one of the great cast ever assemble help this and otherwise turgid and melodrama to chug along for over two and a half hour and ( three and if you be unlucky enough to catch the u video version ) and but they still can not manage to lift it above the level of a second rate television movie . all the more disappointing consider the plot have all the ingredient of good drama and be base on a true story . in 1939 a ship load of 937 german jew set sail from hamburg to cuba only to be refuse entry . it be a tragedy of epic proportion reduce to something of a travesty by a lack lustre script and a mediocre director out of his depth and ( stuart rosenberg while cool hand luke be a fluke ) . the cast rise above the material whenever they can . some and such a julie harris and james mason and wendy hiller and do not have enough to do . others excel . max von sydow seem incapable of give a bad performance and oskar werner and virtually reprise his role in ship of fool and be superb a always . orson welles pop up a a corrupt and corpulent official and steal every scene he in . faye dunaway pout and lee grant histrionics win her an oscar nomination . there be also an awful lot of shout and scream .