page_title: The Sea Beast
section_title: Reception
hierarchical_section_title: The Sea Beast / Reception
caption_attribution_description: Trade ad for the 1926 film The Sea Beast.
context_page_description: The Sea Beast is a 1926 American silent drama film directed by Millard Webb, starring John Barrymore, Dolores Costello and George O'Hara. The film was a major commercial success and one of the biggest pictures of 1926 becoming Warner Brothers' highest grossing film. The Sea Beast is the first adaptation of Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick, a story about a monomaniacal hunt for a great white whale. However, the film alters the novel's plotline by establishing prequel and sequel elements that are not in the original story—such as the romancing of Esther and Ahab's safe return, respectively—and substitutes a happy ending for Melville's original tragic one. Some of the characters in the film do not appear in Melville's original novel.
context_section_description: The Sea Beast proved to be "extremely popular" with the public, and was generally well received by critics when released in January 1926. The romantic scenes between Barrymore and Costello were particularly well received. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., whose father was an old friend of Barrymore's, said he saw the film half a dozen times. The New Castle News of Pennsylvania called it a "remarkable picture" which "represents the finest in motion picture art", considering it to be the biggest picture of the year. The Post-Crescent of Appleton, Wisconsin heavily praised the cast and cinematography, referring to it as "a picture of rich, colorful beauty of heart-searing pathos, of poetry that sings in action of courageous deeds of emotions as violent and eternal as the terrific storms that sweep through the picture".
  Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times noted the "energy, earnestness and virility" John Barrymore displayed in the role of Ahab Ceeley, and stated that his "real triumph in this photoplay comes in the second half of the picture, for he has a great opportunity as the grim master of a whaler with a mixed crew of half-mad yellow, white and black scum". Hall did believe, however, that the exploits with the whale were not as effective as they could have been, concluding that "this is a good production and one which contains much interest, but it is not a great photoplay". Photoplay magazine wrote: "John Barrymore gives his usual finished performance. His agony is almost too realistic in the scene wherein the sailors cauterize the bloody stump of the leg torn off by the sea beast. It's too gruemsome for the sensitive souls... Dolores Costello's beauty is a delight to behold, and her acting is unbelievably good for a comparative newcomer. The scene in which she first sees the havoc wrought upon her lover by the white whale reaches artistic heights that leave one trembling. And the scene is perfect pictorially." However, Movie Monthly was less enthusiastic about the film, declaring that it "does not come up to expectations, principally because its story turns out to be quite preposterous".
caption: A trade ad for The Sea Beast
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