The Sea Wolf (1920 film)

Last updated

The Sea Wolf
The Sea Wolf poster.jpg
Film poster
Directed by George Melford
Written byWill M. Ritchey (scenario)
Based on The Sea-Wolf
1904 novel
by Jack London
Produced byGeorge Melford
Starring Noah Beery, Sr.
CinematographyPaul P. Perry
Distributed byParamount Pictures / Artcraft
Release date
  • May 16, 1920 (1920-05-16)
Running time
70 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent (English intertitles)
Noah Beery as Wolf Larsen Motion picture actor Noah Beery (SAYRE 4159).jpg
Noah Beery as Wolf Larsen

The Sea Wolf is a lost [1] 1920 American drama film based upon the 1904 novel by Jack London, directed by George Melford, and starring Noah Beery as the brutal sea captain Wolf Larsen, sometimes referred to as "The Sea Wolf." The supporting cast includes Mabel Julienne Scott, Tom Forman, Raymond Hatton, and A. Edward Sutherland. [2] [3]

Contents

The film was remade twenty-one years later with Edward G. Robinson in Beery's role.

Plot

As described in a film magazine, [4] Wolf Larsen (Beery), captain of the sealing steamer The Ghost, receives a severe blow to his head in a fight with his brother Death Larsen (Gordon) on the day he is to sail. Following the wreck of a ferry boat, rich idler Humphrey Van Weyden (Forman) and his fiancee Maud Brewster (Scott) are picked up by Larson's crew. Wolf refuses to put the couple ashore and makes Humphrey the cabin boy. George Leach (Sutherland), the former cabin boy, and sailor Old Man Johnson (Huntley), enraged at Wolf for his brutal treatment, throw him and mate Black Harris (Long) overboard. The mate is drowned but Wolf comes up the log-line and then over the side on deck, where he beats up his whole crew. The Ghost reaches the seal grounds. Death Larson's ship comes into sight, and Death and part of his crew attempt to board Wolf's ship, but Wolf has them bound and gagged. That night Wolf steers his ship into a fog bank to escape Death's ship. Wolf goes to Maud's cabin and attacks her, and Humphrey puts up a losing fight. At the climax Wolf succumbs to a blinding headache. Humphrey and Maud escape in an open boat to an uninhabited island. Wolf's crew deserts and he is left alone on The Ghost, which runs aground on the island. The paralyzed, blind, and helpless Wolf is cared for by Maud. Soon afterwards he dies and the couple are rescued by a revenue cutter.

Cast

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wallace Beery</span> American actor (1885–1949)

Wallace Fitzgerald Beery was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as General Director Preysing in Grand Hotel (1932), as Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1934), as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa! (1934), and his title role in The Champ (1931), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Beery appeared in some 250 films during a 36-year career. His contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer stipulated in 1932 that he would be paid $1 more than any other contract player at the studio. This made Beery the highest-paid film actor in the world during the early 1930s. He was the brother of actor Noah Beery and uncle of actor Noah Beery Jr.

<i>The Sea-Wolf</i> 1904 novel by Jack London

The Sea-Wolf is a 1904 psychological adventure novel by American writer Jack London. The book's protagonist, Humphrey Van Weyden, is a literary critic who is a survivor of an ocean collision and who comes under the dominance of Wolf Larsen, the powerful and amoral sea captain who rescues him. Its first printing of forty thousand copies was immediately sold out before publication on the strength of London's previous The Call of the Wild. Ambrose Bierce wrote, "The great thing—and it is among the greatest of things—is that tremendous creation, Wolf Larsen... the hewing out and setting up of such a figure is enough for a man to do in one lifetime... The love element, with its absurd suppressions, and impossible proprieties, is awful."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Noah Beery</span> American actor (1882–1946)

Noah Nicholas Beery was an American actor who appeared in films from 1913 until his death in 1946. He was the older brother of Academy Award-winning actor Wallace Beery as well as the father of prominent character actor Noah Beery Jr. He was billed as either Noah Beery or Noah Beery Sr. depending upon the film.

<i>The Ghost Ship</i> 1943 film by Mark Robson

The Ghost Ship is a 1943 American black-and-white psychological thriller film starring Richard Dix and directed by Mark Robson. It was produced by Val Lewton for RKO Radio Pictures as part of a series of low-budget horror films. The film can be seen as a "low-key psychological thriller", a "suspense drama", and a "waterlogged melodrama"., Russell Wade, Edith Barrett, Ben Bard and Edmund Glover in support.

<i>The Devils Cargo</i> 1925 film by Victor Fleming

The Devil's Cargo is a 1925 American silent drama film produced by Famous Players–Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Victor Fleming and starred Wallace Beery and Pauline Starke. It is based on an original story for the screen.

<i>Adventure</i> (1925 film) 1925 film by Victor Fleming

Adventure is a lost 1925 American silent drama film produced by Famous Players–Lasky, distributed by Paramount Pictures, directed by Victor Fleming, and featuring Wallace Beery in a major supporting role. The picture is based on Jack London's 1911 novel Adventure.

<i>Lord Jim</i> (1925 film) 1925 film

Lord Jim is a 1925 American silent drama film starring Percy Marmont, Noah Beery, and Duke Kahanamoku. The film was directed by Victor Fleming and based on the 1900 novel Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad.

<i>China Seas</i> (film) 1935 film by Tay Garnett

China Seas is a 1935 American adventure film starring Clark Gable as a brave sea captain, Jean Harlow as his brassy paramour, and Wallace Beery as a suspect character. The oceangoing epic also features Rosalind Russell, Lewis Stone, Akim Tamiroff, and Hattie McDaniel, while humorist Robert Benchley memorably portrays a character reeling drunk from one end of the film to the other.

<i>The Sea Wolf</i> (1941 film) 1941 film by Michael Curtiz

The Sea Wolf is a 1941 American adventure drama film adaptation of Jack London's 1904 novel The Sea-Wolf with Edward G. Robinson, Ida Lupino, John Garfield, and Alexander Knox making his debut in an American film. The film was written by Robert Rossen and directed by Michael Curtiz.

<i>The Round-Up</i> (1920 film) 1920 film

The Round-Up is a 1920 American silent Western film starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and featuring Wallace Beery. The movie was written by Edmund Day and Tom Forman, directed by George Melford, and based on Day's play that was a huge hit for Roscoe Arbuckle's older cousin Macklyn Arbuckle and Julia Dean on the Broadway stage in 1907. It was Macklyn in the play who created the famous phrase used in advertisements of the film, nobody loves a fat man.

<i>The Thundering Herd</i> (1925 film) 1925 film

The Thundering Herd is a 1925 American silent Western film, now lost. It is directed by William K. Howard and starring Jack Holt, Lois Wilson, Noah Beery, Sr. and Raymond Hatton. Based on Zane Grey's 1925 novel of the same name and written by Lucien Hubbard, the film is about a trader who uncovers a scheme to blame the Indians for a buffalo-herd massacre. It was one of a series of critically and commercially successful Zane Grey westerns produced by Jesse Lasky and Adolph Zukor for Paramount Pictures.

<i>The Mutiny of the Elsinore</i> (1920 film) 1920 film by Edward Sloman

The Mutiny of the Elisnore is a 1920 American silent action-adventure film directed by Edward Sloman and starring Mitchell Lewis, Helen Ferguson, and Noah Beery Sr. It is an adaptation of the 1914 Jack London novel The Mutiny of the Elsinore. An incomplete copy of the film survives at the UCLA Film and Television Archive.

<i>Sea Wolf</i> (miniseries) 2009 German TV series or program

Sea Wolf is a 2-part TV miniseries aired in 2009, adapting the 1904 novel The Sea-Wolf, written by Jack London.

<i>Behold My Wife!</i> (1920 film) 1920 film by George Melford

Behold My Wife! is a lost 1920 American silent drama film directed by George Melford and starring Mabel Julienne Scott and Milton Sills in a filmization of Sir Gilbert Parker's novel, The Translation of a Savage. Famous Players–Lasky produced the film and Paramount Pictures distributed.

<i>Legend of the Sea Wolf</i> 1975 film

Legend of the Sea Wolf is a 1975 Italian adventure film directed by Giuseppe Vari. It is based on the 1904 novel The Sea-Wolf by Jack London.

<i>Wolf Larsen</i> (film) 1958 film by Harmon Jones

Wolf Larsen is a 1958 American adventure film directed by Harmon Jones and starring Barry Sullivan and Peter Graves.

<i>The Sea Wolf</i> (1930 film) 1930 film

The Sea Wolf is a 1930 American pre-Code drama film directed by Alfred Santell and written by S. N. Behrman and Ralph Block. The film stars Milton Sills, Jane Keithley, Raymond Hackett, Mitchell Harris, Nat Pendleton, and John Rogers. It is based on the 1904 novel The Sea-Wolf by Jack London. The film was released on September 21, 1930, by Fox Film Corporation. This was the final film starring Sills, released posthumously just one week after his sudden death at age 48.

<i>The Sea Wolf</i> (1993 film) 1993 TV series or program

The Sea Wolf is a 1993 American-Canadian made-for-television adventure drama film directed by Michael Anderson, starring Charles Bronson, Catherine Mary Stewart and Christopher Reeve. It is based on Jack London's 1904 novel The Sea-Wolf.

<i>The Sea Wolf</i> (1926 film) 1926 film

The Sea Wolf is a 1926 American silent drama film directed by and starring Ralph Ince. It is based on the 1904 novel The Sea-Wolf by Jack London. The London novel was previously filmed in 1920 at Paramount Pictures as The Sea Wolf.

<i>The Sea Wolf</i> (1913 film) 1913 American film

The Sea Wolf is a lost 1913 American silent adventure film directed by and starring Hobart Bosworth and co-starring Herbert Rawlinson. Based on the 1904 Jack London novel The Sea-Wolf, the production's master negatives were destroyed in the disastrous 1914 vault fire at the Lubin Manufacturing Company, the Philadelphia-based film company that Bosworth contracted to produce theatrical prints of his screen adaptation.

References

  1. The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: The Sea Wolf Retrieved October 23, 2014
  2. Progressive Silent Film List: The Sea Wolf at silentera.com. Retrieved October 23, 2014
  3. The AFI Catalog of Feature Films: The Sea Wolf Retrieved October 23, 2014
  4. "Reviews: The Sea Wolf". Exhibitors Herald. 10 (21). New York City: Exhibitors Herald Company: 70. May 22, 1920.