The film was first premiered onboard the S.S. America[3][4] traveling from Los Angeles to San Francisco, its special group of passengers including many cast members.[5] A private screening the following day—22 March—was presented at the California home of Jack London's widow, Charmain London.[5]
Later it was screened at the 9th annual Turner Classic Movies Film Festival on April 26, 2018 in Los Angeles. The version of the film screened was the original theatrical cut that was reassembled after 35mm nitrate elements were discovered at the Museum of Modern Art. It included thirteen minutes of footage that were cut from the film in 1947 when it was re-released as a double-feature with the 1940 Errol Flynn vehicle with a similar name. The original cut of the film, digitally remastered and restored, was released through Warner Brothers' Archive Collection on DVD and Blu-ray on October 10, 2017.[6]
Plot
Fiction writer Humphrey Van Weyden and escaped convict Ruth Webster are passengers on a ferry that collides with another vessel and sinks. They are rescued from drowning by the Ghost, a seal-hunting ship. The Ghost's captain is Wolf Larsen, who delights in abusing his crew.
Larsen refuses to return to port early and forces Van Weyden to work in the kitchen under the supervision of "Cooky", the ship's cook. He also compels Van Weyden to spend time alone with him in his cabin, where the two discuss philosophy and the nature of humanity. Larsen asserts the Nietzschean proposition that man is essentially an amoral animal, and that morality is a construct that has no bearing on life onboard his ship. He predicts that Van Weyden's character will change as he accustoms himself to the uncivilized life among the crew, where no one has any value higher than his own personal gain.
When Dr. Prescott, the ship's drunken doctor, determines that the unconscious Webster needs a transfusion to survive, Larsen "volunteers" George Leach, even though there is no way to test if his blood is compatible. The blood ends up being compatible, and Ruth Webster recovers. She comes to depend on Leach for protection. Larsen humiliates Prescott, who retaliates by revealing to the crew that Larsen's own brother, Death, another sea captain, is hunting him, having vowed to kill him; Prescott then commits suicide.
Fear of being hunted drives some members of the crew to mutiny, led by George Leach. They ambush Larsen and throw him and his first mate overboard. However, Larsen manages to grab a trailing rope, climb back aboard, and put down the mutiny. He announces that an informant revealed to him who the conspirators were. However, instead of punishing them, he betrays the informant, Cooky. They punish Cooky by dropping him into the water, dragging him behind the ship as he holds onto a rope for dear life. This is at first intended as a practical joke; however, a shark bites off one of Cooky's legs. The crewmen pull him and his life is saved.
Eventually, Leach, Webster, Van Weyden, and a crewman, Johnson, escape on a dory. However, they discover that Larsen replaced their water supply with vinegar. Later, while the others sleep, Johnson sacrifices himself by going overboard to help conserve the little water they have.
Larsen suffers from intense headaches that leave him temporarily blind, but hides his condition from the crew, knowing that he will eventually lose his sight permanently. When Larsen's brother catches up with him, the Ghost is attacked by cannon and, after several hits, begins to sink. The Ghost escapes into a fog bank, but Larsen is blind again and his debility is revealed to all. Thus, the crew seizes this opportunity to abandon ship by taking to the lifeboats and will leave Larson aboard by himself.
Van Weyden, Leach, and Webster sight the outline of a ship through the fog, but realize that it is the Ghost and, having no other choice, reboard it. The ship appears to be deserted, George Leach goes below for provisions. He is ambushed by Wolf Larsen, who locks him in a storage compartment. Larsen is determined to go down with the Ghost and take as many others with him as he can. Van Weyden tries to get the key from Larsen and is fatally shot, but manages to hide the fact from the now near completely blind captain. He tricks Larsen into giving Webster the key by promising to stay with Larsen to the bitter end. This act of seeming self-sacrifice disturbs Larsen, causing him to question his whole philosophy, until he realizes that Van Weyden is dying from his bullet wound. Vindicated in his own mind, Larsen awaits his demise. Leach and Webster reboard the dory and sail toward a nearby island.
Robert Rossen's re-draft of the script may be the greatest influence on the film. While the tyrannical captain remained both victim and oppressed in a capitalist hierarchy, he became a symbol of fascism. Rossen also split the novel's idealistic hero into an intellectual dishwasher and a rebellious seaman and gave the seaman a love interest, played by Lupino.[7] Rossen added scenes for this pair, partly urged by Lupino.[8] However, Warner Bros. cut many political items during production.[7]
George Raft backed out of the role of Leach just as filming was about to begin, after five days of negotiation over the changes he wanted. He was put on suspension. In its Nov. 4, 1940 article, The New York Times did not report details of the failed negotiations.[9]Filmink magazine later said "as if that mattered with Michael Curtiz directing, and Edward G Robinson starring from a Jack London novel."[10]
The eerie atmosphere was heightened by the studio's newly-installed fog-making machine in the largest soundstage that could accommodate full-scale ship deck sets.[11]
The Sea Wolf has several connections to the city of London, Ontario, aside from the source author's surname. Studio executive Jack L. Warner and cast member Gene Lockhart were both born in the city and cast member Knox attended university there. For these reasons, the film's Canadian premiere was held at London's Capitol Theatre.
Reception
Bosley Crowther gave the film a mixed review in The New York Times on March 22, 1941: “…We don't recall that (Larsen) has ever been presented with such scrupulous psychological respect… (but) the drive of the drama is impaired, for precious time is wasted [talking] when bloody business on deck might be occupying the screen, …When topside, however, it rolls along ruthlessly…” Crowther expressed “emphatic criticism” on two points, “the representation of a crude blood transfusion at sea is not only implausible but completely anachronistic. And, in the second place, we dislike sea-pictures photographed in a tank, where the water laps as in a bathtub and the fog rolls like a steam-room mist. At least a good half of the effect in a sea-picture comes from the sea, and when that element is lacking the whole thing seems flat and synthetic. This, we regret to say, is a major fault in "The Sea Wolf."[12]
On March 23, 1941, in a feature headlined “Another Hardy Perennial Blooms,” The New York Times compared the many different film versions of the novel.[13]
On Rotten Tomatoes. the film has a 100% rating, based on 8 contemporary and modern reviews.[14]
According to Warner Bros records, the film earned $1,237,000 domestically and $644,000 foreign.[2]
Captain Blood is a 1935 American black-and-white swashbuckling pirate film from First National Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures, produced by Harry Joe Brown and Gordon Hollingshead, directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone, and Ross Alexander.
Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn was an Australian-American actor who achieved worldwide fame during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles, frequent partnerships with Olivia de Havilland, and reputation for his womanising and hedonistic personal life. His most notable roles include Robin Hood in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), which was later named by the American Film Institute as the 18th-greatest hero in American film history, the lead role in Captain Blood (1935), Major Geoffrey Vickers in The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), and the hero in a number of Westerns such as Dodge City (1939), Santa Fe Trail, Virginia City and San Antonio (1945).
Michael Curtiz was a Hungarian-American film director, recognized as one of the most prolific directors in history. He directed classic films from the silent era and numerous others during Hollywood's Golden Age, when the studio system was prevalent.
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."
Robert Rossen was an American screenwriter, film director, and producer whose film career spanned almost three decades.
The Sea Hawk is a 1940 American adventure film from Warner Bros. that stars Errol Flynn as an English privateer who defends his nation's interests on the eve of the launch of the Spanish Armada. The film was the tenth collaboration between Flynn and director Michael Curtiz. Its screenplay was written by Howard Koch and Seton I. Miller. The rousing musical score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold is recognized as a high point in his career.
Charles Henry Pywell Daniell was an English actor who had a long career in the United States on stage and in cinema. He came to prominence for his portrayal of villainous roles in films such as Camille (1936), The Great Dictator (1940), Holiday (1938) and The Sea Hawk (1940). Daniell was given few opportunities to play sympathetic or 'good guy' roles; an exception was his portrayal of Franz Liszt in the biographical film of Robert and Clara Schumann, Song of Love (1947). His name is sometimes spelled "Daniel".
20,000 Years in Sing Sing is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film set in Sing Sing Penitentiary, the maximum security prison in Ossining, New York, starring Spencer Tracy as an inmate and Bette Davis as his girlfriend. It was directed by Michael Curtiz and based on the nonfiction book Twenty Thousand Years in Sing Sing written by Lewis E. Lawes, the warden of Sing Sing from 1920 to 1941.
Seton Ingersoll Miller was an American screenwriter and producer. During his career, he worked with film directors such as Howard Hawks and Michael Curtiz. Miller received two Oscar nominations and won once for Best Screenplay for the 1941 fantasy romantic comedy film, Here Comes Mr. Jordan, along with Sidney Buchman.
Out of the Fog is a 1941 American film noir crime drama directed by Anatole Litvak and starring John Garfield, Ida Lupino and Thomas Mitchell. The film was based on the play The Gentle People by Irwin Shaw. It was made and released by Warner Brothers.
Moby Dick is a 1930 American pre-Code film from Warner Bros., directed by Lloyd Bacon, and starring John Barrymore, Joan Bennett and Walter Lang. The film is a sound remake of the 1926 silent movie, The Sea Beast, which also starred Barrymore. It is the first film adaptation of Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby Dick that includes a soundtrack.
Dive Bomber is a 1941 American aviation drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, and starring Errol Flynn, Fred MacMurray and Alexis Smith. It was produced and distributed by Warner Brothers. The film is notable for both its Technicolor photography of pre-World War II United States Navy aircraft and as a historical document of the U.S. in 1941. This includes the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, one of the best-known U.S. warships of World War II.
Sea Wolf is a 2-part television miniseries that aired in 2009, based on the 1904 novel The Sea-Wolf, written by Jack London.
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.
The Sea Wolf is a lost 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.
Wolf Larsen is a 1958 American adventure film directed by Harmon Jones and starring Barry Sullivan and Peter Graves.
Spy Ship is a 1942 American Warner Bros. B picture drama film directed by B. Reeves Eason and written by Robert E. Kent. The film, a remake of Fog Over Frisco that was based on the short story The Five Fragments by George Dyer stars Craig Stevens, Irene Manning, Maris Wrixon, Tod Andrews, Peter Whitney and John Maxwell. The film was released by Warner Bros. on June 6, 1942.
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.
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.
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
↑ Ed Rudy Behlmer Inside Warner Bros (1935–1951), 1985 p 208
1 2 3 Warner Bros financial information in The William Schaefer Ledger. See Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 1-31 p 21 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551
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