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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

The Long Voyage Home BlogHub Articles:

The Long Voyage Home (1940)

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

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

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)

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
Barry Fitzgerald, who plays the character of Cocky, and Arthur Shields, who played Donkeyman, were brothers in real life. They also appeared together in director John Ford's The Quiet Man.

The name of Arthur Shields' character, "Donkeyman", is a nickname for the job he performed, the sole caretaker of the ship's single-piston "Donkey" engine.

Initially resistant to the idea of working with a Swedish accent, John Wayne was instructed by Danish actress Osa Massen. John Ford later complimented Wayne on his handling of the accent.

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.

This film's closing epilogue states: "So men like Ole Olsen come and go. And the Driscolls live and die, And the Yanks and Smittys leave their memories - but for the others, the Long Voyage never ends."

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