Der Seewolf (1941)
30KDer Seewolf: Directed by Michael Curtiz. With Edward G. Robinson, Ida Lupino, John Garfield, Alexander Knox. After being fished out of the sea by a sailer, three fugitives find themselves prisoners of the ship’s brutal skipper who refuses to put them ashore and they hatch an escape plan during a crew mutiny.
“Edward G. Robinson puts his own brand of cruelty on the role of a freighter captain who tyrannizes his crew and some unexpected passengers (Ida Lupino, John Garfield, Alexander Knox) in this taut, suspenseful psychological melodrama with no shortage of brooding atmosphere. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBased on the famous Jack London story of Wolf Larsen (Robinson), the callous and inhuman skipper of a schooner, who proceeds to make life hell for his crew and his unwilling passengers rescued from a sinking ferryboat. Lupino and Garfield are a couple of losers with a past; Knox is a mild-mannered novelist. The romantic angle between Garfield and Ida is underplayed with the accent more on the brooding tension aboard the schooner.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003enUnder Michael Curtizu0026#39; direction, all the performances are first-rate and Erich Wolfgang Korngoldu0026#39;s intriguing score helps sustain the tense mood of passengers adrift on a fog-shrouded sea. Alexander Knoxu0026#39;s restrained portrayal of an intellectual is a perfect foil for Robinsonu0026#39;s bombastic megalomaniac skipper. Stand-outs in the large supporting cast are Gene Lockhart as a nervous, cowardly doctor and Barry Fitzgerald as a crafty cook, a sinister departure from his usual comic roles.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003enAbsorbing all the way, well worth viewing, this represented a step up the ladder for Ida Lupinou0026#39;s career at Warner Bros. Watch for my full-length career article on Ida Lupino scheduled to appear in an upcoming issue of FILMS OF THE GOLDEN AGE.”
