Outward Bound (1930)

IMDb plot summary: A group of strangers find themselves aboard an unmanned ship, surrounded by fog and uncertain of their destination.

Directed by Robert Milton. Starring Leslie Howard, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and Beryl Mercer.

Outward Bound is a 1930 film based on a stage play in which seven people on a boat all realize that they are dead and that the boat is taking them to the afterlife. At first everyone's just drifting around on the boat in a haze, but one character figures it out and goes around trying to get the others to understand. This is a pretty short film at just under 90 minutes, but I do wish we had more time to get to know each of the characters a little better. It's a small enough cast that that should be possible, but we really only spend extended time with the young couple who are there together. But that's a fairly small gripe, as even the broad strokes these characters are painted with make them interesting enough to watch, especially as they come to the end of their journey and are judged by the "evaluator" before going ashore. And the one couple we do focus on has a really interesting story that comes to an end in a way I didn't see coming at all but that really worked for me. It's an interestingly done film with a unique concept for its time.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Outward Bound > The Ghost and the Darkness

Outward Bound > Anna Karenina

Outward Bound < Secretary

Outward Bound > Nope

Outward Bound < Down With Love

Outward Bound > 5 Centimeters Per Second

Outward Bound < Buried

Outward Bound > Cats and Dogs

Outward Bound > Werewolves Within

Outward Bound < They Live

Outward Bound < The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming!

Outward Bound > See You Yesterday

Final spot: #620 out of 3750, or 83%.