And the Ship Sails On

In 1914, the admirers of a recently deceased opera diva gather on an ocean liner for a voyage to her birthplace, where her ashes are to be scattered at sea. Along the way, the passengers—an assortment of music-world characters, along with one homesick rhinoceros—engage in flirtations and squabbles, and take in a group of Serbian refugees, with potential geopolitical ramifications. An exercise less in plot or character than in cinematic design, the opulently stylized And the Ship Sails On “floats serenely above the realities of ordinary movies” (Vincent Canby, New York Times).