The Legend of 1900

Released 1998
Stars Tim Roth, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Mélanie Thierry, Bill Nunn, Peter Vaughan, Clarence Williams III
Directed by Giuseppe Tornatore

The entire tale of The Legend of 1900 takes place aboard a cruise ship during the early decades of the 20th century, but this is no Titanic. Told in flashback by a down-on-his luck trumpet player named Max (Pruitt Taylor Vince), the movie is presented as half-fable, half-melodrama. The main character, Danny Boodman T.D. Lemon 1900, or 1900 for short (played by Tim Roth), is found abandoned on board the ocean liner The Virginian by an engine room worker, who keeps him and gives him his name (based on the year of his birth). 1900 grows up to be an agoraphobe who never knows life outside the ship. He is a genius at the piano, and his reputation spreads far and wide across the globe, but he never leaves The Virginian to claim the slice of fame that could be his. Even love cannot lure him from the open sea. On one occasion, he falls for a pretty passenger, but lacks the courage to follow her into the city when the ship docks. The Virginian was where he was born and where he intends to die.

Summary by James Berardinelli