Unlike most Italians, Fellini was not fond of opera, soit's surprising that he made a film like And the Ship Sails On. Probablyinspired by the story of the scattering of Maria Callas's ashes in Greekseas in 1977, the plot concerns a funeral voyage made in 1914 by theadmirers of a prima donna, mostly singers and impresarios, to herbirthplace, a small mythical island in the Aeolian sea. But politicsdooms the effort. The ship, the "Gloria N.," picks up aboatload of Serbian refugees marooned at sea, and then is accosted by anAustro-Hungarian battleship that demands them... Against this thin plotline, Fellini manages to satirize inept journalism (in the character ofOrlando) and to celebrate the history of cinema (the opening sequenceessentially sketches film's evolution, from gray undercranked silents tothe modern color and sound film). This film provides your only chance towatch a basso hypnotize a chicken with his lowest notes.-Seymour Chatman