Morituri (1965 film)
| Morituri (The Saboteur) | |
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original movie poster
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| Directed by | Bernhard Wicki |
| Produced by | Aaron Rosenberg |
| Screenplay by | Daniel Taradash |
| Based on |
Morituri 1958 novel by |
| Starring |
Marlon Brando Yul Brynner Janet Margolin Trevor Howard Wally Cox |
| Music by | Jerry Goldsmith |
| Cinematography | Conrad L. Hall |
| Edited by | Joseph Silver |
| Distributed by | Twentieth Century-Fox |
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Release date
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Running time
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123 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $6,290,000 |
| Box office | $3,000,000 |
Morituri (also known as The Saboteur: Code Name Morituri) is a 1965 film about the Allied sabotage during World War II of a German merchant ship carrying rubber, a critical product during the war. The film stars Marlon Brando, Yul Brynner, Trevor Howard, Janet Margolin, and Wally Cox. It was directed by Bernhard Wicki.
Robert Crain (Marlon Brando) is a German pacifist living in India during the Second World War. He is blackmailed by the Allies into using his engineering experience to disable the scuttling charges of a German merchant ship carrying rubber from Japan. The Allies hope to recover the ship before it is scuttled by the captain because rubber is in short supply and essential for various uses in the war effort.
On board the ship, Crain finds the captain (Yul Brynner) to be a patriotic German who despises the Nazis. His first officer, however, is a fanatical Party member. Several of the crew are political prisoners pressed into service because of labor shortages. Eventually Crain enlists them in a plan to give the ship to the Allies. Complications arise when several American prisoners and two suspicious Germany Naval officers are brought on board from a Japanese submarine. One prisoner, a young German Jewess, joins the plot.
About to be exposed, Crain organizes a mutiny which fails, after which he sets off demolition charges. The surviving crew abandons ship, leaving behind Crain and the captain. The lard being transported in the hold spills and acts as a temporary stopper, keeping them afloat. Crain convinces the captain to radio the Allies for rescue.
The film did not do well on its original release and was a financial disaster. In an attempt to increase its commercial appeal, the film was reissued in 1965 under a new title as Saboteur: Code Name Morituri. Critic Bosley Crowther of the New York Times criticized it for being "turgid." He praised Brando's performance, however, saying:
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