The Sea Wolf (1941)

Director:

Michael Curtiz

Writers:

Jack London (novel)
Robert Rossen (writer)

Release Date:

21 March 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Adventure

Plot:

Humphrey van Weyden, a writer, and fugitives Ruth Webster and George Leach have been given refuge aboard...

Plot Keywords:

Mutiny | Fugitive | Murder | Suicide | Blood Transfusion

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Edward G. Robinson	...	'Wolf' Larsen
Ida Lupino	...	Ruth Webster
John Garfield	...	George Leach
Alexander Knox	...	Humphrey Van Weyden
Gene Lockhart	...	Dr. Prescott
Barry Fitzgerald	...	Cooky
Stanley Ridges	...	Johnson
David Bruce	...	Young Sailor
Francis McDonald	...	Svenson
Howard Da Silva	...	Harrison
Frank Lackteen	...	Smoke

Runtime:

USA:90 min (video version) | 100 min (original version) | 87 min (edited version) (TCM print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:K-16 | Portugal:M/12 (re-release: 2000) | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #6866)

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

George Raft declined the role of George Leach because it was too small.

Quotes:

Humphrey Van Weyden: There's a price no man will pay for living.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Between Two Worlds: Erich Wolfgang Korngold (2001) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Ma Blushin' Rosie

Jack London's story brought to life by excellent cast and crew...

Edward G. Robinson puts his own brand of cruelty on the role of a freighter captain who tyrannizes his crew and some unexpected passengers (Ida Lupino, John Garfield, Alexander Knox) in this taut, suspenseful psychological melodrama with no shortage of brooding atmosphere.

Based on the famous Jack London story of Wolf Larsen (Robinson), the callous and inhuman skipper of a schooner, who proceeds to make life hell for his crew and his unwilling passengers rescued from a sinking ferryboat. Lupino and Garfield are a couple of losers with a past; Knox is a mild-mannered novelist. The romantic angle between Garfield and Ida is underplayed with the accent more on the brooding tension aboard the schooner.

Under Michael Curtiz' direction, all the performances are first-rate and Erich Wolfgang Korngold's intriguing score helps sustain the tense mood of passengers adrift on a fog-shrouded sea. Alexander Knox's restrained portrayal of an intellectual is a perfect foil for Robinson's bombastic megalomaniac skipper. Stand-outs in the large supporting cast are Gene Lockhart as a nervous, cowardly doctor and Barry Fitzgerald as a crafty cook, a sinister departure from his usual comic roles.

Absorbing all the way, well worth viewing, this represented a step up the ladder for Ida Lupino's career at Warner Bros. Watch for my full-length career article on Ida Lupino scheduled to appear in an upcoming issue of FILMS OF THE GOLDEN AGE.