Twilight for the Gods

Adapted by Ernest Gann from his own novel, Twilight for the Gods bears traces of Gann's earlier The High and the Mighty. This "psychological adventure" stars Rock Hudson as Captain Bell, who crawls into a bottle after being court-martialed and discharged from the Navy. Reduced to skippering a rundown schooner in the South Seas, Bell comes into contact with a group of passengers and crew members who are almost as mixed up as he is: Charlotte (Cyd Charisse), a Honolulu prostitute on the lam from the authorities; Hutton (Leif Erickson), a third-rate show biz entrepreneur, Wiggins (Richard Haydn), an erudite beachcomber; Feodor and Ida Morris (Vladimir Sokoloff, Celia Lovsky) a refugee couple; ineffectual missionary Butterfield (Ernest Truex); washed-up opera star Ethel Peacock (Judith Evelyn); and second mate Ramsay (Arthur Kennedy), an all-around rotter. In other words, it's "Grand Hotel" at sea. During a treacherous, life-threatening storm at sea, the true characters of the passengers and crewmen are revealed -- for better or worse. (Hal Erickson: All Movie Guide)