Fun flick I recall seeing for first time on an offbeat cable channel way back in the early 80's. Somehow, it stuck with me in all the intervening years, and which I never thought I'd see again, as it never turned up anywhere, not even in a discount video or dvd bin. Upon first viewing, I was unfamiliar with the original novel by Jack London, though I now am. Of course, the major Hollywood production filmed in the 40's starring Edward G. Robinson was more substantial, expensive-looking, and elaborate, though I'm sure it strayed quite a bit from the novel nonetheless. "Wolf's" rather niftily done despite its low-budget. Most of the scenes were filmed aboard a real ship while at sea which is rather impressive. Even with such cramped spaces with which to work, the camerawork is varied and remains interesting. The screenplay, too, is well-written and follows a logical progression. There's little action until toward the end, and no doubt would be considered too talky for today's audiences but it nevertheless hold's one's interest, primarily due to the 19th-century sailing ship on which the story's set, the unpredictabilty of Larsen's violent streaks of temper, cruelty, and Jekyll & Hyde personality. Peter Graves, well before he achieved TV fame with "Mission: Impossible" performs in sufficiently stalwart fashion, making the best of a bad situation, becoming a so-called "man" in the process. The survivor of a disaster at sea, his character's rescued by Larsen's ship "Ghost", who promptly puts him to work at shipboard tasks for which Graves is completely unsuited. He learns the captain and his crew are seal-hunters, though none of this bloody work, thankfully, isn't shown. Of course, viewed and judged by today's sensibilities, seal-hunting is utterly reprehensible, the delightful marine animals killed nearly to extinction in order make trendy sealskin coats, society's demand for such having created a very lucrative industry, which Larsen's pursuing. Sickening! Barry Sullivan does well as the troubled captain of the "Ghost". "Wolf Larsen's" a neat, salt-sprayed little tale of men interacting within a very confined space, far removed from civilization, and subject to the whims of a despotic sea-captain, one who provides them their livelihood. While not a classic film by any means, it's based on a great classic story, condensed and simplified but conveying it pretty well in straightforward, muscular fashion, complicated only slightly by the addition of a lone woman toward the film's conclusion. All enthusiasts of sailing ships like the "Ghost", and the late 19th-century era in which it takes place, should check it out!
Review of Wolf Larsen
