Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

BeSummers Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

MartinHafer "The Sea Lion" is a watchable silent film, but it also suffers from the most ridiculous series of coincidences that it prevents the viewer from ever taking the film seriously. The film begins with a sea captain learning that his wife has abandoned him with her lover. As a result, he became a vicious brute--and took all his anger out on his crew. Later in the film, the ship discovers an island in the middle of no where. And, on a planet over 24,000 miles in circumference, this tiny speck of an island has two shipwrecked folks--one of which is his wife's child who was born after she left him!! Talk about ridiculous! And, when he learns that his wife died after giving birth to the kid, he makes it his life's work to make the teenager miserable. However, there are a few surprises that shake his world.As I said above, the film is absolutely silly with coincidences. However, the acting and direction are pretty good--and worth seeing if you are a huge fan of silents. Otherwise, there are definitely better films out there you should see first.

robinakaaly A Pacific drama of the Blue Lagoon school, the story is no more far fetched than most, and the acting style has to be seen in the context of what was expected at the time, not least in terms of helping the audience understand the plot. The use of flash-back was well handled, and one or two shots were technically brilliant, like the vertiginous view down to the ship's deck from the crow's nest. Some of the sea-going sequences were could induce mal-de-mer, and gave a realistic impression of sailing ships of the time, and the hardy life of whalers. The story itself is many stranded and generally well handled, with some decent performances from the principals, despite excessive religiosity towards the end. A sea-brother to Captain Ahab runs his ship with an iron fist. A sailor looking forward to seeing his baby reminds the captain of his own unhappy past when his wife deserted him for another man. Back in Frisco the ne'er-do-well son a wealthy man is disowned by his father, who has had to pay off a gold-digger of a fiancée (after some interesting high-life scenes). Out to prove himself, the son signs on the whaler, where he learns the meaning of hard and dangerous work. Becalmed, the ship runs short of water, and the sailors mutiny when the captain takes more than his share. However, the son rescues him, but is hardly thanked for his pains. They sight an island inhabited by a shipwrecked sailor and a sixteen year old girl, whose mother survived the wreck, gave birth then subsequently died. The captain takes on these passengers, provided they work their passage. When he discovers that the girl's mother was his wife, he takes against her assuming her father to be the other man. He is about to beat her again when a whale is sighted, and a boat lowered. To protect her, the girl is hidden in the boat, but the captain sees this, and when a storm comes up, he leaves the boat and its crew to their fate. Back in his cabin he discovers the girl's Bible in which her mother had written her story. It appeared that when he husband went to sea, she was expecting. A former suitor, and another sailor, abducts her, leaving her rejection letter to him to be found by her husband and misinterpreted. Realising the error of his ways, and full of repentance, the captain returns to look for the boat and finds it dashed on rocks with everybody in the water. He swims out to rescue them, explaining that he now knows the truth. At this point it is unclear whether the ne'er-do-well, who tries to protect the girl, drowns or not. Otherwise, there is a generally Happy Ending as the ship sails back to Frisco, probably without a full cargo of blubber.Bessie Love (1898 - 1986), who played the girl, had 142 titles to her credit. Her penultimate film was the 1981 film about John Reed and the Russian Revolution, Reds.The real name of the Sea Lion is not given, though her wheel was made in London.

wes-connors Brutish whale-hunting Hobart Bosworth (as John Nelson) is no favorite on the docks of San Francisco. The feared taskmaster captain of "The Lair" runs a tight ship, and has trouble finding men to fill a crew. Overhearing two mates discuss impending fatherhood causes Bosworth to recall when he and his wife "Dolly May" were expecting their baby… and, we "flashback" twenty years, for a bitter recollection… Bosworth returns from seafaring, with a cradle built for baby, and discovers his wife's note: "Please forget me. I have found the man I really love. Dolly." So, now we know why Bosworth's a brute...What isn't explained is how he knows he couldn't be the baby's father. Another sloppy plot development is the changing of the "flashback" incident, later in the picture, from twenty to sixteen years ago; either Bosworth has poor recall or someone decided to make the daughter, when she finally appears as an adult, younger. While Mr. Bosworth frightens away potential sailors, young wastrel Emory Johnson (as Tom Walton) is thrown off his estate, after his father pays off a gold-digging girlfriend.With nowhere to turn, Mr. Johnson joins Bosworth's crew, where "The Sea Lion" bullies him unmercifully. Hoping to find drinking water, the ship approaches an uncharted island. There, they find fetching young Bessie Love (as Blossom) and wizened guardian Richard Morris (as "Uncle" Billy), survivors of a sixteen-year-old shipwreck. Johnson finds Ms. Love attractive; he tries to help her avoid Bosworth, who thinks she is the daughter of his wife and her lover - but, Bosworth may not know the whole true story… This was the last of stage veteran Bosworth's self-produced vehicles, and was definitely representative of his "silent film"-era starring roles. There was more variety in the actor's abilities, but Bosworth was most frequently seen as a snarling seafarer. Around this picture's release, he was winding down from a resurgence of popularity begun with a "comeback" appearance in "Behind the Door" (1919). In spite of chronic health problems, Bosworth sailed on into the 1940s, becoming an effective sound era character actor.***** The Sea Lion (12/5/21) Rowland V. Lee ~ Hobart Bosworth, Bessie Love, Emory Johnson, Richard Morris

classicsoncall The movie's title comes from the nickname of the captain of 'The Lair', John Nelson (Hobart Bosworth) - 'recognizing work as the only creed and brute strength as the one law'. Nelson's bitter nature dates back two decades from the time his wife left him for another man. In a parallel coincidence, businessman Tom Walton (Emory Johnson) signs up for a voyage on The Lair after being spurned by his fiancée. Once at sea, Walton befriends Nelson after the crew attempts to mutiny, though they were provoked by Nelson's hoarding the ship's drinking water for himself.Landing on an uncharted island, Walton discovers the two lone survivors of a shipwreck some sixteen years earlier. The young Blossom (Bessie Love) was born on the island and raised by her adopted 'Uncle Billy' (Richard Morris) after her mother died during childbirth. Once it's revealed that Blossom recalls her mother's name being Nelson as well, the pieces fall into place for the old Sea Lion. He discovers a Bible diary and learns that his wife was shanghaied away from him, a farewell note manufactured to make it seem that the captain's wife ran away from him. With feelings of remorse, Nelson reunites with the long lost daughter he never knew he had.The movie comes in at just over an hour, and despite the odds defying circumstances of the story, it's one that keeps your interest. One minor downside is the dark rendition of the print, there's a portion of one scene that almost goes entirely black. Considering that it was made eighty five years ago, it's a small inconvenience to observe in a relic dating so far back. A silent from 1921, it's not the kind of movie you'll find on the rack of your local video store or by cruising the cable channels. However if you keep your eyes peeled, you might find it as I did as part of a ten movie 'Pirates' themed set on three DVD's released by St. Clair Vision. The set contains mostly titles you never heard of before, but uniquely offers some early screen appearances by future stars like Errol Flynn, Bela Lugosi, and Lon Chaney Jr. For silent film buffs, there's another entry in the collection titled "The Black Pirate" from 1926, starring an athletic Douglas Fairbanks.