an expressionistic classic feature john wayne a a swede . can it be . the long voyage home may fall just short of classic status and but it be one of hollywood most visually expressionistic film and a tone poem of shadow and light present by director john ford and cinematographer gregg toland . that be indeed the duke himself and john wayne and play a swedish hayseed name ole olsen who the other sailor aboard his ship want to see safely en route to home . he not meryl streep a it turn out and but you will want to see this powerhouse example of hollywood art anyway for toland camera work and the ensemble acting and and dudley nichols seamless adaptation of eugene oneill four one act play . oneill sea yarn be transport to the then present . world war ii be underway and and the glencairn transport ammunition to england for the fight against hitler . will ole return home . what be the secret behind quiet english sailor smitty ( ian hunter ) . why be woman bear basket of fruit not to be trust . why be driscoll ( thomas mitchell ) so suspicious of that bartender . pauline kael once write up long voyage home by way of address another film shot by gregg toland the following year and citizen kane . both ford and kane director orson welles take the unusual step of share their title card with toland and a show of respect for what toland eye bring to their film . i would say toland brought more to long voyage home than he do to kane and a every shot seem suffuse with a tenseness and mood that at the very least speaks as eloquently to the drama on screen a any line of dialogue or actor performance . that true from the opening shot and a wordless pan shot of the glencairn drift across the water a woman in the foreground gyrate sensuously to an unseen music . the image be contrast with those of glencairn sailor look pent up and frustrate . be the woman really there on the shore and or just be imagine by the crew . it a classic bit of expressionist ambiguity that and once establish and carry through for the rest of the film . take the case of smitty and a fellow who no one can much figure out a he keep to himself and at least until he be finally finger a a likely german spy in a sequence that might appear contrive have not nichols and toland and and hunter make it quite diabolically real . ian hunter be not a well know actor today and but he carry the film as long a he around and especially while confront with his apparent treachery . watch him grimace and shake with fury a his secret be slowly and gut wrenchingly expose be the strong scene in this very strong film and and once the film move beyond smitty and it never quite recovers . hunter also appear in adventure of robin hood a a similar figure of dual identity and and i would not make the mistake of underestimate him again . i only wish thomas mitchell and the oscar winner from ford stagecoach the previous year and have bring some of that performance restraint to his playing of driscoll here . barry fitzgerald and john qualen and ford vet both and seem to catch his overact bug . it not pretty and especially to those of u who have see all three give good work . wayne and however and be effective despite his dodgy accent and and it interest to see him in a film and just a year after his breakthrough in stagecoach and where he be present to u a one of the gang and something of a follower and not a lone wolf leader . i do not normally associate wayne with amiable go alongness and but he carry it here . john ford be pretty much the shakespeare of cinema and effortlessly move from comedy to tragedy within a single scene and and long voyage home and while not perfect and make a strong case for his visionary mastery .