Joseph Conrad Movies

A seemingly ideal marriage is thrown into embarrassing turmoil in Patrice Chéreau's period drama, Gabrielle. Based on the short story The Return by Joseph Conrad, the film opens with Jean (Pascal Greggory) extolling the virtues of his pretty wife, Gabrielle (Isabelle Huppert), in voice-over as he makes his way home from work. Jean and his wife, with help from their team of servants, have fostered the illusion of a perfect bourgeois household. Jean is particularly happy with the way Gabrielle presents herself at the couple's frequent dinner gatherings, attended by their "set," whom, as he describes them, "fear emotion and failure more than war." We see glimpses of these occasions in flashback, while Jean explains of his wife, "I'm proud of what she is -- impassive." The secure little world he's fashioned for himself is shattered when he arrives home and finds a note from Gabrielle, explaining that she's leaving him. "It's terrible, and right," the missive states. After a brief explosion of rage, Jean tries to compose himself, but he's thrown into chaos again when Gabrielle unexpectedly returns home. She finds it impossible to speak to Jean. "This letter is not the worst of it?" he asks her. "The worst is my coming back," she explains. The two struggle bitterly to regain the balance in their relationship. Soon, in the interest of appearances, another dinner party is planned. Gabrielle, switches from black-and-white to color and back from scene to scene, and is also notable for its intriguing use of intertitles. It was adapted by Chéreau and his frequent collaborator, Anne-Louise Trividic, and was shown at the 2005 New York Film Festival, presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

Filmed on location in Colombia, the four-part British miniseries Nostromo was based on the 1904 Joseph Conrad novel of the same name. Relocating to the fictional South American country of Costaguana, 19th century British aristocrat Charles Gould (Colin Firth) was determined to revive the old San Toma silver mine established by his father. As Gould was swept up by events beyond his control, the story began to focus upon the mine's head stevedore Nostromo (Claudio Amendola), a mysterious, mystical man much admired and respected by his fellow natives. When a revolution broke out, Nostromo was entrusted with a large amount of Gould's precious silver. Would this responsibility culminate in the corruption of Nostromo -- or would he be "saved" through the intervention of Gould's wife, Emelia (Serena Scott-Thomas). Albert Finney stole the show as the mercurial Dr. Monygharm. Originally telecast by BBC2 in 1996, Nostromo aired in America the following year. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This third feature film version of Joseph Conrad's tragic romantic drama (the best of which remains John Cromwell's 1940 adaptation) is the one that stick's closest to the original story of a reclusive, hard-hearted fellow living on a private island in the Dutch East Indies who must protect his home, and the woman he comes to love, from two brutish villains. The story is told by a sea captain and begins at a turn-of-the century hotel in the port town of Surabaya where the Dutch entrepreneurs come to drink and wind down while listening to an all-female orchestra led by creepy conductor Sam Giancomo (Simon Callow). The joint is owned by an unpleasant, bigoted German named Schomberg (Jean Yanne) who constantly pesters the conductor to sell him Alma (Irene Jacob), the prettiest girl in the band. Eventually Sam relents, causing the frightened Alma to beseech taciturn patron Axel Heyst (Willem Dafoe) to help her escape. At first Axel refuses, but then has a change of heart and takes her with him to his lonely island where she will live with himself and his valet Wang (Ho Yi). Initially, Axel wants nothing to do with Alma, but things change and they become lovers. Meanwhile, the vengeful Schomberg plots revenge. He gets a chance to enact it with the arrival of the villainous Mr. Jones (Sam Neill) and his henchmen who turn Schomberg's bar into a gambling house. Seeing that Jones is ruthless and avaricious, Schomberg casually mentions that there is an untapped fortune lying in an abandoned mine located on Axel's island. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The second British TV-miniseries adaptation of Joseph Conrad's pioneering espionage novel The Secret Agent was the three-part, three-hour version seen over BBC2 from October 28 to November 11, 1992. On this occasion, David Suchet (of Poirot fame) starred as Verloc, a turn-of-the-century anarchist who decided to improve his financial situation by working as a double agent for both the British and the Russians. Cheryl Campbell co-starred as Verloc's wife Winnie, who was blissfully unaware of her husband's secret life until his treachery cost the life of her younger brother. Contemporary viewers may be more familiar with Alfred Hitchcock's 1936 film version of The Secret Agent, which he retitled Sabotage. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

One of a cluster of late-1970s films about the Vietnam War, Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now adapts the Joseph Conrad novella Heart of Darkness to depict the war as a descent into primal madness. Capt. Willard (Martin Sheen), already on the edge, is assigned to find and deal with AWOL Col. Kurtz (Marlon Brando), rumored to have set himself up in the Cambodian jungle as a local, lethal godhead. Along the way Willard encounters napalm and Wagner fan Col. Kilgore (Robert Duvall), draftees who prefer to surf and do drugs, a USO Playboy Bunny show turned into a riot by the raucous soldiers, and a jumpy photographer (Dennis Hopper) telling wild, reverent tales about Kurtz. By the time Willard sees the heads mounted on stakes near Kurtz's compound, he knows Kurtz has gone over the deep end, but it is uncertain whether Willard himself now agrees with Kurtz's insane dictum to "Drop the Bomb. Exterminate them all." Coppola himself was not certain either, and he tried several different endings between the film's early rough-cut screenings for the press, the Palme d'Or-winning "work-in-progress" shown at Cannes, and the final 35 mm U.S. release (also the ending on the video cassette). The chaotic production also experienced shut-downs when a typhoon destroyed the set and star Sheen suffered a heart attack; the budget ballooned and Coppola covered the overages himself. These production headaches, which Coppola characterized as being like the Vietnam War itself, have been superbly captured in the documentary, Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse. Despite the studio's fears and mixed reviews of the film's ending, Apocalypse Now became a substantial hit and was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor for Duvall's psychotic Kilgore, and Best Screenplay. It won Oscars for sound and for Vittorio Storaro's cinematography. This hallucinatory, Wagnerian project has produced admirers and detractors of equal ardor; it resembles no other film ever made, and its nightmarish aura and polarized reception aptly reflect the tensions and confusions of the Vietnam era. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the 1976 Polish Film Festival, this drama from director Andrzej Wajda was based on the short story The Shadow Line by Joseph Conrad. The film tells the story of a young man who tries his best to helm a foundering boat bound for Singapore. Not only is the boat itself in rough shape, but many of the passengers are suffering from a highly contagious disease. A 28-year-old Tom Wilkinson of The Full Monty and In the Bedroom appears in his first onscreen role. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi

Joseph Conrad's pioneering espionage novel The Secret Agent is perhaps best known to modern audiences via Alfred Hitchcock's 1936 film adaptation Sabotage. A less colorful but more faithful-to-the-text version of the Conrad novel was telecast in two 45-minute installments by Britain's BBC2 on July 8 and 15, 1967. Nigel Green starred as Verloc, a seemingly harmless London merchant who sidelined as an anarchist and a double agent for both the British and the Russians. Also in the cast was Rosemary Hill as Verloc's long-suffering wife, Vinnie, who was moved to a terrible vengeance when her husband's clandestine activities resulted in the accidental death of her mentally impaired younger brother. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Joseph Conrad's cerebral, philosophical novel Lord Jim is streamlined and simplified by producer/director/writer Richard Brooks for the action-and-adventure crowd. Peter O'Toole plays the first officer of a tramp steamer, who, during a hurricane, cravenly abandons ship, leaving the passengers to drown. Disgraced, O'Toole seeks out ways to redeem himself--not only in the eyes of the British maritime commission, but in his own eyes. He signs on to deliver a shipment of dynamite to a tribe of natives somewhere in the uncharted Orient. He also joins the natives' fight against feudal warlord Eli Wallach, hoping perhaps to die in their service, thus purging himself from shame (and, in true Messianic fashion, becoming a martyr in the process). Despite the impressive star lineup of O'Toole, Wallach, Jack Hawkins, Curt Jurgens and Paul Lukas, most press coverage went to leggy leading lady Daliah Lavi--including the 1964 Saturday Evening Post article about the making of Lord Jim, written by Richard Brooks himself. Filmed in Cambodia and Hong Kong, Lord Jim isn't precisely the Conrad novel, but fans weaned on O'Toole's Lawrence of Arabia will be satisfied. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Comparatively little known today, Republic's Laughing Anne was a Late Late Show perennial in the early 1960s. One of several Republic features lensed in England in collaboration with producer Herbert Wilcox, the film stars Margaret Lockwood in the title role. A well-known Parisian cabaret singer, Laughing Anne travels to the South Seas with her ex-prizefighter boyfriend Jem Farrell (Forrest Tucker). Here she falls in love with schooner captain Davidson (Wendell Corey), but she eventually breaks off the relationship, fearing reprisals from the brutish Jem. Years later, fate brings Davidson, Anne and Jem back together, and the results are disastrous for at least two of the three. Laughing Anne was loosely based on a story by Joseph Conrad. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

RKO's Face to Face joined the "multistoried film" bandwagon set in motion by the Somerset Maugham omnibus films of the late 1940s. Produced by Huntington Hartford, Face to Face consists of two classic American short stories, each running approximately 45 minutes. Directed by John Brahm, "The Secret Sharer" is adapted from the Joseph Conrad story by Aeneas McKenzie. James Mason stars as a young, inexperienced sea captain who forms a symbiotic relationship with an imperiled sailor (Michael Pate). The second half of the film consists of Stephen Crane's "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky," adapted by James Agee and directed by Bretaigne Windust. In this story, a frontier sheriff (Robert Preston), returning from his honeymoon with his bride (Marjorie Steele) in tow, must deal with an old and dreaded enemy (Minor Watson). Both the individual components of Face to Face were later reissued as separate films, with additional footage added to pad out the running times. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Adapted from a story by Joseph Conrad, Sous les Yeux D'Occident (Under Western Eyes) is set in Russia during the Revolution. Haldin (Jean-Louis Barrault), an assassin for a terrorist organization, hides out in the home of his friend Razumov (Pierre Fresnay). Not wishing to be arrested himself, Razumov callously turns Haldin over to the authorities but is accused of complicity all the same. To save himself from the firing squad, Razumov agrees to act as a double agent for the Czar's secret police. Only after his sweetheart Natalie (Daniele Parola) is killed by the police does Razumov realize the damage he's caused by thinking only of himself. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Joseph Conrad's novel Victory inspired some of this South Sea drama. Alma (Nancy Carroll), a violinist hired to play at an island resort, is pressured to make herself available to its male visitors. She flees and hides in a skiff belonging to the reclusive Heyst (Richard Arlen), who is said to have hidden a stash of gold. The men in pursuit of Alma -- and of Heyst's gold -- force a confrontation with Heyst and they all wind up dead or arrested; Heyst, who actually has no gold, winds up with Alma. ~ Nicole Gagne, Rovi

The celebrated Joseph Conrad novel The Silver Treasure was brought to the screen as Silver Treasure in 1926. The story is set in the mythical South American republic of Costaguana, where local hero Nostromo (George O'Brien) is regarded as the noblest man on earth. Nostromo is looked up to by everyone on the island of Sylaco, but events surrounding an Englishman named Charles Gould (Stewart Rome) put that good reputation to the test. Gould, the owner of a silver mine, asks Nostromo to protect his cargo, on the way to the wharves, from bandits. Bandits do strike, and in the ensuing fight, a woman is shot. The woman is the innkeeper's wife, and on her deathbed, she extracts a promise from Nostromo that he will marry her daughter Linda (Helene D'Algy). Nostromo agrees, even though he loves her cousin Giselle (Joan Renee). But first, Nostromo has to finish his task of seeing the silver ingots to safety. He puts the ingots on a sailboat, but he is once again attacked by bandits, this time on the sea. Nostromo's craft is wrecked, but he manages to squirrel away the silver amongst some rocks. Not wanting to marry Linda, and tempted by the thought of riches, he considers running away with Giselle and the ingots. Giselle, however, will have none of this scheme, and Nostromo is horrified at himself for even thinking of it. He confesses to Gould, who commends his honesty. After returning the silver, he discovers that Linda's mother has relinquished her death-bed request, and Nostromo is free to marry Giselle. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi