{"id":31040,"date":"2019-04-26T09:47:21","date_gmt":"2019-04-26T13:47:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=31040"},"modified":"2019-04-26T09:47:55","modified_gmt":"2019-04-26T13:47:55","slug":"the-bootleg-files-the-sea-beast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2019\/04\/26\/the-bootleg-files-the-sea-beast\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bootleg Files: The Sea Beast"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOOTLEG FILES 682:<\/strong> \u201cThe Sea Beast\u201d (1926 silent film adaptation of \u201cMoby-Dick\u201d).<\/p>\n

LAST SEEN:<\/strong> We cannot confirm last exhibition of this film.<\/p>\n

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO:<\/strong> Only on a DVD of dubious heritage.<\/p>\n

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS:<\/strong> Warner Bros., which owns the copyright, has never released it for digital home entertainment.
\n
\nCHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE:<\/strong> Maybe some day.<\/p>\n

In 1851, Herman Melville\u2019s novel \u201cMoby-Dick\u201d was published. During Melville\u2019s lifetime, the book was a commercial failure \u2013 only 3,200 copies were sold in the 40 years between its initial release and the author\u2019s death 1891. It was not until the 1920s that literary scholars re-evaluated the work and recognized its importance as a work of literary art.
\n<\/p>\n

One of the greatest devotees of Melville\u2019s classic was the actor John Barrymore. When Warner Bros. signed him to a three-film contract in 1925, the studio planned to initially present him as the star of the romantic adventure \u201cDon Juan.\u201d Barrymore, however, insisted that the studio create a film version of \u201cMoby-Dick\u201d that would feature him in the complex role of Captain Ahab. The studio was not entirely pleased with Barrymore\u2019s suggestion. After all, \u201cMoby-Dick\u201d had no major female characters, a racially mixed cast of characters, a central figure that was among the most psychologically warped creations in American literature and a massive man-versus-whale climax that would be heavily expensive to recreate. But due to Barrymore\u2019s star stature, the studio reluctantly agreed to put \u201cDon Juan\u201d on hold and bring \u201cMoby-Dick\u201d to the screen.<\/p>\n

For his part, Barrymore wanted to be fully involved in this production. He volunteered a wealth of suggestions to Bess Meredyth, the screenwriter \u2013 she reportedly ignored nearly all of them \u2013 and gave his input into designing the costumes and sets. Barrymore also tried to get Warner Bros. to capture a real whale to play Moby-Dick, but the studio diplomatically pointed out the problems in that endeavor. <\/p>\n

Barrymore learned that the film would rewrite Melville\u2019s work in order to accommodate a love interest subplot that was mandatory for the epics of that day. \u201cWhat we are going to do for a love interest, I don\u2019t quite know,\u201d he mused. \u201cHe might fall in love with the whale. Hollywood, I am sure, will find a way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Actually, Barrymore called the shots in this aspect of production. The star initially wanted his paramour Mary Astor to play opposite him, but she was unavailable and the studio instead tapped Priscilla Bonner. But Barrymore became romantically enchanted with novice actress Dolores Costello before shooting began, so Bonner was unceremoniously dumped and Costello was brought in. Bonner turned around and sued Warner Bros., winning a handsome settlement for her ignominious exit.<\/p>\n

In many ways, Bonner should have been fortunate that she was not in the film. Warner Bros.\u2019 \u201cMoby-Dick\u201d recklessly jettisoned nearly all of Melville\u2019s intricately constructed story and brought in a wobbly melodrama that dramatically changed the characters while introducing new subplots that gave new meaning to the concept of cornball. <\/p>\n

Given the new title of \u201cThe Sea Beast,\u201d the film creates a backstory for Captain Ahab, who is introduced as a virile young harpooner named Arab Ceeley. Barrymore was 43 when the film was shot, but in the early sections of \u201cThe Sea Beast\u201d he displays the vitality and athleticism of a young twentysomething. The dashing Ahab wins the heart of Esther Harper (Dolores Costello), a minister\u2019s daughter. But Ahab\u2019s brother Derek (George O\u2019Hara) also loves Esther \u2013 she doesn\u2019t return Derek\u2019s feelings, which embitters him.<\/p>\n

Ahab and Derek are sailors on the same ship, and they are in the same whaling boat when Moby-Dick is sighted. The fact that anyone can see the whale is a minor miracle, considering that only its tail and a portion of its back is visible above the waves. During the pursuit of the whale, Derek pushes Ahab overboard \u2013 an act that is only witnessed by Pip, a hunchbacked young half-witted white man. (In Melville\u2019s book, Pip is a black child slave who descends into madness after being left in the open ocean during a whale hunt.) Moby-Dick obviously has a taste for ham, as he spots Barrymore\u2019s Ahab and promptly chews off his leg \u2013 all off-camera, of course.<\/p>\n

Back on the ship, Ahab\u2019s injury is treated with the primitive healthcare of the whaling era \u2013 a hot iron is used to cauterize the wound. The injury changes Ahab\u2019s personality from carefree to sullen, and the fitting of a wooden peg-leg to replace the missing lower limb makes him self-consciousness among his peers. Derek\u2019s machinations continue in putting a wedge between Esther and Ahab, and the lovers are driven apart. Ahab becomes obsessed in getting his revenge on Moby-Dick and he undergoes a physical transformation \u2013 the robust and physically beautiful young man is rapidly transformed into a lank-haired ghoulish figure with dark rings around his eyes and an air of near-madness. This Ahab also breaks with the racial protocols of the era by creating equal partnerships with the Arab Fedallah (played by the Japanese actor Sojin) and the Pacific Islander Queequeg (played by the African-American actor Sam Baker) on a new ship with the sole mission of finding and killing Moby-Dick.<\/p>\n

Does Ahab kill Moby-Dick? Does he come to learn of Derek\u2019s treachery? Does he reunite with his beloved Esther? Hey, it\u2019s a 1920s melodrama \u2013 what do you think?<\/p>\n

On its own terms without being compared to Melville\u2019s work, \u201cThe Sea Beast\u201d is not a dreadful film \u2013 Millard Webb, a director with a mostly undistinguished career, keeps the film moving at a crisp pace despite an overlong 2-hour-16-minute running time. While the whale\u2019s on-screen presence is mostly elusive (and clearly not white-skinned, as per Melville\u2019s vision), there is plenty of violent weather on the high seas to satisfy action and adventure fans. And for its time, \u201cThe Sea Beast\u201d was unusual for treating the nonwhite Fedallah and Queequeg and the physically- and emotionally-disabled Pip as equals Ahab and not as comedy relief buffoons. <\/p>\n

But as an adaptation of \u201cMoby-Dick,\u201d this is a complete joke. The film has characters named after the figures in Melville\u2019s work \u2013 Flask, Stubbs, Daggoo \u2013 but they are reduced to bit parts with no bond to their origin. There is no Ishmael or Father Mapple, and the lovesick mania that overcomes Ahab bears no resemblance to the fully textured personality of Melville\u2019s tormented captain.<\/p>\n

But Warner Bros. did not care. It put \u201cThe Sea Beast\u201d into a road-show release with a then-considerable ticket price of $2.00. While critics were mixed in their reviews, audiences were enthusiastic and the film was a major box-office hit, due primarily to Barrymore\u2019s box-office appeal rather than the Melville literary source.<\/p>\n

When sound technology changed filmmaking, Warner Bros. revisited this property in 1930, using the title \u201cMoby Dick\u201d and rehiring Barrymore while keeping the dueling brothers and the love story instead of the Melville text. Film audiences would have to wait until 1956 until John Huston, working from a Ray Bradbury screenplay, could see a film that corresponded with more accuracy to Melville\u2019s text.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Sea Beast\u201d is still under copyright to Warner Bros., which has never released the film for digital home entertainment channels. There is a DVD from the cheapo Televista label of \u201cThe Sea Beast,\u201d but its contents (according to a pre-credits prologue) comes from a badly battered print donated by Warner Bros. to the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. There is nothing on the DVD\u2019s packaging to suggest it is being released with Warner Bros.\u2019 permission \u2013 and considering that Warner Bros. has released Barrymore\u2019s follow-up, the silent \u201cDon Juan\u201d (1926), as well as the 1930 \u201cMoby Dick\u201d on DVD, it makes no sense to imagine the studio would outsource a release of \u201cThe Sea Beast\u201d with an inferior print to an obscure label. While no one is clamoring for a digital restoration of this title, it would certainly help if the film was available in a decent home entertainment version instead of the unsatisfactory (and, apparently, unauthorized) version floating around.<\/p>\n

IMPORTANT NOTICE: While this weekly column acknowledges the presence of rare film and television productions through the so-called collector-to-collector market, this should not be seen as encouraging or condoning the unauthorized duplication and distribution of copyright-protected material, either through DVDs or Blu-ray discs or through postings on Internet video sites.<\/em><\/p>\n

Listen to \u201cThe Online Movie Show with Phil Hall<\/a>\u201d on SoundCloud, now in its third season.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BOOTLEG FILES 682: \u201cThe Sea Beast\u201d (1926 silent film adaptation of \u201cMoby-Dick\u201d). LAST SEEN: We cannot confirm last exhibition of this film. AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: Only on a DVD of dubious heritage. REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Warner Bros., which owns the copyright, has never released it for digital home entertainment. CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":31041,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1513],"tags":[2236,2235,2234,2237],"class_list":["post-31040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bootleg-files","tag-john-barrymore","tag-moby-dick","tag-the-sea-beast","tag-warner-bros-silent-film"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31040"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31040\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31043,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31040\/revisions\/31043"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}