Ghosts of Cape Horn

"Ghosts of Cape Horn" is a sombre, informative documentary film about the sailing ships of the latter part of the 19th century, which made the hazardous 18,000-mile journey around the southern tip of South America in the New York to San Francisco trade route. Aimed primarily at television usage, film will also hold interest in the non-theatrical market for nautical and historical societies.

Using a compilation of sailing footage shot in the 1920s (most of it rare, never known before publicly), and still photos and newly-shot live action material, director Keith Critchlow (co-helmer of 1976 docu "The California Reich") adopts a sober, almost aloof approach to his subject matter. Though many authorities were consulted, there are no on-screen voices or points-of-view present, with exposition written by Peter Brosnan and Peter Stanford (president of the National Maritime Historical Society) ably voiced-over by Jason Robards. The visuals provide the human connection, as stills of weather-beaten seafaring folk and priceless '20s scenes of men working on deck allow the viewer to conjure up his own image of those departed romantic figures.

New scenes shot in Maine show the graves of the new England seamen (many headstones with no coffins -as ships were lost with "all hands") and the young men who still preserve the craftsmanship taught by shipbuilders, long after the railroad and other modern technology doomed the sailing ship. The loss of the "St. Mary" (captained by its part-owner Jesse T. Carver) on its maiden voyage around the Cape is reenacted with a combination of new and old footage.

The remains of wrecked ships are viewed in the Falkland Islands, whose folk today bear an uncanny kinship to the inhabitants of the coast of Scotland (ditto for respective lands). Throckmorton, curator-at-large of the NMHS, is shown in Port Francis making molds from derelict ship hulls in his effort to preserve this heritage.

The film's power comes mainly from the high-quality old footage, most of it contributed by Alan Villiers and Captain Irving Johnson. Sound design by Jerry Ross is most effective, avoiding the hokey effect of tracks added to silent comedies by subtly injecting noises and murmured voices which make '20s film material seem like direct-sound footage.

Soundtrack ballads, a title song by Gordon Lightfoot and Lika Gilkyson's "Song of the Sea" are not only appropriately atmospheric but rank among the best film vocals of the year. Eddie Kalehoff's background score is good. Avoiding sensationalism and over-sentimentalizing, Critchlow ends his admirable film on a serious, "Earth abides" note.

My review was written in December 1980 after a Manhattan screening.