"Captain Salvation" (1927) stars Lars Hanson, Pauline Starke, Marceline Day, Ernest Torrence, and a host of fine silent character actors known well in the day, such as George Fawcett, Sam de Grasse, Flora Finch, Eugenie Besserer, and James Marcus. A seminary student - one who ardently loves the sea and ships - returns to a small town near Boston in 1840 where it is presumed that he'll soon take over the pulpit from his uncle. A ship comes into near harbor during a nor'-easter and a very bedraggled, sick, and possibly injured prostitute, Pauline Starke, is taken off of the boat and brought into the village. Here the young man of the cloth, Hanson, befriends and helps her recover, leading to what nearly looks like proclaimed damnation from the other citizens, including his fiancé, Marceline Day. Because of all this, he is later driven to take Starke to a waiting ship in harbor, where the captain, Torrence, says the ship is going to "Rio". It's not. It's a convict ship going to the far southern hemisphere where the convicts will be used in salt mines. The captain plans to "use" Starke. Hanson decides to stay on the ship to make sure she's all right. Of course she's not. The show proceeds from here, and we see many consequences of faith and lack of faith, retribution, good versus evil, and so forth.
Extremely well done, though admittedly more a potboiler than a great parable. Still, Pauline Starke shows what a great actress she was. Torrence as the evil captain shows his chops as he did in every film he ever made. Lars Hanson does a very creditable job as the young sailor/seminary student/preacher. It is often said he rather over acts in this film, and though their are definite flashes of over-melodramatic moments on his part, he nevertheless carries off the part remarkably well. Those particular moments are moments of temporary madness, and they probably aren't far off the genuine mark.
Superb direction by John S. Robertson, topping his superb direction in the silent classic "Dr. Jekell and Mr. Hyde" (1920), starring John Barrymore. Photography by William Daniels is equally good. Recommended highly. This is the Warner Archive release on DVD, and though it has grainy moments and several artifacts at different moments, is still very watchable and enjoyable. Philip Carli's accompanying music is quite apt and most enjoyable.
I recently watched "The Viking" (1928) and was especially impressed by Pauline Starke's performance. She seems to have had a large reservoir of talent; most of her films, beginning with 1916's "Intolerance", were silent, and many are lost. Too bad, because she seems to have had the acting talent to rank her with the best of them who are recalled today from the silent era.
