It's a coming of age story about a boy, Dean Stockwell, who goes to sea on a whaling ship under the command of his crusty but affectionate grandfather, Lionel Barrymore. Also aboard is Richard Widmark as first mate. The hunt takes them from New Bedford down into the Antarctic seas. Stockwell and Widmark become friends. Barrymore, isolated by command, must act the authoritarian and conflicts develop.
If it sounds like another stupendous sailing ship epic with blazing blue skies and smiling seas and native girls doing the hootchy-cootchy, it's not. Neither is it a cheap and sentimental cardboard fantasy out of Pinchpenny Productions. It's really rather better than that. Better than "Captain's Courageous" too.
Right off the bat we have Stockwell as an eleven-year-old kid who doesn't make a mature audience want to vomit. That's getting off to a good start. On top of that it's one of Barrymore's more convincing performances. And a young Richard Widmark, without the wolf-man wig of "Kiss of Death", and playing an idealist for a change, is right for the role of the self-sacrificing mate.
It's actually exciting as well, but in ways that are hard to anticipate. After all, what kinds of excitement can be found in movies about sailing ships? Basically three. Mutinies, battles, and severe storms. But this film has the ship grinding up onto the ledge of an iceberg, a hole stove in her bow, and with the massive hull swinging in an irresistible rhythm, men must lower themselves into the few feet of space between the damaged hull and the ice cliff to make her seaworthy again. It's a thrilling scene, and not all the men survive.
The model work is good, and the ship's mock up is well above average. Wardrobe has done a fine and convincing job. And I was so pleased to see a child star like Stockwell who wasn't given a chance to cry. He was my supporting player in "Blue Velvet" and was a little nervous -- what with no longer being a child star -- but I forced myself on him to help him over the rough spots. Now he sends me a Christmas card every year filled with the most vile language.
If it sounds like another stupendous sailing ship epic with blazing blue skies and smiling seas and native girls doing the hootchy-cootchy, it's not. Neither is it a cheap and sentimental cardboard fantasy out of Pinchpenny Productions. It's really rather better than that. Better than "Captain's Courageous" too.
Right off the bat we have Stockwell as an eleven-year-old kid who doesn't make a mature audience want to vomit. That's getting off to a good start. On top of that it's one of Barrymore's more convincing performances. And a young Richard Widmark, without the wolf-man wig of "Kiss of Death", and playing an idealist for a change, is right for the role of the self-sacrificing mate.
It's actually exciting as well, but in ways that are hard to anticipate. After all, what kinds of excitement can be found in movies about sailing ships? Basically three. Mutinies, battles, and severe storms. But this film has the ship grinding up onto the ledge of an iceberg, a hole stove in her bow, and with the massive hull swinging in an irresistible rhythm, men must lower themselves into the few feet of space between the damaged hull and the ice cliff to make her seaworthy again. It's a thrilling scene, and not all the men survive.
The model work is good, and the ship's mock up is well above average. Wardrobe has done a fine and convincing job. And I was so pleased to see a child star like Stockwell who wasn't given a chance to cry. He was my supporting player in "Blue Velvet" and was a little nervous -- what with no longer being a child star -- but I forced myself on him to help him over the rough spots. Now he sends me a Christmas card every year filled with the most vile language.