ellenirishellen-62962 Interesting,gripping from start to finish.Didn't think too much of Knox In WILSON,but really liked him here.Robinson is terrific as Larson,as are the entire cast with Eddie,Knox,Lupino,Garfield in main roles,as with Lockhart in one of his few non slimy roles.Barry Fitzgerald is the guy I loved to hate as much as Larson,although Larson was on a par with Captain Ahab and Capt Bligh.Many familiar character actors in smaller roles.Garfield was great in his first starring role,Lupino the only woman,lucky to avoid having to fight off the entire crew,protection from Garfield and Knox.And the opening in the bar with Stanley Ridges character being Shanghai'd after refusing to sail on a devil ship,Garfield barely avoids getting a Mickey Finn.

alexanderdavies-99382 "The Sea Wolf" is an old favourite of mine. It was the first time I saw a film with Edward G. Robinson and John Garfield. They both give the best performances here but Ida Lupino and Alexander Knox do well also. It is those four actors who are the most relevant. The film is a reasonably faithful adaptation of the popular novel. The setting, the characters all resemble something from the book. Wolf Larson shall stand as one of the crowning achievements in the distinguished career of Edward G. Robinson. He was finally being offered films from "Warner Bros" that were worthy of his talents between 1938 and 1942. He plays Larson as a truly sadistic, evil, determined but also highly intelligent character. John Garfield is very effective as a hard-edged character who comes to show his more humane side, courtesy of Ida Lupino. She is the only female member of the cast as a fugitive from justice. Lupino doesn't properly come into the film for quite a while. However, once she does, her character is a vital part of the story. I enjoy the scenes between Robinson and Knox as they discuss literature and Larson's biography being written. The set that was used for the ship in question, looks suitably creepy and eerie. I can picture all sorts happening in such a nightmarish setting. Michael Curtiz again puts his stamp upon "The Sea Wolf" with some of the best work of his career. There is some action but it is the suspense and the tension that makes this film stand out. One of the best films from 1941.

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . with Edgar G. Robinson totally credible as a tyrant suited to fit among Captain Bligh, Captain Ahab, and Captain Queeg on the Captain's Mount Rushmore. Robinson's Capt. Wolf Larsen of the GHOST embodies novelist Jack London's brooding intellectual slowly losing his faculties on the virtual pirate ship he runs. Larsen is a man who NEVER listens to the angels of his better nature; who never hesitates to carry out the sadistic commands of the Satan on his shoulder. He takes his motto from a line in John Milton's PARADISE LOST: "It's better to reign in Hell than to serve in Heaven." This film adaptation is well-plotted, nicely-paced, and superbly-cast. It is especially gratifying to see Barry Fitzgerald BEFORE he got religion. Playing Larsen's shipboard snitch "Cookie," Fitzgerald's cackling Iago is just as convincing here as his take on Bing Crosby's aging mentor priest would be a few years later in GOING MY WAY. Shadowy lawmen hound John Garfield's character onto Larsen's GHOST ship, just as real-life FBI tails running amok would hound him to death a few years later (yet another case of life imitating art).

Michael_Elliott Sea Wolf, The (1941) **** (out of 4) The never given his due Michael Curtiz directs this terrific adaptation of Jack London's story about a evil Captain (Edward G. Robinson) who meets his match with three new members aboard his ship. You've got a writer (Alexander Knox) and two fugitives (John Garfield, Ida Lupino) who start to see through the sadistic Captain. This is a terrific little adventure film from Warner that really packs a punch in various departments. Curtiz handles the story and action very well and it's rather amazing that to this day he's never really gotten the credit that he deserves. I think it's due to the fact that he was a director for hire but just look at how many great films he delivered in so many genres. The greatest thing in the film are the wonderful performances from the four leads as well as the supporting players including Barry Fitzgerald and Gene Lockhart. Robinson gives one of his greatest performances making you hate the Captain with a passion but at the same time feeling sorry for him. Garfield is very powerful in his role and Lupino is terrific as well.