The broken oar and the gear of foreign dead men

[sovay]

So I feel like I owe writeups of several things, including Readercon and the movie I saw last night, but what you're getting right now is a list of different movies altogether. Over dinner tonight, derspatchel and I were pipe-dreaming the program for a festival of maritime film. (I don't even remember. I think we were talking about John Ford.) Inevitably, it's kind of a list of our favorites. So far we agree on—

Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), dir. Frank Lloyd

Captain Blood (1935), dir. Michael Curtiz

Captains Courageous (1937), dir. Victor Fleming¹

The Long Voyage Home (1940), dir. John Ford

The Cruel Sea (1953), dir. Charles Frend

The Caine Mutiny (1954), dir. Edward Dmytryk

Moby Dick (1956), dir. John Huston

The Secret of Roan Inish (1994), dir. John Sayles

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), dir. Gore Verbinski²

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), dir. Peter Weir

We very regretfully did not include either 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) or Treasure Island (1950), although James Mason and Robert Newton are deservedly classic and inimitable in each.³ I am uncertain whether A Night to Remember (1958) counts as maritime film or just a disaster movie that occurs aboard a ship, albeit a wrenching and excellent example of the form. (You will notice Cameron's Titanic (1997) is not on this list.) I am also not sure I can count Splash (1984), formative sea-movie of mine though it is, and I know I can't count Pacific Rim (2013), although somehow it feels like one should. There are no documentaries; there should be some. Some more recent films couldn't hurt. And something non-American. Also it has not escaped my notice that this list of directors is kind of a dickfest and I cannot believe women never make movies about the sea. Tell me what we're missing!

1. If, as my husband stipulates, the audience remembers that the very last lines are terrible.

2. The first movie remains the best example of swashbuckling I have seen since Errol Flynn. I love so much about the second and third, but they are so wildly inconsistent I cannot in good conscience include them. Davy Jones and the Flying Dutchman and Calypso/Tia Dalma: fantastic. Elizabeth Swann coming into her piracy: could've used more, but that's why we have fanfic. The cannibal island and whatever the hell was going on with Singapore: naaarp.

3. Newton's Long John Silver is extremely imitable, but that is part of his glory.

Comments

[larryhammer]

Kon-Tiki (the original 1951 documentary, not the 2012 movie).

---L.

[sovay]

Kon-Tiki (the original 1951 documentary, not the 2012 movie).

Thank you! I have not seen that.

[moon-custafer.livejournal.com]

Mr. & Mrs. Brian Norris' Ford Popular (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgHsCyWkB5g)

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Hmm. The long-drowned patriot in me wants to advocate for In Which We Serve, and also for The Yangtze Incident (possibly the first movie I went to see without either parent in tow; it was a birthday treat, in a bizarre double bill with one of the St Trinians movies, and I forgot my then-very-new glasses and had to watch the whole of the first film in a blur, until my dad came hurrying down the aisle with my specs and Alistair Sym leaped suddenly into focus). The first of course is about a ship being sunk, and the second is about a ship being stranded mid-river and having to retreat: both continuing that splendid British tradition of finding triumph in defeat.

I might also want to make a case for The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou or possibly The Boat That Rocked, just because frankly this list could use a giggle.

[sovay]

in a bizarre double bill with one of the St Trinians movies, and I forgot my then-very-new glasses and had to watch the whole of the first film in a blur, until my dad came hurrying down the aisle with my specs and Alistair Sym leaped suddenly into focus)

I can see that being very unsettling if you weren't prepared for it. I say this as someone who grew up on Scrooge (1951).

The first of course is about a ship being sunk, and the second is about a ship being stranded mid-river and having to retreat: both continuing that splendid British tradition of finding triumph in defeat.

Heh. I've seen the first, but not the second. Oh, hey, I could have included We Dive at Dawn (1943). Except I really like about the first three-quarters of that movie, and then it turns into an action flick and that's a lot less interesting. I love Eric Portman in it, though.

[edited for tangent] Have you seen The Battle of the River Plate (1956)? It's one of the few by Powell and Pressburger I haven't. Speaking of the Archers, I'm not sure The Silver Fleet (1943) is maritime enough, but I loved it.

I might also want to make a case for The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou or possibly The Boat That Rocked, just because frankly this list could use a giggle.

Go for it! So The Boat That Rocked was good? It had a fantastic cast, but it played here for approximately a weekend and I couldn't tell from the reviews.

I actually consider The Long Voyage Home a comfort movie, but I recognize that I may be the only person who feels that way about it, including Eugene O'Neill and he wrote it.

[fidelioscabinet.livejournal.com]

I don't know if Das Boot fits your criteria well, although it has some astonishingly beautiful sea photography.

[sovay]

I don't know if Das Boot fits your criteria well, although it has some astonishingly beautiful sea photography.

Absolutely fits: I've just never seen it. Thank you!

[rosefox]

We very regretfully did not include either 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)

But... but... Peter Lorre!

[sovay]

But... but... Peter Lorre!

. . . okay. For Peter Lorre.

(My primary feelings for that film are founded on James Mason and the Nautilus. When I try to recollect most of the movie plot beyond the giant squid and the nuclear finale, I come up with a lot of eh.)

[gwynnega]

Alas, I don't think Outward Bound (1930) would fit, but it's what springs to my mind, since it features Leslie Howard and is fairly awesome.

[sovay]

Alas, I don't think Outward Bound (1930) would fit, but it's what springs to my mind, since it features Leslie Howard and is fairly awesome.

And it's a Leslie Howard I haven't seen, which makes me especially curious. Is the sea thematically important to it, or just part of the setting?

[rosefox]

I was going to try to make more suggestions but then I got stuck thinking of a nautical-themed pashmina afghan and that's it for tonight.

[sovay]

but then I got stuck thinking of a nautical-themed pashmina afghan and that's it for tonight.

There are ways in which, if you have only ever seen Andy Samberg in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, this video is deeply confusing. And then there are ways in which it is probably more or less the way Jake Perralta would behave if given the chance at a cruise ship.

Also, mermaid.

Wow.

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

Man of Aran?

Nine

[sovay]

Man of Aran?

I've never seen it! Or The Edge of the World (1937). Good call.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

In Which We Serve (1942) Coward/Lean

[sovay]

In Which We Serve (1942) Coward/Lean

Thanks! I have seen that one, but not in years (it was before I started noticing John Mills). It may have been mentally edged out by The Cruel Sea.

[captainecchi.livejournal.com]

Have you seen The Sea Hawk? It's my preferred Errol Flynn pirate film, although parts of it are incomparably cheesy.

[sovay]

Have you seen The Sea Hawk?

I saw it on a big screen once! As I understand it has pretty much nothing to do with Sabatini's original plot, but it's fantastically swashbuckling all the same.

[cucumberseed.livejournal.com]

Leviathan (2012)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2332522/?ref_=nv_sr_2

Run, don't walk.

I suppose the 1989 Peter Weller starring one might work, too, though that's more cheese-horror.

[sovay]

Leviathan (2012)

Right; that sounds amazing. Thank you!

[seajules]

I feel like you really can't have a proper maritime film festival without some version of Treasure Island. I also feel like some animation would be good; perhaps Ponyo? Though I'm blanking on what English-language animation might suit.

I am reminded that I've been meaning to ask you if you've ever seen Ondine or any episodes of LXD, in particular the shipboard episode or the mermaid episode. They all have great dancing, but I think you'd very much love the mythos of those two.

[sovay]

I am reminded that I've been meaning to ask you if you've ever seen Ondine or any episodes of LXD, in particular the shipboard episode or the mermaid episode.

I have seen and love Ondine (I think the last third is weaker than the first two, but it has the right ending); I've never heard of LXD. Mermaid episode?

[rydra_wong]

(Over here having searched to confirm my recollection that you like things piratical …)

Have you seen Black Sails? (Which is among many other things a Treasure Island prequel.)

I am currently mainlining it, having just finished S3. It's flawed and messy and has some stuff in early eps that some people reasonably bounce hard off, but: pirate show with canon queer and poly representation all over it (at least four canonically queer lead characters), anti-imperialist revolution, some excellent female characters, soaked in meta about narrative and story-telling, and with Toby Stephens knocking it out of the park in the lead. Worth attention, I think.

selenak: Black Sails: Why Everyone Should Watch It! (from early 2015)

Spoils the Big Backstory Reveal of mid-season 2, but I think it's very worth being spoiled for because it's such an important and telling point in the show’s favour that it went there (to the accompaniment of the sound of dudebros howling in betrayal and the cast flipping them off on Twitter). And also it means you can appreciate some things that’d otherwise only make sense on a rewatch.

[sovay]

Have you seen Black Sails? (Which is among many other things a Treasure Island prequel.)

I have not, and thank you for the recommendation! Narratives with ordinary bisexuality and prominent non-romantic relationships are attractive to me, in addition to the Age of Sail.

(For future reference, while I appreciate the heads-up, I very rarely care about spoilers. I try to remember to take some care with them in my own writing, because so many people I know do care, but otherwise my position remains as stated here.)

How does the third season hold up?