Barricada

Jack London's The Sea Wolf does not stand the voyage to the American west all that well in Barricade. Raymond Massey is in the lead and is no longer a sea captain but a mine owner and one cruel and sadistic man in the tradition of Wolf Larsen. Out in the middle of the desert no one is any more in a position to leave than they would be if they were on a ship at sea.

The themes that London tells in his story are just so watered down in this version. The players do well, but the watered down themes also water down the performances. Raymond Massey would have made a great Wolf Larsen in a straight version of The Sea Wolf, too bad he's stuck here.

The biggest change is to the roles that John Garfield and Ida Lupino played in The Sea Wolf. The two runaways from the criminal justice system would not remotely contemplate what they say they will do in Barricade. Robert Douglas for once is a good guy in the part that Alexander Knox did in The Sea Wolf. But as a lawyer instead of an existential writer again the part loses something.

What Barricade is in the end is a great action western and those who like action westerns will like Barricade. But if you are expecting Jack London, Jack didn't make the trip west.

An anti tyranny allegory from a Jack London novel by way of Bill Sackheim and all wrapped up in a western. Don't know 'bout you but that's not how I like my political allegories. Or my westerns, come to think of it. Makes for some heavy, stiff passages with lots of Shakespeare quoting, Wise Sayings ("Some men can't live without integrity") and cardboard characters who are either pure or pure evil. Still, there are a couple things that elevate this film a bit above the mediocrity line, chief among them Raymond Massey's fine performance as a power mad, sadistic psycho, kind of a combination Macbeth and Hitler (he's given a German last name). Indeed, Massey is such a good bad guy that I'm surprised he didn't do more of these villainous turns instead of the faintly dull Doc Gillespie/Abe Lincoln stuff. Give it a generous C plus, mostly for Massie.

Bob Peters (Dane Clark) is hiding from the law. He would rather keep moving but he's offered a job with mining Boss Kruger (Raymond Massey). He finds the job worst than expected and Kruger a ruthless tyrant. Escaped prisoner Judith Burns (Ruth Roman) arrives in town and makes a run for it on a runaway stage coach. She crashes and recuperates at the mine.

This is apparently adapted from the Jack London novel "The Sea Wolf". This is an interesting western. Raymond Massey is a great actor although I would like him to be scarier. It's interesting to take the point of view from folks on the run from the law. There are some fair action and some less impressive action. It's interesting.

This is in fact an unusual Western for its time, or for that matter, any other. I have to give the makers high marks for original thinking and a certain audacity for transplanting the 1941 film version of Jack London's famous story from its original salty environs to the bleak Southwestern desert, in this often scene-for-scene remake.

Instead of a seal-hunting ship crewed by the scum of the sea, this time the action takes place at a mine worked by outcasts and fugitives from the law, kept in line by the brutal discipline of the owner, thoroughly detestable "Boss" Kruger (Raymond Massey) and his henchmen. All the characters from the 1941 movie are here, with minor changes, even down to the disgraced alcoholic judge who fills the same role as the ship's doctor in the previous film.

There are some worthwhile things about this version, including the Technicolor desert scenery and performances which range from at least adequate to quite good. But any viewer who's familiar with 1941's "The Sea Wolf" will find themselves making unfavorable comparisons. The director, while certainly competent, is no Michael Curtiz, and Dane Clark and Raymond Massey -- although fine actors in their own right -- just aren't a John Garfield and Edward G. Robinson. Clark lacks Garfield's raw presence,and Massey never displayed the kind of edge Robinson could bring to a dramatic role.

However, Ruth Roman is a fairly passable substitute for Ida Lupino. Robert Douglas ("The Fountainhead", "King Richard and the Crusaders", "The Prisoner of Zenda") gets a rare break from his typical personification of a slimy, aristocratic villain when he recreates Alexander Knox's character from the 1941 film, but the script never allows him to develop the more complex relationship with Kruger that his counterpart had with "Wolf" Larsen.

Which I think gets to the heart of what went wrong here: Despite its 77-minute running time, "Barricade" is nonetheless rather slow-paced and talky for a Western. But compared to "The Sea Wolf" -- which clocked in at 90 minutes, not a one of them wasted -- the characters aren't given enough time to become fully fleshed-out. Particularly Kruger, who as a petty Lucifer ruling his own private Hell should have a certain shabby yet tragic magnificence to counterpoint his ruthless thuggery.

I still recommend "Barricade" as worth a viewing, even if this abbreviated remake doesn't quite measure up to the original.

Loosely based on jack london's story sea wolf, another man versus nature... or in this case... man versus large figure in charge. When judith (ruth roman) and her new friend milburn (robert douglas) show up at a gold miner's camp , the foreman (ray massey, in a rare, regular guy role! ) gives them temporary work. But things are a bit off ... everyone is afraid of the foreman, who runs a tight ship, and things go off the rails fast. When a crooked judge dies, they realize they can't go along with the way things are in town. The corrupt foreman is a viscious killer and doesn't care who gets in the way. Then nature intervenes. Like it always does in a london or hemingway story. Directed by peter godfrey, for warner brothers. Filmed at vasquez rocks and griffith park. It's pretty good. Not sure what the lesson is, but nature always seems to play a role.