The Long Voyage Home - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of The Long Voyage Home or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to The Long Voyage Home

[camila]

This film inspired Phil Ochs to write the song "Pleasures of the Harbor".

[ava]

This is one of two dozen Walter Wanger/Harry Sherman/Cinema Guild productions, originally released by United Artists, re-released theatrically in 1948 by Masterpiece Productions and ultimately sold by them for television broadcast in 1950. It was initially telecast in Albuquerque Tuesday 20 June 1950 on KOB (Channel 4), in Detroit Sunday 9 July 1950 on WXYZ (Channel 7), in Phoenix Sunday 16 July 1950 on KPHO (Channel 5), in Chicago Monday 31 July 1950 on WENR (Channel 7), in Philadelphia Saturday 5 August 1950 on WFIL (Channel 6), in Los Angeles Sunday 27 August 1950 on KTLA (Channel 5), in Boston Sunday 1 October 1950 on WNAC (Channel 7), in Cincinnati Saturday 7 October 1950 on WKRC (Channel 11), in New York City Monday 9 October 1950 on WOR (Channel 9), in Pittsburgh Friday 19 January 1951 on WDTV (Channel 3), and in San Francisco Saturday 3 March 1951 on KGO (Channel 7).

[ella]

Thomas Mitchell had worked with John Ford previously on The Hurricane and Stagecoach, and got a Best Supporting Actor award for the latter role.

[maureen]

Barry Fitzgerald, who plays the character of Cocky, and Arthur Shields, who played Donkeyman, were brothers in real life. They also appeared together in director John Ford's The Quiet Man (1952).

[chad]

The song "Harbor Lights" used as background music in this film, was a major record hit for numerous artists in the 1940s and 50s; including Sammy Kaye, Guy Lombardo, Bing Crosby, Ray Anthony, Ralph Flanagan, The Platters, Vera Lynn and The Ink Spots.

[alyssa]

This is technically both the first World War 2 film and first war film directed by John Ford, as the film is set during WW II. It interfaces with the Second World War's Second Battle of the Atlantic as the steamer sails through the battle-zone and even comes under attack from enemy aircraft during the film. Ford's later They Were Expendable (1945) is Ford's first 'major' war feature film and first 'major' World War II movie feature.

[edgar]

John Wayne once told biographer Maurice Zolotow: "Usually it would be Mr. Ford [John Ford] who helped the cinematographer get his compositions for maximum effect . . . but in this case it was Gregg Toland who helped Mr. Ford. 'Long Voyage' is about as beautifully photographed a movie as there ever has been."

[jesse]

John Wayne was asked by director John Ford to play the part of Ole Olson, who was Swedish. Wayne wasn't sure he could pull off the Swedish accent and was worried that the audience would laugh. Ford persuaded him to take the role.

[jamie]

The Broadway opening dates of the four Eugene O'Neill plays this film is based on are as follows: "Bound East for Cardiff" opened in Provincetown, Massachusetts on 28 July 1916; "In the Zone" opened in New York on 31 October 1917; "The Long Voyage Home" opened in New York on 2 November 1917; and "The Moon of the Caribees" opened in New York on 20 December 1918. The four plays were presented together in "One Act Plays of the Sea" and opened at the Lafayette Theater on Octobe 29, 1937 and ran for 68 performances.

[bernice]

The first spoken dialogue occurs nearly five minutes into the film.

[maureen]

Debut of actress Mildred Natwick.

[terry]

Initially resistant to the idea of working with a Swedish accent, John Wayne was instructed by Danish actress Osa Massen. John Ford later complimented Wayne on his handling of the accent.

[victoria]

This film is based on four one-act plays by Eugene O'Neill. Writer Dudley Nichols had to distill all four of Eugene O'Neill's one-act plays into one cohesive screenplay.

[richard]

Eugene O'Neill's favorite film. John Ford gave him a print of it, which O'Neill wore out from repeated playing of the reel.

[miriam]

This film's opening prologue states: "With their hates and desires men are changing the face of the earth - but they cannot change the Sea. Men who live on the Sea never change - for they live in a lonely world apart as they drift from one rusty tramp steamer to the next, forging the life-lines of Nations -."

[bessie]

Producer Walter Wanger contracted with Reeves Lewenthal, director of the American Associated Artists Gallery in Manhattan, to have nine of it's artists go out to Hollywood during the filming and paint scenes from the movie and portraits of the actors in character as a publicity stunt for the film. "High Brow Publicity" as Time magazine dubbed it in a story from August 26, 1940. The artists (and their paintings) included Thomas Hart Benton (No More Sea For Us), Grant Wood (Sentimental Ballad), Ernest Fiene (portrait of John Wayne as Ole Olson), Georges Schreiber (Death From The Air), Luis Quintanilla (Bumboat Girls), George Biddle (portrait of Qualen as Squarehead Swanson), Robert Philipp (portrait of Thomas Mitchell as Drisk Driscoll and a portrait of Ian Hunter as Smitty), Raphael Soyer (Good Evening Ladies) and James Chapin (Death Of A Sailor)-all well known in art circles at the time. Wanger paid $50,000 and ended up with 12 canvases-including a portrait of Wanger by Ernest Fiene and one of John Ford by Georges Schreiber. The paintings were featured in Life magazine and, after an exhibition that opened in New York City in August 1940, went on to tour 23 museums across America.

[veronica]

The name of Arthur Shields' character, "Donkeyman", is a nickname for the job he performed, the sole caretaker of the ship's single-piston "Donkey" engine.