One of the greatest casts ever assembled help this, otherwise turgid, melodrama to chug along for over two and a half hours, (three, if you are unlucky enough to catch the US video version), but they still can't manage to lift it above the level of a second rate television movie. All the more disappointing considering the plot has all the ingredients of good drama and is based on a true story.<br /><br />In 1939 a ship load of 937 German Jews set sail from Hamburg to Cuba only to be refused entry. It is a tragedy of epic proportions reduced to something of a travesty by a lack-lustre script and a mediocre director out of his depth, (Stuart Rosenberg; "Cool Hand Luke" was a fluke). The cast rise above the material whenever they can. Some, such as Julie Harris, James Mason and Wendy Hiller, don't have enough to do. Others excel. Max Von Sydow seems incapable of giving a bad performance and Oskar Werner, virtually reprising his role in "Ship of Fools", is superb as always. Orson Welles pops up as a corrupt and corpulent official and steals every scene he's in. Faye Dunaway pouts and Lee Grant's histrionics won her an Oscar nomination. There is also an awful lot of shouting and screaming.