Morituri - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

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

[steve]

Colonel Statter looks at a painting in Crain's home, and Crain tells him that it's a Kirchner. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was a German painter, and one of the founders of Die Brücke ("The Bridge"), an influential vanguard of Expressionist painters. In the 1930s, his art was labeled as "degenerate" by the Nazis, and many of his paintings were destroyed. In 1938, he committed suicide.

[kristen]

The MV Blue Dolphin, ex. MV Cape Rodney, was the principal ship used in filming. The ship had been built in 1946 in Glasgow, and had served in the Pacific trade for many years before being rented for production due to its aged appearance.

[carl]

The Morse code heard at the end of the movie says "CQ CQ CQ DE SS INGO (then code for a new line: BT) CARGO SHIP OUT OF . . . " (code fades as music rises). The repeated CQ's are an invitation to whoever may be listening to reply. [DE is code shorthand meaning "from"]

[russell]

In the book "Marlon Brando: The Biography" by Peter Marso, it states that Marlon Brando was "faced as he was with his still unfulfilled obligation" to "his ten-year old debt to [studio 20th Century] Fox, which would force him to begin shooting 'Morituri' in April 1964." Brando plays a Nazi soldier in this film as he had done so in the earlier film, "The Young Lions (1958)," for 20th Century Fox, both movies being filmed in black-and-white and both being for made for the same studio.

[alyssa]

Fox originally offered this to Martin Ritt to direct.

[edgar]

This is not the first film with the title "Morituri," nor is it the first World War II movie with this title. Morituri (1948), a German film, was made seventeen years prior to this movie, and it was the first German film made after the war, which was about the Second World War.

[frances]

Marlon Brando offered directing duties to Stanley Kubrick who was working on "more interesting ideas (of his own)," according to Kubrick's letter collection.

[kenzi]

Brando initially refused to go on a tour to meet the press and promote the film. The studio threatened him, as he was contractually required to promote the film, so Brando made an appearance at one press conference. He said to the press, "You will be unable to proceed in life unless you see Morituri." The studio released him from having to do any more press appearances after this sarcastic statement.

[sylvia]

Filmed on Catalina Island, Roger Vadim spent his holidays with Marlon Brando, just before Vadim married Jane Fonda, who was filming Cat Ballou (1965) in Hollywood.

[stephanie]

The film's marketing boasted the surname alliteration of Brando and Brynner. The Marlon Brando and "Yul Brynner" alliteration is another example in film history of promotional star-team name alliteration; see also: (Humphrey Bogart) "Bogie" and (Lauren) Bacall in four films, (Steve) McQueen and (Ali) McGraw in The Getaway (1972), and (Alec) Baldwin and (Kim) Bassinger in The Getaway (1994).

[steve]

Initially, Trevor Howard was reluctant to work alongside Marlon Brando again, after the tense atmosphere between them from before. However, since Howard only had a one scene appearance, he finally agreed.

[beth]

Marlon Brando and Trevor Howard both also appeared in "Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)" and "Superman (1978)."

[ethel]

This movie bombed at the box-office upon initial release. It was a financial disaster for Twentieth Century-Fox, coming on the heels of Cleopatra (1963), another high-profile drain on the studio. The film brought in only $4,045,000, less than half of it's break-even amount of $10.5M according to studio records. It is believed that the film's title was not understood by the public. As such, when re-released, the film was re-named "Saboteur: Code Name Morituri."

[violet]

According to contemporary articles in Daily Variety, Charlton Heston, Gregory Peck and Robert Stack were originally considered for Marlon Brando's part.