Last week I wrote a blog post on the 1930 film version of MOBY DICK, starring John Barrymore. This movie is actually a sound version of an earlier film adaptation of Melville's novel called THE SEA BEAST. Both MOBY DICK and THE SEA BEAST were made by Warner Bros., and they both had Barrymore playing the role of Captain Ahab.
Both MOBY DICK and THE SEA BEAST have basically the same storyline--one that has almost nothing to do with Herman Melville's book. In both films Ahab is given a backstory that involves a love affair with a prim minister's daughter, and a treacherous younger brother. After Ahab loses a leg trying to harpoon the giant white whale Moby Dick, he becomes bitter and vengeful, leaving his lady love and going off on his own ship to hunt down the beast that has crippled him.
If anything, THE SEA BEAST is more of a romantic melodrama than the 1930 MOBY DICK. THE SEA BEAST runs over 2 hours, and it is rather heavy going at times. (The very rough-looking print of the film I viewed on YouTube didn't help matters.) The 1930 MOBY DICK runs about 80 minutes. At about that mark in THE SEA BEAST, Ahab still isn't a captain yet, and he and his beloved are still swooning over each other.
Almost all of the first half of THE SEA BEAST concerns Ahab's romance with his real-life passion at the time, Dolores Costello. (The two would later marry.) In this version, the love interest character is named Esther, and she and her missionary father are based on Mauritius. There's several scenes of Ahab and Esther wrapped in an embrace, or staring moodily at each other. The many sappy romantic scenes might have made Barrymore and Costello happy, but it doesn't do much for the film. (Barrymore was so smitten with Costello at the time that he gave her the role of Esther over Priscilla Bonner, who was originally hired for it. Bonner later sued Warner Bros. over being replaced and got a financial settlement.)
The pacing of THE SEA BEAST borders on the glacial. There's a well-done storm sequence on Ahab's ship, but there's very little action other than that. As for Moby Dick, he barely appears, making the title of this film a misnomer (unless it was also referring to Barrymore's Ahab).
John Barrymore does manage to make an impression once he's into full Captain Ahab mode. One thing that struck me while watching THE SEA BEAST was how much John looked like his brother Lionel when Ahab was on his vengeful quest--see photo below. (Lionel Barrymore, by the way, would have made a great Ahab himself.) I also felt at times Ahab resembled Barrymore's Mr. Hyde, especially during the storm sequence.
THE SEA BEAST was directed by Millard Webb, whose film career I am not familiar with. I'm sure Webb had plenty on his hands to deal with, what with Barrymore and Costello's affair, sailing ships, and sequences on the water. Considering all the elements one could showcase in THE SEA BEAST--adventure and danger on the high seas, and a man obsessed with revenge--Webb (or those that edited the movie) chose to focus mostly on the Ahab-Esther romance. There's also not much visual ingenuity in THE SEA BEAST.
Perhaps if I saw a fully restored version of THE SEA BEAST, with a proper music score, I would have looked upon it more favorably. (The version I saw on YouTube had plenty of shots where it was hard to even see what was going on, and it sounded as if a bunch of random music cues had been slapped on it.) Perhaps not--there was just way too much Barrymore-Costello wooing going on for my taste, and I thought the film moved too sluggishly.
I must point out that, according to multiple sources on the internet, THE SEA BEAST was a huge success for Warners--apparently a romantic Ahab was what audiences wanted back in 1926.
John Barrymore must have been quite keen on the role of Captain Ahab, considering he played it twice on screen. Unfortunately neither the 1930 MOBY DICK or THE SEA BEAST gives his performance as Ahab--or Melville's legendary story--justice.
One of the great "what-ifs" in classic cinema would be if John Barrymore, in his prime, got to play Ahab in a proper, effective, and true adaptation of the novel MOBY DICK. Could you imagine, for example....Barrymore as Ahab in a MOBY DICK directed by--Orson Welles??
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