Feature films on American whaling
by felix-alongshore | created - 10 Sep 2013 | updated - 10 Mar 2016 | PublicThere are surprisingly few feature film on nineteenth-century US whaling. Which one is your favorite?
If you know of any more relevant films, please let me know. Thanks.
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1. The Sea Lion (1921)
63 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
When his long-suffering wife leaves him, the hard-driving captain of a whaling ship turns bitter and takes out his anger, resentment and frustrations on all those around him, leading to ... See full summary »
Director: Rowland V. Lee | Stars: Hobart Bosworth, Emory Johnson, Bessie Love, Carol Holloway
Votes: 119
2. Down to the Sea in Ships (1922)
Unrated | 83 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
Story of the lives of the people in a small Quaker community and the adventures of a whaling ship.
Director: Elmer Clifton | Stars: Marguerite Courtot, Raymond McKee, William Walcott, Clara Bow
Votes: 400
3. All the Brothers Were Valiant (1923)
101 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
Joel Shore is made captain of the whaling schooner formerly headed by his courageous and admired brother, Mark, who was lost at sea. Accompanied by his bride, who suspects Joel to have a cowardly heart, they set sail for a whale hunt.
Director: Irvin Willat | Stars: Malcolm McGregor, Billie Dove, Lon Chaney, William Orlamond
Votes: 33
4. Tentacles of the North (1926)
Passed | 54 min | Action, Adventure
Two ships are caught in the Arctic ice.
Director: Louis Chaudet | Stars: Gaston Glass, Alice Calhoun, Joseph W. Girard, Alan Roscoe
Votes: 38
5. Moby Dick (1930)
Passed | 80 min | Adventure, Drama
In this extremely loose adaptation of Melville's classic novel, Ahab is revealed initially not as a bitter and vengeful madman, but as a bit of a lovable scamp. Ashore in New Bedford, he ... See full summary »
Director: Lloyd Bacon | Stars: John Barrymore, Joan Bennett, Lloyd Hughes, Noble Johnson
Votes: 641
6. Adventure's End (1937)
Approved | 60 min | Adventure, Drama
Pacific pearl diver Duke Slade escapes angry natives by joining a whaler whose dying captain persuades him to marry his daughter who is already being wooed by the first mate.
Director: Arthur Lubin | Stars: John Wayne, Diana Gibson, Montagu Love, Moroni Olsen
Votes: 128
7. Down to the Sea in Ships (1949)
Approved | 120 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Whaling ship captain Bering Joy takes his grandson Jed on a whaling trip to teach him core life values while First Mate Dan Lunceford is tasked with tutoring Jed.
Director: Henry Hathaway | Stars: Richard Widmark, Lionel Barrymore, Dean Stockwell, Cecil Kellaway
Votes: 1,106
8. All the Brothers Were Valiant (1953)
Approved | 95 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
In the South Pacific islands, two brothers, one good and one bad, fight over the same girl and over a bag of pearls.
Director: Richard Thorpe | Stars: Robert Taylor, Stewart Granger, Ann Blyth, Betta St. John
Votes: 1,107
9. Hell Below Zero (1954)
Approved | 90 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
The captain of an Antarctic whaling ship falls overboard in mysterious circumstances and his daughter, aided by a sympathetic American, decides to investigate the accident.
Director: Mark Robson | Stars: Alan Ladd, Joan Tetzel, Basil Sydney, Stanley Baker
Votes: 548
10. Moby Dick (1956)
Not Rated | 116 min | Adventure, Drama
The sole survivor of a lost whaling ship relates the tale of his captain's self-destructive obsession to hunt the white whale, Moby Dick.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Gregory Peck, Richard Basehart, Leo Genn, James Robertson Justice
Votes: 21,885 | Gross: $10.40M
11. Enchanted Island (1958)
93 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Two 19th-century sailors jump ship only to discover their tropical paradise is a cannibal stronghold.
Director: Allan Dwan | Stars: Dana Andrews, Jane Powell, Don Dubbins, Arthur Shields
Votes: 371
12. In the Heart of the Sea (2015)
PG-13 | 122 min | Action, Adventure, Biography
A recounting of a New England whaling ship's sinking by a giant whale in 1820, an experience that later inspired the great novel Moby-Dick.
Director: Ron Howard | Stars: Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson, Ben Whishaw
Votes: 148,736 | Gross: $25.02M
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