Thursday, August 15, 2013

The Sea Wolf (1941)

Director: Michael Curtiz                               Writer: Robert Rossen
Film Score: Erich Wolfgang Korngold            Cinematography: Sol Polito
Starring: Edward G. Robinson, Ida Lupino, John Garfield and Barry Fitzgerald

Warner Brothers’ take on Jack London’s best-selling novel obviously benefits tremendously from its brilliant source material, but also the considerable imagination of screenwriter Robert Rossen. Alternately fascinating, mysterious and horrifying as a story, it’s also an incredibly successful film due to the talents of the great Michael Curtiz behind the camera, Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s magnificent score, and the extremely talented cast of actors who bring London’s characters to life. The Sea Wolf is a character study of Captain Wolf Larsen, played by Edward G. Robinson, as observed by a writer, Alexander Knox, who unfortunately finds himself onboard Robinson’s ship with no way of escaping.

The film opens with John Garfield as a man on the run from the police. To avoid their grasp he signs on to a ship whose officers unscrupulously beat and drug men to get them to serve on it. At the same time Ida Lupino, also on the run, is aboard a steam ship with Alexander Knox and the two are tossed overboard when the ship is rammed in the fog. Robinson’s crew pulls them from the water and Knox is immediately put to work as a cabin boy while Lupino recuperates below deck. Robinson, who first appears as a cruel, inhuman overlord, is eventually discovered by Knox to be a self-taught intellectual who became a ship’s captain in order to feed the desire for complete, god-like control over other people. It’s only when Knox begins talking to others onboard that they slowly begin to resist and challenge that authority, with tragic results.

Robinson, in his last few years as a leading man, is masterful in the role. He has a screen presence that goes beyond simply acting and his characterizations are chilling in their reality. Garfield is good as well, but his character has far less depth, his anger being the primary motivation. Ida Lupino is just a tremendous actress. Why she wasn’t a bigger star is mystifying. Knox is the narrator of London’s story, and while he’s rather a weak figure, his intellectuality is the perfect counterpoint to Robinson’s cruelty. Lupino falls for Garfield and, along with Knox they attempt to escape on an open boat. The ironic twist at the end is truly great storytelling. There are also some solid character actors onboard as well. Barry Fitzgerald is the ship’s cook and stoolpigeon, Gene Lockhart is the ship’s physician and stereotypical drunk, and Howard Da Silva is a cynical crewmember.

Michael Curtiz does a nice bit of work on the ship, which looks to be the same one used in The Sea Hawk and Captain Blood, though the voyage itself never feels very realistic because the entire exterior is shrouded in fog, which doesn’t seem very likely in the Pacific Ocean where they are supposedly sailing. His shots are nice, though, and he creates some interesting visuals. This is also one of Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s major scores, with memorable melodies and an ominous undertone throughout and is justifiably popular among fans of film music. Robert Rossen, who would reach his artistic peak with The Hustler, does a real butcher job on London’s story, not only truncating it but also changing several characters and completely reinventing the ending. But it works. In the end The Sea Wolf is a fascinating picture, a real Warner Brothers classic, and well worth seeking out.

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