Story of the Week

Friday, october 11, 2013, the long voyage home.

the long voyage home eugene o'neill

I am taking advantage of your kind letter asking to see more of my stuff to enclose two one-act plays. They are units in a series the first of which was Bound East For Cardiff , produced in New York last season by the Provincetown Players. They deal with merchant-sailor life on a tramp steamer as it really is—its sordidness inexplicably touched with romance by the glamor of far horizons. . . . I have never seen anything of this kind in The Smart Set and I have small hope of it being the type of material you desire. But I do hope, and hope it strongly, that you will read them. I want these plays, which to me are real , to pass through your acid test because I know your acid is “good medicine.”

  A slovenly barmaid with a stupid face sodden with drink is mopping off the bar. Her arm moves back and forth mechanically and her eyes are half shut as if she were dozing on her feet. At the far end of the bar stands Fat Joe, the proprietor, a gross bulk of a man with an enormous stomach. His face is red and bloated, his little piggish eyes being almost concealed by rolls of fat. The thick fingers of his big hands are loaded with cheap rings and a gold watch chain of cable-like proportions stretches across his checked waistcoat.

  It is about nine o'clock in the evening.

  N ICK —( laconically ) Glencairn—from Bewnezerry. ( Buenos Aires )

  N ICK —Paid orf this afternoon, they tole me. I 'opped on board of 'er an' seen 'em. 'Anded 'em some o' yet cards, I did. They promised faithful they'd 'appen in tonight—them as whose time was done.

  N ICK —Four—three Britishers an' a square - 'ead.

  N ICK —( grumblingly ) Much you pays me! An' I ain't slingin' me'ook abaht the 'ole bleedin' town fur now man. See?

  N ICK —( with a sneer ) Yus—b'cause you 'as to.

  N ICK —Yus? Wot wiv the peelers li'ble to put me away in the bloody jail fur crimpin', an' all?

  N ICK —( sarcastically ) Ho, now! Not orf!

  M AG —( beginning to sniffle ) Ow, you do frighten me when you 'oller at me, Joe. I ain't a bad gel, I ain't. Gawd knows I tries to do me best fur you. ( She bursts into a tempest of sobs. )

  N ICK —( chuckling ) She's drunk, Joe. Been 'ittin' the gin, eh, Mag?

  J OE —Orf yer go, me gel! Go hupstairs and 'ave a sleep. I'll wake yer if I wants yer. An' wake the two gels when yer goes hup. It's 'arpas' nine an' time as some one was a-comin' in, tell 'em. D'yer 'ear me?

  J OE —( still brooding over Nick's lack of diligence—after a pause ) Four two-year men paid orf wiv their bloody pockets full o' sovereigns—an' yer lorst 'em. ( He shakes his head sorrowfully. )

  J OE —( taking a small bottle from behind the bar ) Yus; 'ere it is.

  J OE —The Amindra? Wot ship is that?

  J OE — Ho, yus. I knows now.

  J OE —There's plenty o' 'ands lyin' abaht waitin' fur ships, I should fink.

  J OE —( doubtfully ) An' 'ow are yet goin' to git 'im?

  J OE —( with a grin ) It'd be a good 'aul, that's the troof. ( frowning ) If they comes 'ere.

  J OE —( with affected heartiness ) Ship ahoy, mates! 'Appy to see yer 'ome safe an' sound.

  J OE —( hastily interrupting ) Yet must be mistaiken. This is a 'onest place, this is.

  D RISCOLL —( going over to the bar—as genial as he was furious a moment before ) Well, no matther, 'tis all past an' gone an' forgot. I'm not the man to be holdin' harrd feelin's on me first night ashore, an' me dhrunk as a lord. ( He holds out his hand, which Joe takes very gingerly. ) We'll all be havin' a dhrink, I'm thinkin'. Whiskey for the three av us—Irish whiskey!

  O LSON —( with a good-natured grin ) I bane a good boy dis night, for one time.

  N ICK —Guv me a pint o' beer, Joe. ( Joe draws the beer and takes it down to the far end of the bar. Nick comes over to get it and Joe gives him a significant wink and nods toward the door on the left. Nick signals back that he understands. )

  D RISCOLL —( pocketing his change without looking at it ) A toast for ye: Hell roast that divil av a bo'sun! ( He drinks. )

  I V AN —( half-asleep ) Dot's gude. ( He tosses down his drink in one gulp. Olson sips his ginger ale. Nick takes a swallow of his beer and then comes round the bar and goes out the door on left. )

  J OE —The saime, mates?

  D RISCOLL —No, ye scut! I'll be havin' a pint av beer. I'm dhry as a loime kiln.

  D RISCOLL —( pushing him back on his chair with a thud ) Shut up, ye Rooshan baboon! A foine Romeo you'd make in your condishun. ( Ivan blubbers some incoherent protest—then suddenly falls asleep. )

  O LSON —( shaking his head ) Noting dis time, thank you.

  O LSON —( wearing the same good-natured grin ) Yust what I like, Cocky. I wus on farm long time when I wus kid.

  C OCKY —( commencing to weep dolorously ) Ow, down't talk, Drisc! I can't bear to 'ear you. I ain't never 'ad no mother, I ain't—

  D RISCOLL —( glowering at them ) What divil's thrick are ye up to now, the two av ye? ( He flourishes a brawny fist. ) Play fair wid us or ye deal wid me!

  N ICK —( indicating Ivan, who is snoring ) On'y your mate there was arskin' fur gels an' I thorght as 'ow yer'd like 'em to come dawhn and 'ave a wet wiv yer.

  N ICK —Yus.

  D RISCOLL —Divil a lie, we do. An' we'll be afther goin' there in a minute. There's music there an' a bit av a dance to liven a man.

  D RISCOLL —Hurroo! Now you're talkin'. ( The two women, Freda and Kate, enter from the left. Freda is a little, sallow faced blonde. Kate is stout and dark. )

  F REDA —( in a raspy voice ) 'Ullo, mates.

  D RISCOLL —Rotten; but no matther. Welcome, as the sayin' is, an' sit down, an' what'll ye be takin' for your thirst? ( to Kate ) You'll be sittin' by me, darlin'—what's your name?

  D RISCOLL —( putting his arm around her ) A good Irish name, but you're English by the trim av ye, an' be damned to you. But no matther. Ut's fat ye are, Katy dear, an' I never cud endure skinny wimin. ( Freda favors him with a viperish glance and sits down by Olson. ) What'll ye have?

  F REDA —Waike up your fren'. Gawd, 'ow I 'ates to 'ear snorin'.

  I V AN —( indignantly ) I tell you—dot's someting I don' li-ike!

  I V AN —( grumblingly ) I tell you—dot is not ri-ight.

  K ATE —( laughing at him ) Cheero, ole chum, 'ows Russha?

  O LSON —No; dis one bane on me. ( to Joe ) Hey, you faller!

  K ATE —Gin.

  D RISCOLL —An' Irish whiskey for the rist av us—wid the excipshun av our timperance friend, God pity him!

  O LSON —( half-ashamed ) No.

  C OCKY —'Ere's a toff toast for yer: The ladies, Gawd—( he hesitates—then adds in a grudging tone )—bless 'em.

  D RISCOLL —( to Nick ) Where's the tune ye was promisin' to give us?

  D RISCOLL —( getting up ) Come on, all av ye. We'll have a tune an' a dance if I'm not too dhrunk to dance, God help me. ( Cocky and Ivan stagger to their feet. Ivan can hardly stand. He is leering at Kate and snickering to himself in a maudlin fashion. The three, led by Nick, go out the door on the left. Kate follows them. Olson and Freda remain seated. )

  O LSON —Yes, I come. ( He starts to get up. From the side room comes the sound of an accordion and a boisterous whoop from Driscoll, followed by a heavy stamping of feet. )

  O LSON —( confused ) You wus wrong, Miss Freda. I don't—I mean I do like you.

  O LSON —( pleased but still more confused—wriggling his feet ) I bane drunk many time, Miss Freda.

  O LSON —( with a grin ) There ain't noting to say, Miss Freda. I bane poor devil sailor man, dat's all.

  O LSON —No. You guess once more.

  O LSON —Yes. I wus born in Stockholm.

  O LSON —( astonished ) You wus born in Sweden?

  O LSON —( beaming all over ) You speak Swedish?

  O LSON —It sound nice to hear the old talk yust once in a time.

  O LSON —Yes. I go home from here to Stockholm. ( proudly ) As passenger!

  O LSON —No. I don't never ship on sea no more. I got all sea I want for my life—too much hard work for little money. Yust work, work, work on ship. I don't want more.

  O LSON —Yes. ( with a grin ) If I drink I yust get drunk and spend all money.

  O LSON —No. I work on farm till I am eighteen. I like it, too—it's nice—work on farm.

  O LSON —We live—my brother and mother live—my father iss dead—on farm yust a little way from Stockholm. I have plenty money, now. I go back with two years' pay and buy more land yet; work on farm. ( grinning ) No more sea, no more bum grub, no more storms—yust nice work.

  O LSON —( very much confused ) I don't know. I like to, if I find nice girl, maybe.

  O LSON —No. I got nice girl once before I go on sea. But I go on ship, and I don't come back, and she marry other faller. ( He grins sheepishly. )

  O LSON —Yes. I tank so. ( There is a crash from the room on left and the music abruptly stops. A moment later Cocky and Driscoll appear, supporting the inert form of Ivan between them. He is in the last stage of intoxication, unable to move a muscle. Nick follows them and sits down at the table in rear. )

  C OCKY —( puffing ) Gawd, 'e ain't 'arf 'eavy!

  J OE —Whiskey?

  O LSON —Sit down and rest for time, Disc.

  J OE —( with an air of grievance ) There yer goes again—hinsultin' a 'onest man!

  O LSON —( anxious to avoid a fight getting up ) I help you take Ivan to boarding house.

  D RISCOLL —( with a wink ) Ye hear what the lady says, Ollie. Ye'd best stay here, me timperance lady's man. An' we need no help. ' 'Tis only a bit av a way and we're two strong men if we are dhrunk. Ut's no hard shift to take the remains home. But ye can open the door for us, Ollie. ( Olson goes to the door and opens it. ) Come on, Cocky, an' don't be fallin' aslape yourself. ( They lurch toward the door. As they go out Driscoll shouts back over his shoulder ) We'll be comin' back in a short time, surely. So wait here for us, Ollie.

  F REDA —( coaxingly ) You ain't gointer leave me, are yet, dearie? ( then irritably ) Fur Gawd's sake, slier that door! I'm fair freezin' to death wiv the fog. ( Olson comes to himself with a start and shuts the door. )

  F REDA —( leading him back to the table—coughing ) Buy me a drink o' brandy, will yet? I'm sow cold.

  J OE —Righto! ( He pours out her drink and brings it to the table. ) 'Avin' somethink yeself, shipmate?

  J OE —( hopefully ) 'Awe a man's drink.

  F REDA —( responding to a vicious nudge from Joe's elbow ) Ow, tike somethin'. I ain't gointer drink all be meself.

  N ICK —( to make talk ) Where's yer mates popped orf ter? ( Joe pours the contents of the little bottle into Olson's glass of ginger beer. )

  J OE —( to Nick—angrily ) 'Op it, will yer? There ain't no time to be dawdlin'. See? 'Urry!

  O LSON —( after a pause—worriedly ) I tank I should go after dem. Cocky iss very drunk, too, and Drisc—

  O LSON —Yes; but if dey don't come soon I tank I go see if dey are in boarding house all right.

  O LSON —Y us t little way back from street here.

  O LSON —Yes—until steamer sail for Stockholm— in two day.

  O LSON —No. I tought I would yust give her surprise. I write to her from Bonos Eres but I don't tell her I come home.

  O LSON —She iss eighty-two. ( He smiles reminiscently. ) You know, Miss Freda, I don't see my mother or my brother in—let me tank—( he counts laboriously on his fingers ) must be more than ten year. I write once in while and she write many time; and my brother he write me, too. My mother say in all letter I should come home right away. My brother he write same ting, too. He want me to help him on farm. I write back always I come soon; and I mean all time to go back home at end of voyage. But I come ashore, I take one drink, I take many drinks, I get drunk, I spend all money, I have to ship away for other voyage. So dis time I say to myself: Don't drink one drink, Ollie, or, sure, you don't get home. And I want go home dis time. I feel homesick for farm and to see my people again. ( He smiles. ) Yust like little boy, I feel home­sick. Dat's why I don't drink noting to-night but dis—belly-wash! ( He roars with childish laughter, then suddenly becomes serious. ) You know, Miss Freda, my mother get very old, and I want see her. She might die and I would never—

  O LSON —( starting to get up—worriedly ) I tank I go round to boarding house. I tank someting go wrong with Drisc and Cocky.

  J OE —( coming hastily over to the table, indicates the men in the rear with a jerk of his thumb ) One of them blokes wants yer to 'ave a wet wiv 'im.

  O LSON —Skoal! ( He puts down his glass. )

  O LSON —( grinning ) Yes. It iss very kind, Miss Freda.

  O LSON —Well—( He gulps down the rest. ) Dere! ( He laughs. )

  O NE O F THE R OUGHS —( with a laugh ) Amindra, ahoy!

  O LSON —( turns around in his chair ) Amindra? Iss she in port? I sail on her once long time ago—three mast, full rig, skys'l yarder? Iss dat ship you mean?

  O LSON —( angrily ) I know dat damn ship—worst ship dat sail to sea. Rotten grub and dey make you work all time—and the Captain and Mate wus Bluenose devils. No sailor who know anyting ever ship on her. Where iss she bound from here?

  O LSON —Py yingo, I pity poor fallers make dat trip round Cape Stiff dis time year. I bet you some of dem never see port once again. ( He passes his hand over his eyes in a dazed way. His voice grows weaker. ) I'y golly, I feel dizzy. All the room go round and round like I wus drunk. ( He gets weakly to his feet. ) Good night, Miss Freda. I bane feeling sick. Tell Drisc—I go home. ( He takes a step forward and suddenly collapses over a chair, rolls to the floor, and lies there unconscious. )

  J OE —( impatiently ) 'Urry, 'urry, can't yet? The other blokes'll be 'ere in 'arf a mo'. ( The two roughs come forward. ) 'Ere, you two, tike 'im in under the arms like 'e was drunk. ( They do so. ) Tike 'im to the Amindra—yer knows that, don't yer?—two docks above. Nick'll show yer. An' you, Nick, down't yer leave the bleedin' ship till the capt'n guvs yer this bloke's advance—full month's pay—five quid, d'yer 'ear?

  T HE R OUGH —( as they are going out ) This silly bloke'll 'ave the s'prise of 'is life when 'e wakes up on board of 'er. ( They laugh. The door closes behind them. Freda moves quickly for the door on the left but Joe gets in her way and stops her. )

  F REDA —Took? I guv yer all 'e 'ad.

  F REDA —Lemme alone! I ain't got no—

  J OE —Y us ; an' I'll 'it you, too, if yer don't keep yer marf shut. Tike 'er aht of 'ere! ( Kate carries Freda into the next room. Joe goes behind the bar. A moment later the outer door is opened and Driscoll and Cocky come in.)

  J OE —( with a meaning wink ) 'E an' Freda went aht t'gether 'bout five minutes past. 'E's fair gone on 'er, 'e is.

  D RISCOLL —( with a grin ) Oho, so that's ut, is ut? Who'd think Ollie'd be sich a divil wid the wimin? 'Tis lucky he's sober or she'd have him stripped to his last ha'penny. ( turning to Cocky, who is blinking sleepily ) What'll ye have, ye little scut? ( to Joe ) Give me whiskey, Irish whiskey!

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Long Voyage Home: Eugene O'Neill's Plays of the Sea

ZANDER BRIETZKE is a former president of the Eugene O'Neill Society and editor of the Eugene O'Neill Review at Suffolk University in Boston. He has written one monograph on O'Neill, The Aesthetics of Failure (2001), and he recently finished a new manuscript on O'Neill's Cycle plays of the 1930s. Other books include Action and Consequence in Ibsen, Chekhov and Strindberg (2017), American Drama in the Age of Film (2007) and two editions of Teaching with the Norton Anthology of Drama (2009, 2014). He has taught at Columbia University, Montclair State, The College of Wooster in Ohio, and Lehigh University.

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Zander Brietzke; Long Voyage Home: Eugene O'Neill's Plays of the Sea. The Eugene O'Neill Review 1 December 2019; 40 (2): 247–250. doi: https://doi.org/10.5325/eugeoneirevi.40.2.0247

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Director Barbara Bosch creatively staged The Moon of the Caribbees, Bound East for Cardiff , and The Long Voyage Home on the decks of the Wavertree , a nineteenth-century cargo ship renovated and docked along Pier 16 at the South Street Seaport in New York. A multi-ethnic, multiracial ensemble of undergraduate and graduate students, alumni, and area performers mimicked O'Neill's international crew. Bosch drew upon John Ford's 1940 cinematic adaptation to achieve narrative coherence among the three disparate one-acts written between 1914 and 1917. In the end, the evening belonged to the maritime setting, first at twilight, in the shadows of the city skyscrapers, and then at night, with the audience repositioned to look away from the bustle on land to face the East River and the Atlantic Ocean beyond.

The Wavertree was built in Southampton, England, in 1885 (the same port from which the Titanic departed in 1912), and soon after entered the tramp trade and delivered cargo all over the world for the next twenty-five years. In 1911 a violent gale off Cape Horn nearly dismasted the ship and ended its sailing career. After serving as a floating warehouse off the coast of Chile and as a sand barge in Buenos Aires, the Wavertree was purchased by the South Street Seaport Museum in 1968 and restored to its original state. The Wavertree , however, was practically fit for a museum at its first launch, a relic among more reliable steam-powered ships such as the fictional Glencairn , the tramp steamer in the three one-acts under consideration. Indeed, it was one of the last large ships built of wrought iron and not the new steel about which Yank holds forth in The Hairy Ape .

Theatrically, the evening began with a walk up the gangway to the main deck and to folding chairs around a large, closed hatch upon which the actors sat and leaned throughout the first play. As in Ford's film, the production opened with The Moon of the Caribbees and the restless crew awaiting the arrival of native women in bumboats from a nearby West Indian island. Ford's screenwriter Dudley Nichols, in an homage to O'Neill, inserted a new line to stir up the action among the men and incite a brawl: “You look like a hairy ape!” Bosch kept the line but turned it over to Pearl (Diana Benigno) to resonate against the urban surroundings of this production and to highlight the gulf between the civilized and heavily industrialized modern city and the raw, alienated human labor by which it was built.

For the next segment of the production, the audience climbed ladders leading to the poop deck. O'Neill set the action for Bound East for Cardiff in the sailors' quarters of the forecastle, located below deck in the bow. In this production, the scene took place at the opposite end of the ship in the stern, but the set designer (Bonni Benton) achieved the appropriate claustrophobic effect by cramping the scene with a tent-like covering over the entire area. This device focused attention on the relationship between a dying sailor, Yank (Guy Ventoliere), and his best friend, Driscoll (George Sheffey), during the last moments of the injured man's life. Technology made the intimacy of Yank's long voyage home audible through the use of body microphones. Audio engineer Adam Smith designed an extraordinary system in which the actors did not have to project unduly in order to be understood, and the proximity of actor to audience provided the theatrical equivalent of a movie close-up. The simplicity of the staging enhanced the gravitas of the dramatic situation. In O'Neill's text, the repetitive ship bells and the crew's routine offset the singularity of Yank's experience. In the Hunter production, the audience could watch intently the quiet scene unfold as sightseeing boats churned down the river to the left and cars honked along FDR Drive to the right.

(L to R) George Sheffey as Driscoll and Guy Ventoliere as Yank.

( L to R ) George Sheffey as Driscoll and Guy Ventoliere as Yank.

Photograph by Jacqueline Wade.

The final installment of the evening's triptych moved back down to the main deck, under a catwalk that once held lifeboats. The Long Voyage Home takes place in a waterfront dive in London, so the structure looming overhead on board the Wavertree fittingly enclosed the action as if it were a roof. More significantly, the audience sat facing the aft sections of the ship as if it were looking out to sea and away from the dock and the city. This physical arrangement augmented the point that, as much as the sailors talked about how much they preferred the land to the sea, when push came to shove they invariably chose the only life that they had ever known and signed up for yet another long voyage. The play, in which a Swedish sailor, Olson, finally decides to buy a ticket to return to his mother's farm in Stockholm, seemed to violate this rule, but the crew of a vicious rival ship crimps him at the last minute for a potentially deadly trip around Cape Horn before he can embark for Sweden. Thus, the long voyage home never seems to terminate in a safe harbor.

O'Neill wrote a fourth play in his so-called Glencairn cycle, In the Zone , which Ford included in his film but Bosch excluded from her production. It was the most commercially successful of the group as an independent play on the vaudeville circuit, but O'Neill thought it was too melodramatic, based on intrigue rather than character, and greatly preferred the other plays. Excising it proved to be one of the great strengths and bold moves of the Hunter production. It allowed Yank's demise to be the appropriate centerpiece of Bound East for Cardiff , and it allowed The Long Voyage Home to add further perspective on his death and make an ironic counterpoint to Driscoll's and Yank's laments about the troubles of life at sea and their desire to buy a small farm somewhere and live on just enough to get by. To make the abbreviated structure work and yet still follow the sequence of plays in Ford's film, Bosch performed a dramaturgical sleight of hand. She cast the same actor (Andrew Fitzsimons) as Smitty in the first play, The Moon of the Caribbees , and as Olson in the final play, The Long Voyage Home . The actor played each part distinctively, yet both characters fulfilled similar functions as outsiders who, like Yank in The Hairy Ape , can never truly belong. Smitty, alcoholic and estranged from his family, could not go home again, while Olson, the sweet Swede, longed to return home to the mother whom he had left years ago, only to have malevolent forces prevent him from doing so. The sea buffered both men against any emotional entanglements on land.

While Susan Glaspell's description of the premiere of Bound East for Cardiff at the Wharf Theater in Provincetown is the stuff of legend, it is hard to imagine a better setting for the Glencairn plays in 2018 than the one Hunter College selected at the Southport Seaport. The three plays on board the Wavertree reminded the audience that the romance of sailing in the open air is long past, that steam is gone, too, that the civil landscape looms far above us, and that in today's technological forest we must hold on dearly to a sense of simple humanity and reciprocal relations with others in order to find our way out of the darkness of modern times.

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The long voyage home.

One of the finest of all the movies that deal with life at sea, and one of the most successful of all attempts to put Eugene O’Neill on film—perhaps because the director, John Ford, and the screenwriter, Dudley Nichols, were so free in their approach to O’Neill’s material. The young Mildred Natwick has a memorable scene in a café with John Wayne, and Barry Fitzgerald’s return to the ship (shrunken and chastened) is a truly great moment. Gregg Toland did the cinematography (which includes some early experiments in deep focus); with Thomas Mitchell, Wilfrid Lawson, Ward Bond, John Qualen, and Joe Sawyer. Released in 1940.

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Eugene O'Neill

Deadtree Publishing

23 April 2014

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The Long Voyage Home

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Eugene O'Neill

The Long Voyage Home Hardcover – January 1, 1940

  • Print length 217 pages
  • Language English
  • Publisher MODERN LIBRARY.
  • Publication date January 1, 1940
  • ISBN-10 9110048502
  • ISBN-13 978-9110048508
  • See all details

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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000MZ7JAW
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ MODERN LIBRARY.; First Edition (January 1, 1940)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 217 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9110048502
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-9110048508
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1 pounds

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UCLA Film and Television Archive

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Restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive in association with the Library of Congress, with funding provided by The Hollywood Foreign Press Association and The Film Foundation

The Long Voyage Home  (1940)

The powers and fascinations of director John Ford and playwright Eugene O’Neill are happily met in this 1940 feature dramatizing the lives of men who serve as crew members aboard commercial freighters.  Like O’Neill, Ford nursed a lifelong obsession with sailing and the sea, and had spent his early years in Portland, Maine, amid the maritime culture that this picture describes.  Adapted and updated by screenwriter Dudley Nichols (Ford’s frequent collaborator) from four of O’Neill’s early plays set aboard the fictional “SS Glencairn,” the film recounts the experiences of the ship’s crew while transporting ammunition from the West Indies to England during World War II.  The story thus presents four mini-dramas, each with its own catharsis, while neatly making general points about the specialized society in which these men live—disregarded by callous superiors, consigned to repeated voyages for lack of better work, and developing codes of honor and friendships that sustain them through the severe physical and psychological hardships of their lives.

Nichols and Ford expertly martial the unconventional, four-part structure to create recurrent emotional surges, akin to the ebb and flow of great waves, as endurance and loyalty are tested again and again.  The various anecdotes underscore the pressures that so often lead to bouts of drinking and brawling (tantamount to bonding), and just as often, to the decision to ship out on yet another grueling voyage.  Richard Hageman’s music score underlines the same “ebb and flow” movement, adroitly counterposing the spirited shanty “Blow the Man Down” with the plaintive “Harbor Lights,” contrasting the urge to adventure with the longing for home.

Ford makes ingenious use of an admirable group of character actors, whose personification of the tight-knit crew collapses the space between stars and supporting players, taking full advantage of sterling dialogue and weighty dramatic opportunities.  Particularly impressive are Thomas Mitchell as swaggering “Driscoll,” a fractured character in the best O’Neill tradition, and Mildred Natwick in her first film role as a Cockney prostitute in a harbor saloon.

A penetrating portrait of the dispossessed, the film was not a financial success, but showcases numerous talents to wonderful advantage, and as an incidental fact, was purportedly greatly admired by Eugene O’Neill, who was said to have screened the film privately numerous times.  — Shannon Kelley

Director: John Ford.  Production: Argosy Corporation, A John Ford Production.  Distribution: United Artists Corp.   Screenwriter: Dudley Nichols.  Based on the plays Bound East For Cardiff , In the Zone , The Long Voyage Home and The Moon of the Caribees by Eugene O’Neill.  Cinematographer: Gregg Toland.  Art Direction: James Basevi. Editor: Sherman Todd.  Music: Richard Hageman.  Cast: John Wayne, Thomas Mitchell, Ian Hunter, Barry Fitzgerald, Wilfrid Lawson.  35mm, b/w, 103 min.

Restored from a 35mm safety fine grain master and a 35mm safety track positive.  Laboratory services by Fotokem, Audio Mechanics, DJ Audio, Simon Daniel Sound.  Special thanks to: Ned Price—Warner Bros.

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The Long Voyage Home

The Long Voyage Home

  • Photos & Videos

Film Details

  • Articles & Reviews

Brief Synopsis

Cast & crew, thomas mitchell, barry fitzgerald, wilfrid lawson, photos & videos, technical specs.

the long voyage home eugene o'neill

On the long voyage home from the West Indies to Baltimore and then to England, the British tramp steamer the Glencairn takes aboard a cargo of munitions, a circumstance which turns the natural complaining of the crew into a case of genuine fear. Those fears are realized when a heavy gale tests the mettle of the ship and in the storm, mountainous waves hurtle the sailor Yank to the seething deck, thus bringing him to his death as his shipmates, Ole Olson and Driscoll, watch helplessly. As they approach land, the crew begins to suspect their brooding, aloof shipmate, Smitty, of sending signals to the Nazis, but they discover that Smitty has really withdrawn in disgrace from his family and all those around him because of his alchoholism. This revelation forces Smitty to resolve to return to his wife and children, but the reunion is tragically doomed when a Nazi plane swoops down from the skies off England and Smitty is killed in the attack. Safely in port after their harrowing crossing, the crew channel their energies into making sure that Ole leaves the sea to return to his aged mother in Sweden, but after bidding his friends farewell, Ole is shanghaied aboard the Amindra . Rescued by Driscoll and his other mates, Ole's voyage ends happily. Not so for Driscoll, because in the rescue he is taken prisoner and sails off aboard the Amindra in Ole's place. As the remaining seafarers return to the Glencairn to resume their long journey, they learn that Driscoll perished aboard the Amindra when the ship was sunk by a torpedo.

the long voyage home eugene o'neill

Mildred Natwick

the long voyage home eugene o'neill

John Qualen

the long voyage home eugene o'neill

Arthur Shields

the long voyage home eugene o'neill

Joseph Sawyer

the long voyage home eugene o'neill

J. M. Kerrigan

the long voyage home eugene o'neill

Rafaela Ottiano

Carmen morales, carmen d'antonio, david hughes.

the long voyage home eugene o'neill

Billy Bevan

Cyril mclaglen.

the long voyage home eugene o'neill

Douglas Walton

Constantine romanoff, edgar "blue" washington, lionel pape, jane crowley, maureen roden-ryan, jack pennick, bob e. perry, constant franke, dan borzage, harry tenbrook, tina menard, judith linden, elena martinez, lita cortez, soledad gonzales.

the long voyage home eugene o'neill

Harry Woods

the long voyage home eugene o'neill

James Flavin

Lee shumway, wyndham standing, lowell drew, sammy stein, bing conley, ky robinson, mary aiken carewe, roger steele, luanne robb, guy kingsford, les sketchley, james basevi, r. o. binger, bob burkhardt, lowell farrell, richard hageman, julia heron, r. t. layton, b. f. mceveety, dudley nichols, edward paul, wingate smith, sherman todd, gregg toland, walter wanger, photo collections.

the long voyage home eugene o'neill

Hosted Intro

the long voyage home eugene o'neill

Award Nominations

Best cinematography, best editing, best picture, best special effects, best writing, screenplay.

The Long Voyage Home

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

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. The Moon of the Caribees opened in New York on 20 December 1918.

According to Life , the picture was filmed aboard the freighter the S.S. Munami at Wilmington Harbor, CA. The film marked the screen debut of stage actress Mildred Natwick. This was the first production of John Ford's Argosy Corp. Modern sources note that under his Fox contract, John Ford was allowed to make one feature per year outside the studio. To make this film, he and Walter Wanger set up Argosy. The next Argosy production was The Fugitive , made in 1947. The Long Voyage Home was nominated for the following Academy Awards: Best Black and White Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Special Photographic Effects, Best Sound and Best Screenplay. It also was included in the National Board of Review 's "ten best" list of 1940.

Miscellaneous Notes

Released in United States Fall November 11, 1940

Released in United States November 1971

Based on the sea plays "Bound East For Cardiff", "In The Zone", "The Long Voyage Home" and "The Moon of the Caribees" by Eugene O'Neill.

Released in United States November 1971 (Shown at FILMEX: Los Angeles International Film Exposition (A Tribute to the American Cinema) November 4-14, 1971.)

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The Long Voyage Home

Combining dramatic content of four Eugene O'Neill one-act plays, John Ford pilots adventures of a tramp steamer from the West Indies to an American port, and then across the Atlantic with cargo of high explosives. Picture is typically Fordian, his direction accentuating characterizations and adventures of the voyage.

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Combining dramatic content of four Eugene O’Neill one-act plays, John Ford pilots adventures of a tramp steamer from the West Indies to an American port, and then across the Atlantic with cargo of high explosives. Picture is typically Fordian, his direction accentuating characterizations and adventures of the voyage.

Story plods along at slow tempo, making onlookers wonder when ship will finally make an English port safely. There’s a rather confusing passage in which Ian Hunter, as a deckhand, is pictured as an enemy spy, and although he is finally cleared, nothing explains his actions that lead to original suspicions.

Aside from explosive cargo aboard, little interest is generated in final safety of crew, as yarn points out they are all men of the sea, who will ship out again soon as pay evaporates; all but John Wayne, who wants a nestegg for a farm in Sweden.

Along the voyage there’s plenty of dialog and action in the crew’s quarters, with Thomas Mitchell the accepted leader of the group. Storm at sea, in which ship’s anchor breaks loose, is particularly realistic. Passage through the submarine zone with blackout restrictions is more informative than dramatic. Stuka-bombing and machine-gunning of the ship in sight of land is a dramatic excuse for heroic death of Hunter just before landing.

Mitchell hits a high mark in the seaman’s character – two-fisted, domineering, and still kindly and loyal to his pals. Wayne’s role is submerged among the sailor characters.

1940: Nominations: Best Picture, Screenplay, B&W Cinematography, Editing, Original Score

  • Production: Argosy. Director John Ford; Producer Walter Wanger; Screenplay Dudley Nichols; Camera Gregg Toland; Editor Sherman Todd; Music Richard Hageman; Art Director James Basevi
  • Crew: (B&W) Available on VHS, DVD. Extract of a review from 1940. Running time: 105 MIN.
  • With: John Wayne Thomas Mitchell Ian Hunter Barry Fitzgerald Wilfrid Lawson Mildred Natwick

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IMAGES

  1. THE LONG VOYAGE HOME : Seven Plays of the Sea

    the long voyage home eugene o'neill

  2. The Long Voyage Home, Seven Plays Of The Sea (1946) Random House

    the long voyage home eugene o'neill

  3. The Long Voyage Home (aka Eugene O'Neill's The Long Voyage Home) (1940

    the long voyage home eugene o'neill

  4. The Long Voyage Home (1940)

    the long voyage home eugene o'neill

  5. The Long Voyage Home and Other Plays by Eugene O'Neill

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  6. The Long Voyage Home

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COMMENTS

  1. The Long Voyage Home

    The Long Voyage Home is a 1940 American drama film directed by John Ford.It stars John Wayne, Thomas Mitchell and Ian Hunter.It features Barry Fitzgerald, Wilfrid Lawson, John Qualen, Mildred Natwick, and Ward Bond, among others.. The film was adapted by Dudley Nichols from the plays The Moon of the Caribbees, In the Zone, Bound East for Cardiff, and The Long Voyage Home by Eugene O'Neill.

  2. The Long Voyage Home and Other Plays by Eugene O'Neill

    Eugene O'Neill, Alan Weissman (Editor) 3.65. 49ratings6reviews. Kindle $0.99. From one of America's greatest playwrights, 4 of his finest short plays. Written between 1913 and 1917 and filled with moody, intense and fascinating characters entrapped by larger forces, they include Bound East for Cardiff, In The Zone, The Long Voyage Home and ...

  3. Story of the Week: The Long Voyage Home

    List price: $40.00. Web store price: $32.00. Photograph of the Provincetown Players production of The Long Voyage Home, November 1917. Image from the blog For the Actor. After struggling for nearly four years to be a writer, Eugene O'Neill's fledgling career, as well as his financial situation, took a notable turn for the better in 1917.

  4. O'Neill Play by Play: The Long Voyage Home

    Eugene O'Neill Review 32 2010 134-47 (140-45 on the film of the play) Orlandello, John. O'Neill on film. Rutherford, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson UP, 1982, 89-102: 'The Long Voyage Home (1940)' Sipple, William L. 'From stage to screen: The Long Voyage Home and Long Day's Journey Into Night.' Eugene O'Neill Newsletter 7 i 1983 10-14 ...

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  6. The Long Voyage Home by Eugene O'Neill (ebook)

    But out of such difficulties came plays of the calibre of The Iceman Cometh, Long Day's Journey Into Night, and A Moon for the Misbegotten. Eugene O'Neill died in Room 401 of the Sheraton Hotel on Bay State Road in Boston, on November 27, 1953, at the age of 65. As he was dying, he whispered his last words: "I knew it.

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    American playwright Eugene Gladstone O'Neill authored Mourning Becomes Electra in 1931 among his works; he won the Nobel Prize of 1936 for literature, and people awarded him his fourth Pulitzer Prize for Long Day's Journey into Night, produced in 1956. He won his Nobel Prize "for the power, honesty and deep-felt emotions of his dramatic works, which embody an original concept of tragedy."

  8. Long Voyage Home: Eugene O'Neill's Plays of the Sea

    Director Barbara Bosch creatively staged The Moon of the Caribbees, Bound East for Cardiff, and The Long Voyage Home on the decks of the Wavertree, a nineteenth-century cargo ship renovated and docked along Pier 16 at the South Street Seaport in New York. A multi-ethnic, multiracial ensemble of undergraduate and graduate students, alumni, and area performers mimicked O'Neill's international ...

  9. The Long Voyage Home

    The Long Voyage Home by Eugene O'Neill : Eugene O'Neill's fortunes began to change when the literary magazine The Smart Set, edited by George Jean Nathan and H. L. Mencken, published The Long Voyage Home in their October 1917 issue. He'd received his first substantial pay from writing when in June of that year the magazine, The Seven Arts, bought his short story titled "Tomorrow" for ...

  10. The Long Voyage Home and Other Plays

    Playwright Eugene O'Neill (1888-1953) spent his early years as a merchant seaman and drifter on the waterfronts of New York, Liverpool, and Buenos Aires. From these experiences came the inspiration and subject matter for four of his finest short plays, collected in this volume.Written between 1913 and 1917 and considered to have made O'Neill's reputation, the plays comprise a tetralogy, all ...

  11. The long voyage home and other plays : Eugene O'Neill : Free Download

    The long voyage home and other plays ... The long voyage home and other plays by Eugene O'Neill. Publication date 1995 Publisher Dover Publications Collection inlibrary; printdisabled; internetarchivebooks Contributor Internet Archive Language English. Access-restricted-item true

  12. Long voyage home: seven plays of the sea : O'Neill, Eugene : Free

    Long voyage home: seven plays of the sea by O'Neill, Eugene. Publication date 1946 Publisher New York,: Modern Library Collection universityoffloridaduplicates; univ_florida_smathers; americana Contributor University of Florida, George A. Smathers Libraries Language English.

  13. The Long Voyage Home : O Nell Eugene : Free Download, Borrow, and

    The Long Voyage Home Bookreader Item Preview ... The Long Voyage Home by O Nell Eugene. Publication date 1946 Topics Language Linguistics Literature, C-DAC, Noida, DLI Top-Up Publisher The Modern Library, New York Collection digitallibraryindia; JaiGyan Language English.

  14. The Long Voyage Home: O'Neill, Eugene: 9781419170645: Amazon.com: Books

    67. Paperback. 2 offers from $2.99. The Long Voyage Home: Seven Plays of the Sea (The Modern library of the world's best books, 111.2) Eugene O'Neill. 5.0 out of 5 stars. 1. Hardcover. 19 offers from $4.50.

  15. The Long Voyage Home

    The Long Voyage Home. One of the finest of all the movies that deal with life at sea, and one of the most successful of all attempts to put Eugene O'Neill on film—perhaps because the director ...

  16. The Long Voyage Home by Eugene O'Neill

    Eugene O'Neill suffered from various health problems, mainly depression and alcoholism. In the last decade he also faced a Parkinson's like tremor in his hands which made writing increasingly difficult. But out of such difficulties came plays of the calibre of "The Iceman Cometh, Long Day's Journey into Night", and "A Moon for the Misbegotten".

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  18. The Long Voyage Home (1940)

    The Long Voyage Home (1940) The powers and fascinations of director John Ford and playwright Eugene O'Neill are happily met in this 1940 feature dramatizing the lives of men who serve as crew members aboard commercial freighters. Like O'Neill, Ford nursed a lifelong obsession with sailing and the sea, and had spent his early years in ...

  19. The Long Voyage Home (1940)

    Long Voyage Home, The (1940) -- (Movie Clip) I Got No Home Original author Eugene O'Neill's tramp steamer Glencairn docked in Baltimore ca. 1939, sailors Ward Bond, Thomas Mitchell at ease as Axel (John Qualen) backs Ole (John Wayne) who aims to return home, when Cocky (Barry Fitzgerald) brings war news, in John Ford's The Long Voyage Home, 1940.

  20. PDF The Long Voyage Home

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  21. The Long Voyage Home

    Directed by John Ford • 1940 • United States. Starring John Wayne, Ward Bond, Ian Hunter. Shot in stunning chiaroscuro by master cinematographer Gregg Toland, THE LONG VOYAGE HOME is John Ford's and screenwriter Dudley Nichols's lyrical adaptation of four one-act plays by Eugene O'Neill, distilled into one movingly expressive human drama.

  22. The Long Voyage Home

    The Long Voyage Home. Combining dramatic content of four Eugene O'Neill one-act plays, John Ford pilots adventures of a tramp steamer from the West Indies to an American port, and then across the ...

  23. The Long Voyage Home

    Directed by John Ford • 1940 • United States. Starring John Wayne, Ward Bond, Ian Hunter. Shot in stunning chiaroscuro by master cinematographer Gregg Toland, THE LONG VOYAGE HOME is John Ford's and screenwriter Dudley Nichols's lyrical adaptation of four one-act plays by Eugene O'Neill, distilled into one movingly expressive human drama.