Picture Play Magazine (Mar-Aug 1926)

64 John Barrymore, in "The Sea Beast," goes through some bitter and gruesome experiences JOHN BARRYMORE and that great white whale of fiction, Moby Dick, pursue their vengeful ways in the Warner Brothers production, "The Sea Beast." Here is a picture built on a time-honored and thrilling story, but the story is sacrificed in order to display the star to the best" possible advantage. The picture is Barrymore's, without a doubt. It is Barrymore who poses gracefully before the mast ; Barrymore who loses his leg in an encounter with Moby Dick, and who suffers publicly and gruesomely for the better part of a reel ; it is Barrymore who grows old and bitter and hard; it is Barrymore who kills Moby Dick; and it is Barrymore who wins the girl. A slight tap from this expensive actor and great, strong men fall to the decks unconscious, and I'll warrant it's not every one who can leap aboard a whale and stab it to death. But in spite of the theatrical exploitation of the youngest Barrymore, "The Sea Beast" contains much that is genuinely swashbuckling and exciting. There is one of the finest storms at sea in it that I have ever seen, an impressive-looking waterspout, and a very thrilling scene in which an Oriental mystic foretells the fate of Moby Dick, as the driving rain and lashing waves drench the ship, tossing in the night. This part of the Oriental is taken by Sojin, that enigmatic and myste The Screen Surveying with a critical eye the latest By Sally rious individual who brings such color to the parts he plays. There is also a big, very black cannibal on hand to lend an even more foreign spice to the setting. However, in the end, all these exotic people turn quite touchingly gentle, and as the ship lands at the home port of New Bedford there is quite an air of the old family servitor about them. Dolores Costello is a beautiful but dispirited Esther, and George O'Hara, as the deceitful half brother, is a pleasant, mild-mannered villain. I do not like to see a story centering around a star. John Barrymore has been acclaimed so long as a great and serious actor, that his younger and equally delightful musical-comedy days appear to have been forgotten. In "The Sea Beast" he seems a good deal of a poseur, and just a little bit old-fashioned. Now that "Stella Dallas" and "The Big Parade" have set new standards in acting, I think that you will find your illusions of Mr. Barrymore a trifle shattered, and, though he has almost become an institution, it is well to remember that, even though institutions remain, they may become tiresome. "The Sea Beast," in spite of the fact that it is attracting large audiences of children and young people to its showing in New York, is not exactly a picture for children. There are a few unnecessarily horrible scenes in it which might prove a bit too much for an impressionable child, though the tougher or garden variety may live through them and have heart enough for an ice-cream cone afterward. The whale is not real, but then neither is John Barrymore. Still, as one of the subtitles says, "Hate, desire for revenge, and bitterness had in five years changed Ahab to a man old before his time, but the village of New Bedford remained the same." Which, taking one consideration with another, is all any one could expect. Splendid Mystery Meiodrama The film "Three Faces East" was adapted from Anthony Paul Kelly's stage play of the same name, is presented by Cecil De Mille, and was directed by Rupert Julian. For once, the greatly abused Mr. De Mille comes in for no criticism. This is the best mystery melodrama that I have seen on stage or screen, and it is as closely knit and as intriguingly detailed as Conan Doyle at his best. At last the screen has proven that it is a better medium for portraying mystery and for working it out to a logical finish than the stage ever could be. The camera can call attention to its details ; the spotlight cannot. In all the mystery plays I have ever seen, the climax came about in a hazy blur of involved explanations. I