The Motion Picture Director (1925)

192 5 THE MOTION PICTURE DIRECTOR 1 and so did his auditors. It is the culminating masterpiece of a glarious life work. Ahab Ceeley, the blithe and ardent lover, the intrepid harpooner, the game sportsman, the rustic gentleman, is Barrymore’s best loved character, the favorite child among his many great creations. No studied affectation here. Just a salty young New England sailor-man of 1840, full of life and love and laughter, from a hardy. God-fearing, self-respecting, sea-faring family. The story begins in old New Bedford with its windy streets of neat, frugal, weather-beaten dwellings and its clean salt smell, from which, on hoard the three-masted schooner “The Three Brothers,” Ahab and his brother Derek (George O’Hara) are shipping for a whaling cruise of a year or two. There Ahab bade his betrothed ( Dolores Costello) a glad farewell for she and her missionary father were shortly departing for the island of Java where a 1 1 would meet again in a few months. And then begins the typical ■whaler’s life. In those days w haling was at its prime, and had been develo p e d into a fine art. Although hunting, killing and rendering the hugest of creatures into oil to fill the lamps of the world was then one of the principal industries of New England, it was still the most perilous and excitiiig of sports, the most exacting of stamin, steady nerve, lightning action and constant courage. it'^'T^HE SEA BEAST” covers every phase of the strange and i adventurous lives of the whalers, the training school in which was laid the foundation for the valorous exploits of the American marine in the Revolution, the War of 1812 and otlier affairs of glory and honor which commanded renown and respect for the American flag on all the seven seas. With marvelous fidelity and interest are reproduced the scenes of life aboard ship, the weeks of fair weather and lazy inactivity seasoned with yarning, horseplay, and preparation for the final chase ; the prayers for success ; the dangerous passages, and days and nights of man-breaking hardship and toil, during the great storms; the final sighting of the whales; the breathless, straining pursuit in the eight-oared boat, the planting of the iron in the quivering flesh of the huge mammal, the long weary fight before the killing, often ending in tragedy — men playing a great fish twenty times the size of their cockle-shell of a boat — the cutting up and drying out, the reeking blubber on the ship’s decks ; the triumphal entry into port laden deep with the precious casks of oil; the glad greeting of dear ones, or the debauching spree in the grog-shops and sailors’ roosts. All this called for much strenuous and dangerous action on the part of the star. There was a double but always when the time came, “I’ll do this. I don’t need anybody for this.” In the long shots as well as the close-ups it was Barrymore who ran up the ratlines, stood watch in the crow’s nest, slid down the mainstays, was knocked out of the speeding whaleboat, or was deluged by tons of sea water as a wave swept over the quarter-deck. 1 he respect of the company progressed to love, veneration and in some cases actual worship as despite chills, drenched clothing, cramped and comfortless dressing quarters, cracked ribs, infected rope burns on arms and legs, and plunges into the icy ocean, Barrymore persisted in being his own stunt man. The story of how he went down twenty feet below the sea surface Avith the boat dragged down by the sounding whale Avhen all the stunt daredevils in it had leaped before its nose had dipped beneath the water, came up under the overturned boat, fought his way out, and gasped AA’ith his first breath, Hoaa’ did it look?” Avill live for many a year in studio lore. “The last 1 sarv of Jack,” said John Ellis, “was his hand, still acting.” Then there is quaint and beautiful Java, the peerless gem of all the seas, with its exotic tropical gardens, a land made for love. Here the betrothed meet for a brief, sAveet space of delicate and then Ahab is gone again in eager quest of “Moby He finds him only to lose him, and is terr i b 1 y injured t h r o u g h Derek’s unrealized treadle r y . Maimed , in terrific agon y of soul and body, his s u perse n s i t i V e mind played upon by his perfidious brother and rival, lie gives up all hopes of Esther and concentrates his great powers on the destruction of “Moby Dick.” He acquires the captaincy of “The Pequod,” and his bitter, malignant, feverish energy m.akes of it a hellship in Avhich only the devil’s OAvn creAV Avill ship. The accident Avhich had cost him his great love perverts his pride, ambition, and fair gifts of mind and body into deadly poison, distilling in his ingroAvn thoughts a breAV of malice Avhich he speAvs forth upon a world he hates. In one cliaracteristic scene Avhich Avould grip and tAvist the emotions of a stone idol, he struggles Avith the spinning Avheel from Avhich a roaring billoAV has just Avashed the steersman overboard. The storm of Avind and rain beats past him, tugging furiously at his sodden seaman’s clothing. His peg leg slips and for a moment the Avheel escapes his grasp like a struggling fiend. The ship SAverves into the trough of the enormous seas as he quickly catches himself and a mountainous billoAV SAA’eeps over it, completely obliterating him for a long moment. He emerges Avaving his free fist and liurling curse after curse at the raging night. His cap is gone, his sodden, gray-streaked hair Avhips in clammy strings about his aAvful face. He laughs a laugh of maniacal scorn and triumph at the impotent fury of the elements. In this terrific conflict his soul finds relief from its racking grief. This is one of the great dramatic scenes — poAverful, gripping, intense, a crashing crescendo of Avild, flaming emotions and straining elements. Then there is the hurricane, like nothing ever seen before upon