In 1947, after the Second World War, Kitty Fremont, a widowed American nurse, travels to Cyprus and visits the Karaolos internment camp, where the British are holding thousands of Jews, many of them Holocaust survivors, who hope to reach Palestine. There she meets Karen Hansen Clement, a young Danish woman searching for her missing father, and becomes involved in the lives of the internees. Meanwhile, Ari Ben Canaan, a decorated former captain and Zionist militant, plans to smuggle hundreds of refugees out of the camp on a ship bound for the territory under British mandate. The film follows these characters through a period marked by violence, political confrontation and the personal bonds that form among them.

How it was made

Produced and directed by Otto Preminger, the film adapts Leon Uris's 1958 novel. Dalton Trumbo, who had been blacklisted in Hollywood, wrote the screenplay under an assumed name. Paul Newman led a cast that also included Eva Marie Saint, Ralph Richardson, Lee J. Cobb and Sal Mineo. Filming took place on location in Israel and Cyprus. Shooting on Cyprus was complicated by a Greek insurgency against British rule, and the British authorities offered no logistical help, only guarding the decommissioned rifles used as props so they would not fall into insurgent hands. Ernest Gold's score and Sam Leavitt's cinematography accompany a large-scale production running more than three and a half hours.

Reception and legacy

Released in December 1960, the film was a major commercial success. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Dramatic or Comedy Score and received further nominations, including Best Supporting Actor and Best Color Cinematography. Together with Spartacus, also written by Trumbo, it is often credited with helping end blacklisting in the American film industry. Its epic treatment of the founding of the State of Israel made it one of the era's prominent historical productions, though its portrayal of the conflict has been debated ever since.