The Sea Wolf (1941)
I saw the last 30 minutes of this movie a long time ago and always remembered it. It was on TCM this week and I caught the whole thing. It's not an entirely solid movie - it's filled with cliches and it goes on too long - but it works as a good sailor yarn. Edward G. Robinson is great as Captain "Wolf" Larsen, a guy who could give Tony Soprano a run for his money. He's mean, vindictive, petty, brutal, and cruel. But he's not ALL bad, because he's too smart to be all bad. He seeks out the company of the smartest person on the ship (a writer named Van Weyden whom he rescued from a shipwreck) just to have someone intelligent to talk to, even though Van Weyden admittedly hates him. Wolf Larsen is an asshole, but he knows that he's an asshole and you get the sense that a part of him wishes to be better.
The plot isn't really that important (is it ever?). It's the characters that matter. But what plot there is centers around a disastrous voyage that Larsen's ship, The Ghost, makes between San Francisco and the Arctic. Nothing goes right, people start dieing and spreading mutiny, and on top of this Wolf is slowly going blind (although he hides this from everyone). The only person strong enough on the ship to stand up to Larsen is George Leach (John Garfield), a former convict. Leach falls in love with a woman the ship rescues, Ruth, played by Ida Lupino. They have a believable, interesting romance. She's been knocked around so much by life that she doesn't believe anything good will ever happen to her. He keeps insisting that they can take over the ship, or escape, and somehow triumph over Larsen. There's great interplay between her quiet fatalism and his desperate optimism.
The movie belongs to Edward G. Robinson, though, and he gives one of those old fashioned, take no prisoners performances that you don't see much anymore. The last few scenes, with him blind as a bat and stuck on a sinking ship, are really good. You feel sad to see the great man fall, even though he was an absolute prick.
It was directed by Michael Curtiz (of Casablanca fame).
The plot isn't really that important (is it ever?). It's the characters that matter. But what plot there is centers around a disastrous voyage that Larsen's ship, The Ghost, makes between San Francisco and the Arctic. Nothing goes right, people start dieing and spreading mutiny, and on top of this Wolf is slowly going blind (although he hides this from everyone). The only person strong enough on the ship to stand up to Larsen is George Leach (John Garfield), a former convict. Leach falls in love with a woman the ship rescues, Ruth, played by Ida Lupino. They have a believable, interesting romance. She's been knocked around so much by life that she doesn't believe anything good will ever happen to her. He keeps insisting that they can take over the ship, or escape, and somehow triumph over Larsen. There's great interplay between her quiet fatalism and his desperate optimism.
The movie belongs to Edward G. Robinson, though, and he gives one of those old fashioned, take no prisoners performances that you don't see much anymore. The last few scenes, with him blind as a bat and stuck on a sinking ship, are really good. You feel sad to see the great man fall, even though he was an absolute prick.
It was directed by Michael Curtiz (of Casablanca fame).