John Barrymore

Dolores Costello

George O'Hara

Mike Donlin

Sam Baker

George Berrell

Sam Allen

Frank Nelson

Mathilde Comont

James O. Barrows

Vadim Uraneff

Sôjin Kamiyama

Frank Hagney

Joyzelle Joyner

Herman Melville

Bess Meredyth

Millard Webb

Byron Haskin

Frank Kesson

Rupert Hughes

Adventure

Fantasy

The Sea Beast

Warner Bros. Pictures

United States of America

CinemaSerf

Hmmm. This is what we would call a "re-imagining" nowadays. Herman Melville's classic "Moby Dick" underpins this far more romantic story as John Barrymore "Ahab" has to battle his brother "Derek" (George O'Hara) for the affections of "Esther" (Delores Costello) on land whilst joining in the battle against the great white whale from the novel at sea. I found the romance just a bit too drawn out and tedious, but when the film takes us to sea it comes alive with some cracking cinematography that depicts the dangers the sailors faced doing their jobs (including plenty of rats milling aboard amongst the injured and/or sleeping men). I can't say the print I saw was great, and the accompanying score was so soporific as to remind me of the music played at the dentist to calm me when I'm having root canal treatment! Barrymore is good, though. His maniacally obsessive expressions when tracking the whale (which, by now, has relieved him of his lower leg) are genuinely menacing - though clearly not so much for the whale. The ending is far removed from the book, too - and that removes much of the potency from the the whole thing, leaving us with a rather slushy maritime drama that just doesn't have enough of action and adventure for me.

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