| The Sea Wolf | |
| Director: | George Melford |
| Producer: | George Melford |
| Starring: | Noah Beery, Sr. |
| Cinematography: | Paul P. Perry |
| Distributor: | Paramount Pictures / Artcraft |
| Runtime: | 70 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | Silent (English intertitles) |
The Sea Wolf is a lost[1] 1920 American drama film based upon the 1904 novel by Jack London, directed by George Melford, and starring Noah Beery as the brutal sea captain Wolf Larsen, sometimes referred to as "The Sea Wolf." The supporting cast includes Mabel Julienne Scott, Tom Forman, Raymond Hatton, and A. Edward Sutherland.[2] [3]
The film was remade twenty-one years later with Edward G. Robinson in Beery's role.
As described in a film magazine,[4] Wolf Larsen (Beery), captain of the sealing steamer The Ghost, receives a severe blow to his head in a fight with his brother Death Larsen (Gordon) on the day he is to sail. Following the wreck of a ferry boat, rich idler Humphrey Van Weyden (Forman) and his fiancee Maud Brewster (Scott) are picked up by Larson's crew. Wolf refuses to put the couple ashore and makes Humphrey the cabin boy. George Leach (Sutherland), the former cabin boy, and sailor Old Man Johnson (Huntley), enraged at Wolf for his brutal treatment, throw him and mate Black Harris (Long) overboard. The mate is drowned but Wolf comes up the log-line and then over the side on deck, where he beats up his whole crew. The Ghost reaches the seal grounds. Death Larson's ship comes into sight, and Death and part of his crew attempt to board Wolf's ship, but Wolf has them bound and gagged. That night Wolf steers his ship into a fog bank to escape Death's ship. Wolf goes to Maud's cabin and attacks her, and Humphrey puts up a losing fight. At the climax Wolf succumbs to a blinding headache. Humphrey and Maud escape in an open boat to an uninhabited island. Wolf's crew deserts and he is left alone on The Ghost, which runs aground on the island. The paralyzed, blind, and helpless Wolf is cared for by Maud. Soon afterwards he dies and the couple are rescued by a revenue cutter.