arthur_tafero Review of Down to the Sea in Ships

Down to the Sea in Ships (1949)

Best Coming of Age Film Ever Made = Down to the Sea in Ships

[7/10 · 22 July 2021]

This film, not Captains Courageous, is the best boy becomes a young man film ever made. Tracy was great, in the latter, but Dean Stockwell blows away Freddy Bartholomew in the former. Barrymore is also better in this film. Although I thoroughly enjoyed Captains, this film is a full level above it. It is more authentic, and the scenes pursuing the whale are electric. I learned about whaling from Melville in his classic Moby Dick, but seeing the process makes it all the more impressive, despite its barbaric and politically incorrect status today. Let's not condemn a film because it is not PC today, otherwise we would lose a good one third of all films ever made before the enlightened 21st century. A must see for all young boys.