"Down To The Sea In Ships", directed by Herr Elmer Clifton, is a film about whales and Quakers, very complicated and strange subjects to understand, those particular Amerikan subjects, for a German aristocrat, but in spite of those local subjects, the film is an evocative sailor-fashion film even for an earthly German count.
The film tells the story of a small and conservative Quaker community that lives only for whales; in the town lives a strict Quaker, William Walcott ( Charles W. Morgan ) who lost a son in a shipwreck involving, obviously
, hunting a whale; Herr Walcott has a daughter too, Patience ( Marguerite Courtot ) who must resolve her patience in order to bear such an unbearable father, a father who thinks, besides other whaling matters, that a whaleman's daughter must be none but a whaleman's wife. Dame Patience is wooed by the evil Samuel Siggs ( Herr Jack Baston ) who wants to marry her so that our heroine will lose her patience as well as her father's money, but fortunately Patience's childhood friend, Allan Dexter ( Herr Raymond McKee ) arrives to conservative Quaker town and falls in love with her; but he will not deserve Patience's love, her father says, unless he has thrown a harpoon into a whale, so, there poor Allan goes, down to the sea looking for a whale for his Patience.
Despite Dame Marguerite Courtot's ridiculous and antiquated ( even for that time ) performance, the actors play their roles convincingly, not to mention that even a young Dame Clara Bow is in the film playing "Dot" Morgan; besides, the most remarkable fact about "Down To The Sea In Ships" is that it is an excellent and evocative film about old whaling ships and times, including many literary reminiscences from Herman Melville ( quoted many times in the film ) or Joseph Conrad, remarkable saltpetre memories filmed in beautiful scenery thanks to the excellent cinematography by Herr Paul H. Allen and Herr A. G. Penrod; the film also includes interesting sequences ( almost a short documentary ) about hunting whales and how to carve them properly.
The conservative and close Quaker atmosphere is contrasted in the film with the freedom and fresh air that whaling ships need, the pious Quaker ceremonies versus the whaling ships' lawless crews; thanks to Herr Elmer Clifton's skills depicting those contrasts, "Down To The Sea In Ships" is a very well paced and remarkable sailor-fashioned film.
And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count when speaking about hunting whales, remembered his particular fat German heiresses.
Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien http://ferdinandvongalitzien.blogspot.com/
