Here's an old-fashioned morality play. You don't see many of these nowadays. In fact, you don't see them at all. But inspired by the truly fantastic success of Jerome K. Jerome's The Passing of the Third Floor Back, the genre used to be very popular. This one is rather heavily acted, but it's otherwise rather effectively directed by Tay Garnett. Despite what other critics say, it comes to a fine climax and has admirable special effects – both visual and oral. In fact, Garnett makes really inventively atmospheric use of sound effects in the first part of the movie where dialogue is underlined only by the creaking of the ship and the lashing of the waves. No music! In fact, no music at all is employed until the Christ character (played by Ralph Bellamy) appears.
Review of Destination Unknown
