Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

hyped garbage

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Hobart Bosworth was an interesting person. A traveler, adventurer, boxer, actor, sailor. He purportedly went to California at doctor's request for his health around 1908. In California Bosworth was amongst the earliest of stage actors to make movies in California becoming writer, director, actor, producer. Around 1913 Bosworth, already a movie veteran, formed his own production company ultimately producing a 1914 version of "The Sea Wolf". The Sea Lion is a 1921 adventure. The kind that Bosworthh liked to make. It is directed by Rowland Lee. Bosworth leads the cast in "The Sea Lion" in a yarn of a cuckold sailor who after 18 years is reunited with his daughter, played by Bessie Love. The print of this film is awful. The movie, is now in the public domain. Judging by the quality of the film it looks like a 6th generation print of a copy of a copy. It's hard to follow this movie because you can't read the intertitles at times or follow the action. Second and third viewings are almost mandatory to experience what the filmmakers are showing. Even in a messy print the story matter is exciting and one full of adventure. Hopefully a better print surfaces. dir. Rowland V. Lee, Bosworth Prods.

Brisk little tale about a brutal sea captain (Hobart Bosworth) nicknamed "the Sea Lion" and the fateful voyage that involves mutiny and the depletion of their water supply.We're told in flashback that Bosworth was once a jolly fellow, eagerly anticipating his return from sea to his wife and new baby. But when he arrives home, the wife and baby are gone. She's run off with another man. Nearly 20 years later, he holds the bitterness like a shield as he goes about his job.On the current voyage, a first-time seaman (Emory Johnson) is escaping his family and is the butt of all jokes on board. But after months at sea, the water runs out and the crew mutinies while Johnson is atop the crow's nest. He helps the captain quell the riot and is made first mate. Soon thereafter they spot an island and head for it.On the island they find some people who were shipwrecked 16 years before. The young girl named Blossom (Bessie Love) is the daughter of a white woman who died on the island after the shipwreck. back on board, while Johnson and Love fall in love, Bosworth's hatred flairs when he learns that Love is the daughter of his runaway wife. But who was the father? Bosworth is solid as the brutal captain, and Love and Johnson make their stock characters interesting. The scenes at sea are surprisingly authentic and add immensely to this simple story of love and hate and redemption.My copy has an excellent and rousing piano score. Worth a look.

Sea Lion, The (1921) ** (out of 4) A bitter sea captain (Hobart Bosworth) does everything he can to be mean to people due to his wife leaving him out of no where sixteen years earlier. On one voyage they happen across a man and a young girl who have been shipwrecked on an island for sixteen years. The captain takes them on board and soon their stories connect. Rowland V. Lee directed this silent film, which has a couple good scenes but the story is so predictable that it's hard to be too shocked or surprised when the big twist comes. The morality tale is also a tad bit silly but there's some good stuff out at sea. Bosworth does the most with the screenplay and delivers a fine performance but the supporting players, including Emory Johnson, are all wooden.

The movie's title comes from the nickname of the captain of 'The Lair', John Nelson (Hobart Bosworth) - 'recognizing work as the only creed and brute strength as the one law'. Nelson's bitter nature dates back two decades from the time his wife left him for another man. In a parallel coincidence, businessman Tom Walton (Emory Johnson) signs up for a voyage on The Lair after being spurned by his fiancée. Once at sea, Walton befriends Nelson after the crew attempts to mutiny, though they were provoked by Nelson's hoarding the ship's drinking water for himself.Landing on an uncharted island, Walton discovers the two lone survivors of a shipwreck some sixteen years earlier. The young Blossom (Bessie Love) was born on the island and raised by her adopted 'Uncle Billy' (Richard Morris) after her mother died during childbirth. Once it's revealed that Blossom recalls her mother's name being Nelson as well, the pieces fall into place for the old Sea Lion. He discovers a Bible diary and learns that his wife was shanghaied away from him, a farewell note manufactured to make it seem that the captain's wife ran away from him. With feelings of remorse, Nelson reunites with the long lost daughter he never knew he had.The movie comes in at just over an hour, and despite the odds defying circumstances of the story, it's one that keeps your interest. One minor downside is the dark rendition of the print, there's a portion of one scene that almost goes entirely black. Considering that it was made eighty five years ago, it's a small inconvenience to observe in a relic dating so far back. A silent from 1921, it's not the kind of movie you'll find on the rack of your local video store or by cruising the cable channels. However if you keep your eyes peeled, you might find it as I did as part of a ten movie 'Pirates' themed set on three DVD's released by St. Clair Vision. The set contains mostly titles you never heard of before, but uniquely offers some early screen appearances by future stars like Errol Flynn, Bela Lugosi, and Lon Chaney Jr. For silent film buffs, there's another entry in the collection titled "The Black Pirate" from 1926, starring an athletic Douglas Fairbanks.