Produced by Walter Wanger and directed by John ford, The Long Voyage Home was based on four one-acts by Eugene O'Neill ("Bound East for Cardiff," "In the Zone," "The Long Voyage Home," and "The Moon of Caribees").

Adapted to the screen by Dudley Nichols, the movie concerns the tough crew of Glencairn, the English tramp freighter dispatched from the West Indies to England with a cargo of dynamite.

What makes the film interesting is the psychological insights it provides about the behavior of men under conditions of pressure and isolation; in theme, it's similar in several respects to Ford's earlier film, Men Without Women.

Because all three creators, Wanger, Ford, and Nichols, were known for their anti-Facist feelings, The Longest Way Home was perceived as a war film and tribute to Britain in its fight against Hitler. As Sinclair, one of Ford's biographer, pointed our, "Ford was using Irish-American plays and players to praise English patriotism."

John Wayne gives one of his best performances as Ole Olsen, the naive, innocent Swedish sailor who dreams of returning home to his farm. It was one of the first films for which Wayne received favorable reviews.

The Long Voyage Home was highly praised by the critics. Bosley Crowther wrote a rave review in the N.Y. Times, describing the movie as "a revelation of man's pathetic shortcomings," and "one of the most honest pictures ever placed on the screen." Crowther particularly liked the, "penetrating glimpse into the hearts of little men," and thought that, "Because it shows that out of human weakness there proceeds some nobility, it is far more gratifying than the fanciest hero-worshipping fare."

The Longest Way Home was one of the ten nominees for the 1940 Best Picture Oscar; the winner, however, was Hitchcock's Rebecca. The movie was not popular at the box-office, perhaps because it was released in October 1940, a full year before the American involvement in the War.