite so abject a state of self-conscious terror. […] Mr. Tracy performs with all his accustomed vigor and conviction […]. Mr. Walthall, too, provides sympathy and a gentle sincerity in the part of the modern prophet […]. Claire Trevor is pleasant and colorless as the wife. " Andre Sennwald : Dante's Inferno (1935) . In: The New York Times , August 1, 1935.
  5. ↑ "For nearly ten minutes, the movie audience is treated to a lavish depiction of Hell, magnificently photographed by Rudolph Mate." Hal Erickson , cf. omovie.com