The Sea Wolf (1941)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

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:

Fugitive | Mutiny | Brother | Shark | Drunkenness

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

Color:

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:

The first movie to have its world premiere on a ship: the luxury liner "America" during a trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

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

A film better than the book

The Jack London book on which the film is based is rich in characterizations and philosophy, but rather poorly constructed and plotted. Rossen has substantially and quite artfully turned this into a rather taught seaborne suspense picture. What we lose is much of what makes Wolf Larsen into one of the greatest anti-heroes in literature. That is really only alluded to in the film. What we gain is the integration of the Maud story-line, correcting the worst flaw of the novel. It's a masterful solution showing just how good of writer Rossen was. Don't watch this to write a book report on the novel though. The plot is completely reworked. Garfield and Robinson are tremendous. Ida Lupino is too, for what little we see of her. Her power helps make the Maud character big enough to make sense. Any lesser actress would have been as submerged as... Well I can't say, that would spoil it.