The Sea Wolf

The Sea Wolf is a 1941 American adventure drama film adaptation of Jack London's 1904 novel The Sea-Wolf with Edward G. Robinson, Ida Lupino, John Garfield, and Alexander Knox. The film was written by Robert Rossen and directed by Michael Curtiz. The film was first premiered onboard the S.S. America. Later it was screened at the 9th annual Turner Classic Movies Film Festival on April 26, 2018 in Los Angeles. The version of the film screened was the original theatrical cut that was reassembled after 35mm nitrate elements were discovered at the Museum of Modern Art. It included thirteen minutes of footage that were cut from the film in 1947 when it was re-released as a double-feature with the 1940 Errol Flynn vehicle of the same name. The original cut of the film, digitally remastered and restored, was released through Warner Brothers' Archive Collection on DVD and Blu-ray on October 10, 2017. Plot Refined and literate fiction writer Humphrey Van Weyden (Alexander Knox) and escaped convict Ruth Webster (Ida Lupino) are passengers on a ferry that collides with another vessel and sinks. They are rescued from drowning by the Ghost, a seal-hunting ship. At the helm is the Ghost's captain, Wolf Larsen (Edward G. Robinson), a brutal sadist who delights in dominating and abusing his crew. Larsen is very well read and impressively self-educated, but crude and brutish in his personal inclinations. He refuses to return to port early and forces Van Weyden to work in the kitchen under the supervision of the treacherous and greedy ship's cook. He also compels Van Weyden to spend time alone with him in his cabin, where the two discuss philosophy and the nature of humanity. Larsen asserts the Nietzschean proposition that man is essentially an amoral animal, and that morality is a construct that has no bearing on life onboard his ship. He predicts that Van Weyden's character will change as he accustoms himself to the uncivilized life among the crew, where no one has any value higher than his own personal gain.