A Rivetting Sea Saga

Just finished watching a recording I made of "The Sea Wolf" from TCM earlier this week. I'd heard of the title but had never read the original story. It's a compelling and rivetting tale of the sea, depicting the cruise of a motley band of society castoffs on the creaky, wind-dependent, old schooner, the "Ghost", and its mysterious captain, Wolf Larsen, undoubtedly one of the great figures of literature. He's both despicable and sympathetic at the same time, especially as certain aspects of his personality are revealed gradually throughout the film. By the end of the movie, one can't help but feel genuinely sorry for the man, although it's impossible for the viewer to forget the hell he put everyone on board the "Ghost" through, prior to his own demise. I'm tempted to place this movie version of "The Sea Wolf" in the category of one of the great adventure films, up there with "Mutiny on the Bounty", "Treasure Island", "Bridge on the River Kwai", and many others, in terms of the truly absorbing story it tells, the kind of film that you get so caught up in, you simply have to see it through to the end. My only reservation about placing "The Sea Wolf" in "The Great Adventure Films" category, though, is that, despite the gripping narrative it tells, with intriguing and unpredictable characters, there's not a whole lot of real action or adventure in it, per se. In fact, although it didn't occur to me until after I'd finished watching it, the movie, as good and well-made as it is, nevertheless is rather talky in nature, a feature that may make it difficult for the younger, more modern audiences of today, to sit still for. To them, it might come off as dated and rather dull--and, of course, the fact that "Wolf's" in "Dark Age" black & white, probably gives it the death knell! None of this bothered me(I'm 53), but I'm not sure the film could completely qualify as a truly great adventure film, although it certainly is a great story, with a brooding atmosphere and fine performances, especially that of Edward G. Robinson, who is totally believable and fascinating as Larsen. Although I wasn't bored for a moment, it does have a static and stagey quality to it at times, but, after all, virtually the entire story is set on board a ship at sea! By the way, for those who are interested, there's a 1958 movie version of London's story, too, called "Wolf Larsen", starring Barry Sullivan as the sadistic captain of the "Ghost", and Peter Graves, later of "Mission: Impossible" TV fame as, probably, Leach. It's been well over 20 years since I last saw it, when it aired occasionally on some obscure cable channel of long ago. There's a 1975 movie version, also, with TV's "Rifleman" star, Chuck Connors, as Larsen, which I have no recollection of ever seeing.