The Sea Wolf (Warner Bros.) (1941)

Still SW 528; Mat 210—30c EDWARD G. ROBINSON as “The SEA WOLF” in Warner Bros. screen version, of the world-famed novel by Jack London. “The Sea Wolf” has its first local showing on Friday at the Strand. Edw. G. Robinson Plays Jack London’s ‘Sea Wolf’ Screen Version of World-Famed Novel Opens Friday at Strand “The Sea Wolf,” starring Edward G. Robinson, Ida Lupino, and John Garfield, has been scheduled as the feature attraction at the Strand Theatre. The production, directed by Michael Curtiz, is one of Warner .Bros. biggest of the year. It has been said several times that if Jack London had written “The Sea Wolf” twentyfive years later, he would have been accused of having his eyes on the movies. Fast, continuous action and picturesque characterizations may explain the opinion. The film story opens on San Francisco’s Barbary Coast. This is the first of 31 settings. A main thoroughfare and two side streets were constructed for the introductory action. The fronts of four two-story hotels and 11 other buildings and the complete interior of an elaborate dance hall are used. Of the 29 principals in the picture, four appear in these first sequences: John Garfield, Stanley Ridges, Francis McDonald and Ralf Harolde. The real story of “The Sea Wolf” begins, and ends, aboard the mystery ship, The Ghost. This setting, or vast complication of settings, is considered by studio technicians the most ambitious project of its kind ever undertaken by them. The ship itself is 130 feet long and 32 feet wide amidships. The mechanism by which the ship is rocked and tossed was designed by studio engineers and installed by studio machinists. Materials alone for this machinery cost over $38,000. From a production standpoint, “The Sea Wolf” differs basically from other sea stories. Its action is by no means confined to the decks of the vessel. The related settings include completely furnished cabins, wardroom, sick bay, forecastle, corridors, docks, galleys and hatches. Important sequences are played in these settings, which require that they be both substantial and complete in detail. Among the players aboard ship are Ida Lupino, Frank Lacteen, Howard da Silva, Gene Lockhardt, Barry Fitzgerald, Alexander Knox, Wilfred Lucas, Louis Mason, David Bruce. 16 A collision with a ferry boat, incidental to the plot, required the construction of the deck and entire interior of a San Francisco Ferry of the period of 1900. This set alone would be listed as important in an ordinary feature production. The story of “The Sea Wolf” is mainly the story of the Captain of The Ghost, Wolf Larsen, played by Edward G. Robinson. Larsen is a man in whose heart there is neither softness nor mercy. His hand is against every man and he expects every man’s to be against him. Once aboard his ship, there is no escape. A strange assortment of characters become passengers on his ill-fated vessel, and each has a dramatic influence on the story that unfolds. As would be expected of a film directed by Mike Curtiz, “The Sea Wolf” is a succession of moving episodes, with physical action dominant. There are 47 fights in the picture. All are marked by primal _ brutality. Murder is a passing incident. Wolf Larsen ruthlessly controls everything — but Destiny. No man could ever subdue his will to conquer, but a creeping physical infirmity puts him at the mercy of a weakling in the brilliantly dramatic finale of the book — and of the picture. “The Sea Wolf” is a picture of what Jack London wrote, as he wrote it. ‘Sea Wolf’ Opens Friday at Strand Edward G. Robinson, Ida Lupino and John Garfield head the cast of “The Sea Wolf,’ Warner Bros. screen version of the famous Jack London novel, opening on Friday at the Strand Theatre. The screenplay, which was adapted from London’s novel by Robert Rossen, tells the powerful story of Wolf Larsen, most feared and hated captain who ever sailed the seas. Michael Curtiz, master of the action drama, directed. Also featured are Gene Lockhart, Barry Fitzgerald, Alexander Knox, Stanley Ridges, Francis McDonald, Howard da_ Silva, and a supporting cast of hundreds of other players in the season’s greatest action drama. ‘The Sea Wolf’ Is Powerful Drama, with All-Star Cast Edw. G. Robinson, Ida Lupino and John Garfield Star in Strand Film The management of the Strand Theatre has announced that their next scheduled attraction will be “The Sea Wolf,” starring Edward G. Robinson, Ida Lupino and John Garfield. The film version of the world-famous novel by Jack London was produced by Warner Bros., who have given us such recent hit action movies as “Santa Fe Trail,” “High Sierra” and “They Drive By Night.” “The Sea Wolf” is considered one of the first American “realistic” novels. Published in 1903, it was an immediate best-seller, and has continued to hold its popularity with successive generations of readers, long after many later best-sellers have been forgotten. It is the powerful story of Wolf Larsen, the epitome of all the fighting, killing, roistering and vicious men of the sea fleet. The men who sailed with him on “The Ghost” seldom lived to relate their experiences. His shanghaied crews learned what it meant to be completely under the mental and physical power of the inhuman captain. Onto this hell ship come a girl and a man, rescued from the wreck of a San Francisco ferry boat. She is a fugitive from justice, he is a sensitive young author. Once aboard, they find themselves prisoners. The man is put to work as cabin boy, EDW. 6. ROBINSON, IDA LUPINO, GARFIELD STAR IN SEA WOLF’ COMING TO STRAND Jack London cast “The Sea Wolf” for Warner Bros. Steve Trilling, casting director for Warner Bros. admits that he had little to do with it. The characters practically cast themselves from the specifications laid down by London when he wrote “The Sea Wolf” in 1904, says Trilling. “The Sea Wolf” opens on Friday at the Strand. Edward G. Robinson, as Wolf Larsen; John Garfield as Leach; Alexander Knox as Van Weyden; and Ida Lupino as Ruth Webster all came together many years later to fit their particular niches in the picture. Even the boss rigger on the lot, Big Louis Madsen, who trims “The Ghost,’ Larsen’s ship, is a character out of a London novel. Big Louis was boatswain on the “Dirigo,” on which London sailed around “the Horn.” Robinson is Wolf Larsen translated into terms other than physical power. Robinson in real life is, however, a perfectionist. Wolf Larsen’s perfectionism consisted in making himself the perfect tyrant of his ship and complete boss of the destinies of the men aboard it. Robinson as a person has developed himself into an expert on paint ings and music. In the film he portrays an expert in dealing with rough sailors. Garfield, as the man who runs away from himself and his environment, is playing a role he knows better than any one London could have written about. Garfield was a slum child. He was a student in a school for problem children in New York. He raided pushcarts and fought cops and was destined for reform school and its terrible implications before he was saved by a love for the theatre. Alexander Knox is a writer in real life as well as in “The Sea Wolf.” He is credited with authoring two plays, “Old Master” and “Bride of Quietness,” before he turned actor. And Ida Lupino? She plays an escaped convict, a derelict. “Don’t worry about my fitting that role,” she states. “My family for years back to the Sixteenth Century were thieves and vagabonds,” she declares unashamed. “In those days all actors, when hungry, resorted to stealing their food when the customers refused to pay to see them perform. “I don’t have to steal my food because of a steady income now. Besides, actors’ credit is Sood. now ./....-but@;:.: .” Still SW 512; Mat 202—30c DRAMA AFLOAT—Ida Lupino and Edward G. Robinson in Jack London’s immortal story of floating terror, “The Sea Wolf,” which opens on Friday at the Strand Theatre. John Gartield is starred with them. the girl, desperately ill is indifferently cared for by the ship’s drunken doctor. She wins the sympathy of one of the young sailors and they plan to be married if they can ever escape from the ship. The young author strikes up a sort of half-friendship with Lagsen, learns the Captain’s carefully guarded secret—that he is subject to periodic attacks of blindess. Some of the sailors make an unsuccessful attempt to kill Larsen, and after this episode, tension grows worse on “The Ghost.” The girl, her sailor, the author and another of the men on the crew decide to risk everything in an attempt to escape in a lifeboat. After Still SW 557; Mat 103—15c JOHN GARFIELD plays a starring role in “The Sea Wolf,” coming to the Strand on Friday. drifting for days, their supplies exhausted, they sight “The Ghost” again. She is sinking. The young sailor goes aboard in a desperate effort to get some supplies. He is gone so long that the others follow him. The author goes to the Captain’s cabin, learns that he is in one of his semi-blind states. He finds out that the sailor has been locked up in the galley, but as he attempts to leave Larsen levels a gun on him. To reveal the dramatic outcome would deprive audiences of some of the thrill of its very unexpectedness. According to advance reports from audiences who have previewed the film, “The Sea Wolf” is one of the year’s greatest triumphs of acting genius and directorial skill. Robinson is said to have his greatest role as Larsen. Ida Lupino brings just the right degree of poignancy to the role of the girl, and John Garfield is superb as the young sailor fighting desperate odds. Michael Curtiz, supreme master of the outdoor action film, has directed “The Sea Wolf” with rare dramatic force. Jack London Novel On Strand Screen The Strand’s new picture, opening on Friday, will be “The Sea Wolf,” with Edward G. Robinson, Ida Lupino and John Garfield in the starring roles. The film is based on the worldfamous novel by Jack London, which has been a _ best-seller ever since its publication in the early 1900’s, and is an actionfilled tale of life aboard the hell ship “Ghost,” captained by the dreaded Wolf Larsen. Michael Curtiz directed the production from Robert Rossen’s adaptation of the novel.