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The Long Voyage Home Overview:

The Long Voyage Home (1940) was a Drama - War Film directed by John Ford and produced by John Ford and Walter Wanger.

SYNOPSIS

Four one-acts by O'Neill add up to a gripping account of men thrown together by war facing danger from the enemy under the waves and from the raging sea itself. Wayne portrays a young Swede gaining his sea legs and just trying to make it home so he can settle on a farm of his own. He's taken in hand by the Ford stock company - Mitchell, Fitzgerald, Bond - and together they weather a fatal storm, suspicions of treason, a strafing by enemy planes, and the equally hazardous shore leave. One of Ford's finest, and that's saying plenty; O'Neill reportedly considered it the best adaptation of his work. Note the photography by Toland.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

Academy Awards 1940 --- Ceremony Number 13 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best CinematographyGregg TolandNominated
Best Film EditingSherman ToddNominated
Best PictureArgosy-WangerNominated
Best WritingDudley NicholsNominated
See More Oscar Winners

The Long Voyage Home BlogHub Articles:

The Long Voyage Home (1940)

By Beatrice on Apr 17, 2014 From Flickers in Time

The Long Voyage Home Directed by John Ford Adapted for the screen by Dudley Nichols based on the “Four Seas” plays by Eugene O’Neill 1940/USA Argosy Pictures/Walter Wanger Productions First viewing/Streaming on Hulu Plus Alfred Hitchcock was not the only director with two Best Pi... Read full article

The Long Voyage Home

By Michael on Mar 16, 2011 From Le Mot du Cinephiliaque

The Long Voyage Home (John Ford, 1940) Of the many John Ford films reviewed here, The Long Voyage Home is probably the most underrated so far. This masterpiece from Ford's most prolific period (The Grapes of Wrath, Stagecoach, Young Mr. Lincoln, Drums Along the Mohawk, How Green Was My Valley) d... Read full article

The Long Voyage Home

By Alyson on Mar 26, 2010 From The Best Picture Project

This forgotten gem stars John Wayne.  Based on four one-act plays by Eugene O’Neill, the film follows the lives of the sailors aboard a freighter ship.  They’re comrades and stick together through thick and thin, but at sea, loneliness and of fear enemy submarines come between them and mak... Read full article

The Long Voyage Home (1940, John Ford)

on Apr 2, 2009 From The Stop Button

John Wayne gets first billing in The Long Voyage Home, but the picture really belongs to Thomas Mitchell, Ward Bond and Ian Hunter. The film’s a combination slash adaptation of four one-act plays–which is somewhat clear from the rather lengthy sequences tied together with shorter joining... Read full article

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The Long Voyage Home Quotes:

No Quote for this film.
The Long Voyage Home Facts
According to John Ford's biography 'The Unquiet Man' by Dan Ford, Darryl F. Zanuck dropped John Ford's proposed remake of his silent film 'Four Sons'. Zanuck cancelled after some preliminary script work had been done and when he learnt of the similarly themed The Mortal Storm had gotten the green light at MGM. As such, John Ford, "Still upset over Zanuck's cancellation of 'Four Sons' decided not to present 'The Long Voyage Home' to him." Ford instead offered it to producer Walter Wanger who was a producer "who might appreciate a work of this caliber." Wanger soon after gave Ford the green light to make the film.
This film's opening prologue states: "With their hates and desires men are changing the face of the earth - but they cannot change the Sea. Men who live on the Sea never change - for they live in a lonely world apart as they drift from one rusty tramp steamer to the next, forging the life of Nations."
The first spoken dialogue occurs nearly five minutes into the film.
The Broadway opening dates of the four Eugene O'Neill plays this film is based on are as follows: "Bound East for Cardiff" opened in Provincetown, Massachusetts on 28 July 1916; "In the Zone" opened in New York on 31 October 1917; "The Long Voyage Home" opened in New York on 2 November 1917; and "The Moon of the Caribees" opened in New York on 20 December 1918.The four plays were presented together in "One Act Plays of the Sea" and opened at the Lafayette Theater on Octobe 29, 1937 and ran for 68 performances.
Eugene O'Neill's favorite film. John Ford gave him a print of it, which O'Neill wore out from repeated playing of the reel.
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