A long movie -- the excellent Grapevine DVD runs 122 minutes -- but literally every frame is utterly fascinating. Director Maurice Tourneur obviously had an enormous budget at his disposal and has spared no expense in bringing this dark story to the screen. A "film noir" if ever there was one, a great deal of the movie is set in the shadows -- shadows which are brilliantly contrasted with the rescue ship's piercing lights. The sets too are all cleverly designed to highlight this same contrast between Good and Evil. Until he is overthrown, Fritz Kortner dominates the movie as the utterly inhuman captain, a Lucifer in a hell of devils.
We keep waiting for Dietrich and wondering how on earth she will fit into the story, until she finally appears. She then becomes the center of our attention, pushing the nominal hero, somewhat bland Robin Irvine, further into the sidelines. As for Vladimir Sokoloff, he has an important role to play at the climax, but he is not all that active in the rest of the film. In fact, we wonder why some half-baked American publicist titled the movie, "Grischa the Cook", instead of translating the German title, "The Ship of Lost Men" or using a title that would highlight Dietrich's role. She certainly bears watching, In fact she is wonderful in what is actually a character role!
We keep waiting for Dietrich and wondering how on earth she will fit into the story, until she finally appears. She then becomes the center of our attention, pushing the nominal hero, somewhat bland Robin Irvine, further into the sidelines. As for Vladimir Sokoloff, he has an important role to play at the climax, but he is not all that active in the rest of the film. In fact, we wonder why some half-baked American publicist titled the movie, "Grischa the Cook", instead of translating the German title, "The Ship of Lost Men" or using a title that would highlight Dietrich's role. She certainly bears watching, In fact she is wonderful in what is actually a character role!