Bernhard Wicki directed this hard-hitting World War II espionage drama. Marlon Brando plays Robert Crain, a German deserter who is coerced by British Intelligence officer Colonel Statter (Trevor Howard) to impersonate a Gestapo officer in order to get aboard a German blockade runner that is conveying a valuable rubber cargo from the Orient. Crain's assignment is to save the rubber by finding a way to deactivate the explosives that the ship's captain would use to destroy the ship if captured by the enemy. Crain finds his way aboard the ship, but the ship's commander Captain Mueller (Yul Brynner), skeptical of the Nazis, refuses to let Crain out of his sight. When survivors of a sunken vessel board the ship, and Crain realizes that his identity may be exposed by two rescued German submarine officers, he incites Mueller's officers and the new arrivals to mutiny before his true identity is revealed. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Hans-Christian Blech - Donkeyman; Wally Cox - Dr. Ambach; Max Haufler - Branner; Rainer Penkert - Milkereit; William Redfield - Baldwin; Oscar Beregi - Admiral; Martin Brandt - Nissen; Charles de Vries - Kurz; Carl Esmond - Busch; Martin Kosleck - Wilke; Norbert Schiller - Steward; Rick Traeger - Crew Member; Ivan Triesault - Lt. Brandt; Gregg Barton; Hal Bokar; Eric Braeden - Radio Operator; Gary Crosby - Ens. Sloan; Gene Dynarski; Jimmy Goodwin; Roy Jenson; Buck Kartalian; Robert Kino - Capt. Hatsuma; Manfred Lating - Lutz; John Logan; David Manley; Keith McConnell - Englishman; Rollin Moriyama - Japanese Tug Pilot; Henry Rowland; Gilchrist Stuart; George Takei - Junior Officer; Wilhelm von Homburg; Rick Weber - Crew Member; Rusty Wescoatt - Members of U.S. Merchant Marine; William White - Williams; Bob Wilke - Cmdr. Kelling; Paul Baxley; Harold Dyrenforth - Cornelson; Frank London; Yvon Arai - Japanese Officer; Harold Goodwin
Credit
Herman A. Blumenthal - Art Director, Jack Martin Smith - Art Director, Moss Mabry - Costume Designer, Bernhard Wicki - Director, Joseph Silver - Editor, Jerry Goldsmith - Composer (Music Score), Ben Nye, Sr. - Makeup, Conrad L. Hall - Cinematographer, Aaron Rosenberg - Producer, Walter Scott - Set Designer, Jerry Wunderlich - Set Designer, L.B. Abbott - Special Effects, Emil Kosa, Jr. - Special Effects, Daniel Taradash - Screenwriter, Werne Joerg Luedecke - Book Author
Morituri (also known as The Saboteur and Code Name Morituri) is a 1965 film about Robert Crain, a Germanpacifist living in India during the Second World War. He is blackmailed by the Allies into using his demolition expertise to cripple a Nazi ship carrying rubber from Japan, in the hope of recovering it.
The film did not do well on its original release, probably at least in part because few people understood its title. In an attempt to be more commercial, the film was reissued as "Saboteur: Code Name Morituri".
The title "Morituri" is the plural of a Latin word meaning "about to die". Roman gladiators in the arena would begin their battles with "Morituri te salutamus" or "Morituri te salutant" (We/They who are about to die salute you).
