Le Loup des mers

Italian production of Jack London's well-known, often filmed tale. Gentleman is forced to work in a seal-hunt ship ruled by a tyrannical captain. Violence rules but soon he learns to interact with the captain, just to find a thinking (and ill) man. More violent than the other versions with an incoherent soundtrack from Guido and Maurizio De Angelis. But the story is strong and the film does offer some good moments, holding the interest along. Badman Chuck Connors does well in the title role although it was a too hard task: none could be better in Wolf Larsen's role than Edward G. Robinson who starred the 1941 Hollywoodian version, directed by Michael Curtiz.

Nice adaptation based on classical novel by Jack London dealing with a young man is taken aboard a seal-hunting vessel helmed by the cruel captain Wolf Larsen , a brutal sea captain of the Ghost who is really ruthless with his crew and it becomes more than they can tolerate . An Italian version with fine actors such as Chuck Connors , Barbara Bach , Rik Battaglia , Luciano Pigozzi , Roberto Dell'Acqua , Nello Pazzafini , Ivan Rassimov and Maurice Poli . Nice retelling about Jack London novel with enjoyable interpretations from protagonist quartet . Adapted for television in it's latest outing, from the original book written by the American journalist and author Jack London, including a good main cast and acceptable supporting roles . Jack London's adventure novel about a brutal captain named Wolf Larsen (chuck Connors) , his rebellious crew , some unexpected passengers and a young man who is taken aboard a seal-hunting vessel . Captain Larsen commands a surly ship of seal hunters through sheer ruthlessness and ego , being pursued by his brother called Death Larsen (Ivan Rassimov) who commands a ship named Macedonia . Bound for Japanese poaching grounds, 'Ghost' is captained by Wolf Larsen , who is a man not to be crossed, as he is as strong and tyrannical as he is cunning and rescues some castaways . It is the unlucky fate of Humphrey Van Weyden (Giuseppe Pambieri as Joseph Palmer) , that he should find himself on board the 'Ghost' and under the service of the Sea Wolf , Larsen . As the film narrates about a kidnapped young named Van Weyden and a beautiful girl (Barbara Bach) who is shipwrecked and picked up by a ship called ¨the Ghost¨ commanded by captain Larsen , a cruel but clever seaman reader of classic novels and prestigious authors . The shipwreck survivors , picked up by Larsen are forced into working aboard his ship , the aptly called Ghost . We follow Humphrey, as he enters the story and finds himself in service on board , after being abducted. The passengers convert themselves in accidental sailors confronting wits and taking on brutal crewmen (Nello Pazzafini , Renato Baldini , Rik Battaglia , among others) such as the violent cook Thomas Mugridge (Luciano Pigozzi or Alan Collins nicknamed the Italian Peter Lorre). The ruthless captain wants to test out his theories about survival of the fittest young . While Van Wyden is mistreated by sniveling cook , but also falls for Maud Brewster and tries to rally the shipmates into resisting the megalomaniac captain .

Yet another rendition of London 's classic battle of wills story . The picture is a passable adaptation of a famous novel by Jack London scripted by Marcello Ciorciolini screenplay . The Sea Wolf is an agreeable tale of life on the high seas, and in particular on board a sealing schooner named 'Ghost' . The film has an intelligent character study , reflecting on the various roles and stunningly playing the tale . Fine acting by all , thus , Chuck Connors as the personification of malevolent ego , he is an obstinate and brutal captain , obsessed to track down his brother . Joseph Palmer as his contender and with numerous wishes to escape is nice . Barbara Bach is attractive and enticing . Special mention to support cast , plenty of familiar faces of the Italian sub-genres . Filmed entirely shot on location , and using model scales and in tank studios , sets and pervasive fog machines . The flick will appeal to seafaring adventure genre enthusiasts . The picture displays a strange and inappropriate musical score -though enjoyable- by Guido and Maurizio De Angelis , Spaghetti Western's usual . Colorful and evocative cinematography by Sergio Rubini . This film was professionally directed by Giuseppe Vari or Joseph Warren or Joseph Green (1916-1993) . Rating : 6 ; well worthwhile seeing . Vari was a craftsman who directed all kinds of genres such as Sci-Fi : Urban Warriors , Wartime : Raiders of the Bloody Beach , Adventure : Legend of the Sea Wolf , Nunexploitation : Sor Emmanuelle , Cloak and Sandals : Revenge of the Barbarians , Rome versus Rome , Conquest of the Normans , and specially Spaghetti such as 1971 Il Tredicesimo è Sempre Giuda , 1969 Un Posto all'inferno , 1968 Un Buco in Fronte , 1967 Con Lui Cavalca la Morte , 1967 Un poker Di Pistole , 1967 The last gunfighter , 1966 Deguello and Last Traitor.

¨Wolf Larsen¨ novel was previously filmed several times as ¨Barracuda¨ and ¨Wolf Larsen¨(1958) by Harmon Jones with Barry Sullivan , Peter Graves , Gita Hall , Thayer David and as TV movie by Michael Anderson with Charles Bronson , Christopher Reeve and Catherine Mary Stewart . Furthermore ,"Der Seewolf" (1971) with Raimund Harmstorf , ¨Der Seewolf¨ (2008) (TV) with Thomas Kretschmann as Wolf Larssen and "Sea Wolf" (2009) TV miniseries by Mike Barber with Sebastian Koch , Tim Roth , Stephen Campbell Moore , Neve Campbell and Andrew Jackson . The black and white classic version novel is the best and was directed by Michael Curtiz in 1941 with Edward G. Robinson (Larsen), Alexander Knox , Ida Lupino and John Garfield .

It is inevitable and interesting to compare this screen rendering of what is often considered Jack London's greatest novel with the version 40 years earlier with Edward G. Robinson in the title role, directed by Michael Curtiz. That was of course a much better film, but some credits are due also here. This is simply an Italian take on Jack London, and you must pardon the Italians for framing the great novel after their own minds. Chuck Connors is actually more convincing as Wolf-Larsen than Robinson, who was a great actor but a small man without the enormous physical superiority which characterizes Wolf-Larsen. Chuck Connors shows off all the brutal strength and imposing bulk of brutish force which Robinson did not quite exhibit, being smaller than all his crew. This film also sticks more closely to the book, although much abbreviated, while the Robinson version had many diversions, mainly because of the chief character not being Alexander Knox as Humphrey van Meyden but John Garfield as George Leach, one of the seamen. On the other hand, you miss Ida Lupino here, who played a much greater role in the Robinson version, while here Barbara Bach does not appear (like in the book) until half the show is over. There are a lot more tempests and hard labour against the sea here than in Curtiz' film, so the films are very different but compliment each other, as both are complimentary enough at least to Jack London.

Ok. So this appears to have been a VERY low budget production of a GREAT book. Even with the poor production (bad editing, directing, dubbing, etc.), it still begins to draw the viewer in after the first 30 minutes or so. After that, the story becomes so interesting and engaging, that the flaws don't matter as much. We just have to know what's going on and what's going to happen next!

Chuck Conner is one of my childhood heroes as The Rifleman. It's really hard to see him in anything else. It doesn't help that he hasn't done much else nearly as great as The Rifleman. His performance here as a ruthless ship captain is pretty convincing but I can't help but believe that if it had been a better director with a better production, he really could have delivered a much stronger performance. As it is though, the film is better (In my opinion) than the rating here on IMDB suggests. One just has to look past the detracting production value and let the story do the driving.

It may have been even more enjoyable had I read the book but alas... Maybe if I find it in the bargain bin of my local used book store, I'll pick it up.

Over all not a bad film by any means, especially if you can grant it some forgiveness in the technical realm.