I heard once that Andrew Stone and Alfred Hitchcock were friends. If so, I can just imagine those two gents sitting around during a long, rainy evening discussing ways of torturing an audience with suspense.
"The Last Voyage" cuts to the chase right away. Something happens on board the ocean liner "Claridon" and before you can sing "row, row, row your boat" the vessel is plunged into crisis. No soapy melodramas, bickering couples, singing nuns, etc. Just a good old-fashioned straightforward action flick. There are two stories. One involves the entirely myopic attempt by the captain (George Sanders) to save the ship and his reputation. He's the voice of authority in denial, prevalent in countless movies (where he's challenged by the pragmatic man-of-action). "Jaws" is a prime example.
The other story concerns the entrapment of Robert Stack's wife in the film (Dorothy Malone) under a steel beam and his race to save her. Naturally, Stack soon finds himself at odds with the captain as he tries to get help to free his wife, and all kinds of obstacles get in his way. Meanwhile things are getting worse with the ship. The suspense keeps cranking tighter and tighter, as I breathlessly watch and try to convince myself that all will be well in the end - to no avail! Filming on a real ship is what really makes this movie work; in fact, the ship becomes a major character in the story. There's very little suspension of disbelief required. Stone keeps the story moving with dispatch and the ninety minutes fly by quickly. There are a few anomalies that I found problematic (where were the ship's medical staff, and how could the captain be SO intransigent), but these were diminished by the strong emotional elements and the movie's depiction of courage, devotion and loyalty, which were inspiring.
I found Dorothy Malone to be particularly moving as the wife who, sensing a hopeless situation, just wants her husband and their kid to get themselves off the ship. It may be that, because I found her to be so sanely practical and REAL, that I kind of fell in love with her. She's the emotional centre of the film.
