I guess for you lubber types it's easy to get past the fact one
person is sailing and manning watches on a 100+ ft clipper ship, and
that the entire flik is lacking any actual working the ship underway
(yet the whole story is underway). That and the cheap stage prop of a
ship destroys the story for anyone with any nautical knowledge.


The Sea Wolf "prop" was a huge undertaking, built both for realism,
mood and functional interplay for specific camera work. I recall
reading that it took 70 or 80 people to build her. Curtiz chose to
make the Ghost into a "Ghost ship" by making an unrealistic choice in
keeping crew off the decks and shots. For many scenes he wanted the
Ghost to appear this way. This is discussed in his bio, The Casablanca
man. Of course it was well noted at the time for it's unique moody
approach to the tale. Curtiz knew what he was doing and understood the
focus on the story. He was an artist first and foremost and didn't
worry about how many folks might be on watch when it might compromise
his vision. The Sea Wolf remains one of Curtiz most beloved films and
only a simp would be watching for nautical errors in what is
essentiall a filmed play. You probably saw the colorized version since
B&W is not how we see the world and that's also very unrealistic!
Again, have someone read the book to you.


RB
35s5
NY