THE SEA WOLF
(1941)With Edward G. Robinson, John Garfield, Alexander Knox, Ida Lupino, Gene Lockhart, Barry Fitzgerald
Directed by Michael Curtiz
Black and White
Reviewed by JB
One thing Warner Brothers did better than any other studio in the
thirties and forties is "hard-boiled": hard-boiled
underworld dramas, hard-boiled prison tales, hard-boiled detective
stories, and with
THE SEA WOLF, a hard-boiled sea adventure. This adaptation of
Jack
London's oft-filmed novel is usually hailed as the
best, despite its taking several liberties with the source
material. With a cast like this, a director like Curtiz and a
studio like Warner Brothers, how can it not have
been outstanding?
Edward G. Robinson has one of
his signature
roles in THE SEA WOLF, that of Wolf Larson, the intellectual, violent
and amoral captain of the seal-hunting vessel known as The Ghost.
He is supported by the kind of cast that reminds me why I
love
old movies. John Garfield, Alexander Knox, Ida Lupino and
Barry
Fitzgerald all do fine work, but it is Gene Lockhart as a drunken
doctor attempting to regain respectability who almost steals
the picture.
½ - JB