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Two Orphans Lost at Sea - What Movie Is This?

Hello, I'm having trouble remembering the name of a movie I once watched many years ago. I thought that maybe someone out there could help me remember. What follows is long and very vague. I had posted this question many times on the Usenet boards throughout the 90's and early 2000's and to no avail I turned up empty with successful insights. So, if you do not have the patience for this long post, I would suggest not reading any further. I thank you for your assistance in advance. Recollection: I had watched the film sometime between the years of 1977 and 1981. I was living on a military base in West Germany. I either watched the film on German television or the US Army Stars & Stripes station. I can't remember if it was a Foreign film or an American one. So, therefore I can't remember if it was subtitled or not. Or even dubbed. I'm not sure if it was a color feature or a B&W one either. So much time has passed now that much of what I do remember is fading away. Premise & Plot Points: It takes place at an orphanage that is by the sea. Sort of on the rocks-close to the sea type of setting. I can't remember what country it is supposed to take place in, but, if what I can remember is even close to being correct, then I think the setting looked sort of European. Maybe England? I'm not sure what time period it took place in, but I would guess it could have been any where after the halfway point of the 19th century to the then-present time of the 1970's. The orphanage was run by the Catholic Church. It's headmaster was a priest - I can't remember his name or any of the characters names. And it had a head nun and many other nuns in charge of the children's well being. Every day the children would attend services and schooling at the church which was in the compound and a few feet away from the building the children lived in. At the church, the priest would love to play at his piano. He was always performing music there. Whether during services or not, the priest would play at all times of the day and night. The two central (or lead) characters of this film were a young boy and girl. I can't remember their ages, but I think they were somewhere between 8 and 14. One night, a massive hurricane or typhoon hit the coast and pretty much wiped the whole place out with all the kids and grownups along with it, with the exception of the two main characters - the two lead children. These two children were samrt enough to hied themselves on the top floor of a building that was also on the compound when the storm first hit. After the storm laid it's massive destruction, the story picks up the next morning. We see the two kids awake and walk around the top floor of the building they took shelter in. The building was rocking and swaying back and forth. The building look much like a barn in stature. When the two took a look out the window, they saw with disbelief that they were sailing somewhere far out at sea. The two started screaming when they see that they are in the middle of nowhere. The young girl then yells and points out the window to what she thinks is a dead body. The boy reassures her that what she sees is indeed not a dead body. The girl asks the boy how he would know this for certain and the boy replied that a dead body would be floating and bobbing up and down on the top of the water. He then stops, stares, and points out the window in the opposite direction and yells, "Like that!" "You see, like that!" He was then pointing to a dead person that was floating and bobbing up and down on the top of the water a few feet away from them. A few hours - or maybe days pass and the two children are discovered by a boat - or vessel sailing by. I think the ship was South Eastern Asian in origin The two kids are then taken back to the rescuers' own country and put in an orphanage or State-Like run home for displaced children. The two are still together but are in separate living quarters within the same building. After this point my memory becomes even more blurred. But I believe they devise a plan to escape their current setting and return to the orphanage they once called home. In the end - I can't remember if it was weeks, months, or years - they eventually make their way back to their original orphanage. I can't remember how they returned, but they did indeed make it back. When they arrived back home they took a look around and they only thing that was left standing after that storm was the church. Then they both approached the church front steps and halted in shock. They heard a very chilling, yet very familiar sound. It was the sound of a piano. I remember then, they both ran to the church front door, opened it, and ran inside. What they saw, brought them to tears. At the piano, inside the church was the priest. He was there alone, playing at the piano. That's as much as I can remember. I've asked local newspaper critics from the South West to the East Coast of the United States over the period from the 80's to the early 200's as well as posting this question numerous times on Usenet as mentioned earlier. Unfortunately, know one can pinpoint this film for me. For those who have made it this far, I apologize for the blurred memory and vague descriptions, but it was a long time ago for me.If there is anyone out there who could help it would be greatly appreciated. Take care & thank you for taking the time to read this. SPC

Public Comments

1. Try "The Little Ark" www.imdb.com/title/tt0068864/ Hope this helps