The Man Without a Country (1973 film)

The Man Without a Country is a 1973 American made-for-television drama film based on the short story "The Man Without a Country" by Edward Everett Hale.

Synopsis
Midshipman Frederick Ingham reports for duty on his first shipboard assignment. He’s introduced to Midshipman Arthur Danforth and they become fast friends. At dinner, they’re interrupted by the arrival of a civilian joining them. Danforth kicks Ingham under the table to warn him not to continue his conversation about events in the US. Afterward, Ingham demands an explanation and is told that he is Philip Nolan, whom he thought was a myth. The executive officer (XO) arrives and recounts Nolan’s story.

Nolan was a young artillery officer in Louisiana when Aaron Burr came to his fort and seduced him and other officers with promises of glory by seizing Texas from Mexico. After Burr is acquitted of treason in court, Nolan is tried for his role in the conspiracy by a military tribunal. At his trial, Nolan impulsively blurts out, “Damn the United States! I wish that I may never hear of the United States again!” The shocked tribunal sentences him to never see the United States nor hear of it again. He is exiled to sail on United States Nav y warships, transferred between ships before they came within sight of the country, the crews forbidden to tell him news or even mention the name of the country. He is accorded respect and courtesy but still a prisoner. He makes friends on each ship as he is amiable.

Nolan gradually becomes homesick. His first reminder of his loss is when crewmen friends on deck are reading a new book by Walter Scott, The Lay of the Last Minstrel. Encouraged to read it aloud, Nolan's mood turns dark when he comes upon the final canto, "Breathes there the man, with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, / This is my own, my native land!"

Later, at a shipboard party in Italy, Nolan is invited to attend. The wife of the US consul recognizes Nolan as an old acquaintance and asks him to dance. She coaxes and cajoles him with small talk until he lowers his guard and asks about home. She loudly and publicly scolds him that he has no home and he leaves dejectedly, his shipmates disgusted by her treachery.

During the War of 1812, the ship Nolan was on was in a sea battle. All of the officers were dead. Nolan took command of the remaining crew and lured the British vessel close then dismasted it with a broadside. For his valor, the captain presents him with his sword and promises to plead for his pardon. The bureaucracy refused it.

The XO finishes telling Nolan’s tale and they sight a slave ship. The crew boards the ship and cuts the shackles of the slaves packed below decks. The slaves speak a variety of languages. The only translator available is Nolan, who has learned languages from books and can speak to one of the slaves in Portuguese. They beg to be returned to their homelands. The captain is resistant but finally acquiesces after Nolan tells their tales of months of terrible woe.

Ingham begins to learn of Nolan’s various interests, from astronomy to mythology, from botany to languages. All from books given by his shipboard friends. And above it all, his burgeoning love for his lost homeland. Ingham gains a love of learning from Nolan. After a year, Ingham is reassigned to a different ship. Ten years later, he is reunited with Danforth and Nolan on another ship. Nolan is even more a scholar than before and his love for the United States has continued to grow. They part again for another 15 years. At a reunion dinner with various officers who had befriended Nolan over the years, Ingham takes pity on Nolan and, disobeying orders, tells him Texas has joined the union, the first nugget of information Nolan has been given in decades.

Ingham decides to plead Nolan’s case in Washington, D.C. But wherever he turns, he finds a bureaucracy unwilling to help. At his final stop at the Secretary of the Navy, his efforts were dismissed as records of Nolan’s sentence had been destroyed in the sack of Washington in 1812, and the secretary feared charges of liability for decades of imprisonment without legal documentation.

Years later, Ingham receives a letter from Danforth, who is in command on Nolan’s last voyage. He relates Nolan’s final moments. Invited to Nolan’s quarters, he finds it is a shrine to the United States, festooned with flags and other souvenirs. After Nolan begs for information on his deathbed, Danforth decides to mercifully tell him the 56 years of American history that he has missed. All except for the ongoing Civil War, which he felt would be heartbreaking to a man who imagined a single unified nation.

Nolan is buried at sea, his home for most of his life. His final request is that a stone marker be set near Fort Adams to remind and warn others not to repeat his grave mistake, with the epitaph, “He loved his country as no other man has loved her, but no man deserved less at her hands.” Years later, a frail Ingham and Danforth struggle up the small hill to pay respects at the marker.

Production
Producer Norman Rosemont spent three years trying to raise finance. He spent $16,000 of his own money to prepare a visual presentation of the film and arranged for a script for be written by Sidney Carroll. During the course of research he discovered that the book was not based on a true story although it was inspired by the Aaron Burr conspiracy.

He eventually succeeded in getting sponsorship from Eastman Kodak.

"Casting was so essential," said Rosemont. "We had to find an actor who could age 60 years on screen. The makeup was the easiest. Making him look young was the hardest."

Rosemont approached Cliff Robertson, although the actor had not done television for years. "But when he saw our research it turned him on." he said. "It's a dream part for an actor."

Cliff Robertson signed to make the film in August 1972 and filming began in September. "We had to change our schedule to fit Cliff's," said Rosemont. "It cost me a lot of money but it was worth it."

Filming took place in Mystic, Connecticut, Newport, Rhode Island and Fort Niagara, New York.

Director Delbert Mann says Robertson was "very difficult to work with" on the film. He gave an instance where Robertson kept emphasising the word "United" when referring to the "United States" ("he thought the young people would reject the patriotism aspects"). "We went for about 20 takes, he never changed it, but he modified it on the last take, which we used in the picture. He still wouldn't change it in post-production dubbing. It was a matter of taking the best take we had and going with it."

Filming was expensive. "I do my own work," said Rosemont. "If there's a deficit I pay for it. My money is on the line. I put it on screen. Hopefully it will enjoy many repeats; it's an ageless story, a potential TV perennial."

Locations
In the summer of 1972, the replica of HMS Rose (later renamed HMS Surprise for another film) was hired for the film, a made-for-television production. Norman Rosemont Productions was unable to find the money to take the ship out sailing, so all the filming was shot with sails set, as the ship was securely moored to the pier, next to the causeway to Goat Island. During filming Cliff Robertson had to hide that he had a broken leg at the time.

Reception
Mann said, "The end result was fascinating. The older audience took to the picture and the critics were marvelous. People saying, look at the unfeeling government, crushing this man. The young people got what they wanted and others saw it as love of country. We had it both ways."

Awards
The film was nominated for Best Cinematography for Entertainment Programming – For a Special or Feature Length Program Made for Television at the 26th Primetime Emmy Awards.

Home video
The movie was released by Worldvision Home Entertainment on VHS in 1992. It has never been released on DVD, streaming or other digital formats.