The Sea Lion (1921)

Very best movie i ever watch

Great Film overall

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

A Pacific drama of the Blue Lagoon school, the story is no more far fetched than most, and the acting style has to be seen in the context of what was expected at the time, not least in terms of helping the audience understand the plot. The use of flash-back was well handled, and one or two shots were technically brilliant, like the vertiginous view down to the ship's deck from the crow's nest. Some of the sea-going sequences were could induce mal-de-mer, and gave a realistic impression of sailing ships of the time, and the hardy life of whalers. The story itself is many stranded and generally well handled, with some decent performances from the principals, despite excessive religiosity towards the end. A sea-brother to Captain Ahab runs his ship with an iron fist. A sailor looking forward to seeing his baby reminds the captain of his own unhappy past when his wife deserted him for another man. Back in Frisco the ne'er-do-well son a wealthy man is disowned by his father, who has had to pay off a gold-digger of a fiancée (after some interesting high-life scenes). Out to prove himself, the son signs on the whaler, where he learns the meaning of hard and dangerous work. Becalmed, the ship runs short of water, and the sailors mutiny when the captain takes more than his share. However, the son rescues him, but is hardly thanked for his pains. They sight an island inhabited by a shipwrecked sailor and a sixteen year old girl, whose mother survived the wreck, gave birth then subsequently died. The captain takes on these passengers, provided they work their passage. When he discovers that the girl's mother was his wife, he takes against her assuming her father to be the other man. He is about to beat her again when a whale is sighted, and a boat lowered. To protect her, the girl is hidden in the boat, but the captain sees this, and when a storm comes up, he leaves the boat and its crew to their fate. Back in his cabin he discovers the girl's Bible in which her mother had written her story. It appeared that when he husband went to sea, she was expecting. A former suitor, and another sailor, abducts her, leaving her rejection letter to him to be found by her husband and misinterpreted. Realising the error of his ways, and full of repentance, the captain returns to look for the boat and finds it dashed on rocks with everybody in the water. He swims out to rescue them, explaining that he now knows the truth. At this point it is unclear whether the ne'er-do-well, who tries to protect the girl, drowns or not. Otherwise, there is a generally Happy Ending as the ship sails back to Frisco, probably without a full cargo of blubber.Bessie Love (1898 - 1986), who played the girl, had 142 titles to her credit. Her penultimate film was the 1981 film about John Reed and the Russian Revolution, Reds.The real name of the Sea Lion is not given, though her wheel was made in London.

Brisk little tale about a brutal sea captain (Hobart Bosworth) nicknamed "the Sea Lion" and the fateful voyage that involves mutiny and the depletion of their water supply.We're told in flashback that Bosworth was once a jolly fellow, eagerly anticipating his return from sea to his wife and new baby. But when he arrives home, the wife and baby are gone. She's run off with another man. Nearly 20 years later, he holds the bitterness like a shield as he goes about his job.On the current voyage, a first-time seaman (Emory Johnson) is escaping his family and is the butt of all jokes on board. But after months at sea, the water runs out and the crew mutinies while Johnson is atop the crow's nest. He helps the captain quell the riot and is made first mate. Soon thereafter they spot an island and head for it.On the island they find some people who were shipwrecked 16 years before. The young girl named Blossom (Bessie Love) is the daughter of a white woman who died on the island after the shipwreck. back on board, while Johnson and Love fall in love, Bosworth's hatred flairs when he learns that Love is the daughter of his runaway wife. But who was the father? Bosworth is solid as the brutal captain, and Love and Johnson make their stock characters interesting. The scenes at sea are surprisingly authentic and add immensely to this simple story of love and hate and redemption.My copy has an excellent and rousing piano score. Worth a look.

Sea Lion, The (1921) ** (out of 4) A bitter sea captain (Hobart Bosworth) does everything he can to be mean to people due to his wife leaving him out of no where sixteen years earlier. On one voyage they happen across a man and a young girl who have been shipwrecked on an island for sixteen years. The captain takes them on board and soon their stories connect. Rowland V. Lee directed this silent film, which has a couple good scenes but the story is so predictable that it's hard to be too shocked or surprised when the big twist comes. The morality tale is also a tad bit silly but there's some good stuff out at sea. Bosworth does the most with the screenplay and delivers a fine performance but the supporting players, including Emory Johnson, are all wooden.

The movie's title comes from the nickname of the captain of 'The Lair', John Nelson (Hobart Bosworth) - 'recognizing work as the only creed and brute strength as the one law'. Nelson's bitter nature dates back two decades from the time his wife left him for another man. In a parallel coincidence, businessman Tom Walton (Emory Johnson) signs up for a voyage on The Lair after being spurned by his fiancée. Once at sea, Walton befriends Nelson after the crew attempts to mutiny, though they were provoked by Nelson's hoarding the ship's drinking water for himself.Landing on an uncharted island, Walton discovers the two lone survivors of a shipwreck some sixteen years earlier. The young Blossom (Bessie Love) was born on the island and raised by her adopted 'Uncle Billy' (Richard Morris) after her mother died during childbirth. Once it's revealed that Blossom recalls her mother's name being Nelson as well, the pieces fall into place for the old Sea Lion. He discovers a Bible diary and learns that his wife was shanghaied away from him, a farewell note manufactured to make it seem that the captain's wife ran away from him. With feelings of remorse, Nelson reunites with the long lost daughter he never knew he had.The movie comes in at just over an hour, and despite the odds defying circumstances of the story, it's one that keeps your interest. One minor downside is the dark rendition of the print, there's a portion of one scene that almost goes entirely black. Considering that it was made eighty five years ago, it's a small inconvenience to observe in a relic dating so far back. A silent from 1921, it's not the kind of movie you'll find on the rack of your local video store or by cruising the cable channels. However if you keep your eyes peeled, you might find it as I did as part of a ten movie 'Pirates' themed set on three DVD's released by St. Clair Vision. The set contains mostly titles you never heard of before, but uniquely offers some early screen appearances by future stars like Errol Flynn, Bela Lugosi, and Lon Chaney Jr. For silent film buffs, there's another entry in the collection titled "The Black Pirate" from 1926, starring an athletic Douglas Fairbanks.