CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . deals with a member of an intellectually inferior species committing genocide against Oceania's Whale Peoples simply because he was born with opposable thumbs, and his victims were not. But, as they say, Brains beat Brawn any day. From their fleets of sea gull spies, the Whales learn the weak spots in the psyche of their main threat, Captain John Nelson, a.k.a., THE SEA LION. That enables them to circle the boat of his wife Dolly's old flame, sending this Bob Simmons subliminal messages day and night via that humming thing that Whales do. Like a mind-controlled automaton, Bob shanghais pregnant Dolly, framing this abduction as an elopement, per the Whale's instructions. Then the smarter mammals stove in Bob's ship, killing him and the rest of the Whale Hunters. The kindly Guardians of the Deep help Dolly and her servant to Sanctuary, but stoke John's jealousy of Bob to such a fever pitch that John burns down his own house! When a freak water leak brings together John and his surviving daughter, Blossom, John does his best to kill this Flower Child. But then he reads in Dolly's Bible about how the Whales saved Jonah, so he spares Blossom's life and swears off whaling forever. Showing more respect for John than the Russians did for Hitler, the Whales allow John safe passage back to shore, where he's a homeless single dad without a job.

MartinHafer "The Sea Lion" is a watchable silent film, but it also suffers from the most ridiculous series of coincidences that it prevents the viewer from ever taking the film seriously. The film begins with a sea captain learning that his wife has abandoned him with her lover. As a result, he became a vicious brute--and took all his anger out on his crew. Later in the film, the ship discovers an island in the middle of no where. And, on a planet over 24,000 miles in circumference, this tiny speck of an island has two shipwrecked folks--one of which is his wife's child who was born after she left him!! Talk about ridiculous! And, when he learns that his wife died after giving birth to the kid, he makes it his life's work to make the teenager miserable. However, there are a few surprises that shake his world.As I said above, the film is absolutely silly with coincidences. However, the acting and direction are pretty good--and worth seeing if you are a huge fan of silents. Otherwise, there are definitely better films out there you should see first.

wes-connors Brutish whale-hunting Hobart Bosworth (as John Nelson) is no favorite on the docks of San Francisco. The feared taskmaster captain of "The Lair" runs a tight ship, and has trouble finding men to fill a crew. Overhearing two mates discuss impending fatherhood causes Bosworth to recall when he and his wife "Dolly May" were expecting their baby… and, we "flashback" twenty years, for a bitter recollection… Bosworth returns from seafaring, with a cradle built for baby, and discovers his wife's note: "Please forget me. I have found the man I really love. Dolly." So, now we know why Bosworth's a brute...What isn't explained is how he knows he couldn't be the baby's father. Another sloppy plot development is the changing of the "flashback" incident, later in the picture, from twenty to sixteen years ago; either Bosworth has poor recall or someone decided to make the daughter, when she finally appears as an adult, younger. While Mr. Bosworth frightens away potential sailors, young wastrel Emory Johnson (as Tom Walton) is thrown off his estate, after his father pays off a gold-digging girlfriend.With nowhere to turn, Mr. Johnson joins Bosworth's crew, where "The Sea Lion" bullies him unmercifully. Hoping to find drinking water, the ship approaches an uncharted island. There, they find fetching young Bessie Love (as Blossom) and wizened guardian Richard Morris (as "Uncle" Billy), survivors of a sixteen-year-old shipwreck. Johnson finds Ms. Love attractive; he tries to help her avoid Bosworth, who thinks she is the daughter of his wife and her lover - but, Bosworth may not know the whole true story… This was the last of stage veteran Bosworth's self-produced vehicles, and was definitely representative of his "silent film"-era starring roles. There was more variety in the actor's abilities, but Bosworth was most frequently seen as a snarling seafarer. Around this picture's release, he was winding down from a resurgence of popularity begun with a "comeback" appearance in "Behind the Door" (1919). In spite of chronic health problems, Bosworth sailed on into the 1940s, becoming an effective sound era character actor.***** The Sea Lion (12/5/21) Rowland V. Lee ~ Hobart Bosworth, Bessie Love, Emory Johnson, Richard Morris

classicsoncall 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.