Captain Lash (1929)

movie

Country: N/A
Genres: Adventure, Drama
Release: 1929-01-06
Director: John G. Blystone
Writers: Andrew Bennison , Malcolm Stuart Boylan , Laura Haase , John Stone
Language: None
Stars: Victor McLaglen , Claire Windsor , Jane Winton (1905–1959) , Clyde Cook , Arthur Stone , Albert Conti , Jean Laverty , Frank Hagney , Boris Charsky
Runtime: 60 min
Awards: N/A
AKA: Captain Lash (United States of America) , Kapitän Jack (Austria) , Capitão Lash (Brazil) , Capitaine Swing (France, French Republic) , Die Weibergeschichten des Captain Lash (Germany) , Captain Lash , Kapetan Lash (Greece) , 港々の女難想 (Japan) , A tengerek oroszlánja (Hungary) , Avventura d'alto bordo (Italy) , Kaptajn Lash (Denmark)
Plot: With a title like 'Captain Lash', I expected the 'Captain' to be genuine but the 'Lash' to be a nickname: I'd thought this would be a movie about a genuine sea captain, nicknamed 'Lash' for his cruelty. In the event, it was just the other way round: 'Lash' is genuine and 'Captain' is the nickname.Victor McLaglen gives one of his trademark performances, this time as a ship's stoker named Lash whose workmates cry him 'Captain' for his authoritative manner. (Having worked on ships, I can vouch that no sea captain would permit any of the men serving under him to be nicknamed 'Captain'. A ship's dog or cat, maybe, but no ship can have two men cried 'Captain'.)The mere fact that the central character is a ship's stoker brings this movie firmly into Eugene O'Neill territory. But now 'Captain Lash' begins to look like a rip-off of O'Neill's drama 'The Hairy Ape' as brawny stoker Lash attracts the attention of Cora Nevins, a swanky society dame who normally wouldn't give a lug like Lash a look. What gives, then?What gives is that Cora, for all her fashionable clothes and her stylish blonde bobbed hair, is actually a cheap crook. To be precise: she's a jewel thief. One of the passengers on Lash's ship is wealthy Alex Condax, and Cora has twocked his stones ... his diamonds, I mean. She vamps 'Captain' Lash to help her get the diamonds off the ship at Singapore. Meanwhile, Lash has a girl in every port, and his whore ashore in Singapore is a brunette named Babe, so you just know she's trouble.McLaglen (whom I always like) is good in this film, but he's upstaged by silent-film comedian Clyde Cook, who plays his cocky buddy Cocky. I'm prejudiced in Clyde Cook's favour, as I interviewed him shortly before his death, and he spoke very movingly to me about his long career. My favouritism aside, Cook gives a versatile performance here in a well-written role as McLaglen's sidekick. While Cook gives a po-faced recital on his concertina, the intertitles tell us that he's sending musical cues to his mate McLaglen. I only regret that Cook's role here gives him few chances to demonstrate his dazzling acrobatic slapstick talents. Clyde Cook - whose bill matter in vaudeville was 'The Kangaroo Boy' - was the only silent-film acrobat who deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Buster Keaton, Al St John and Lupino Lane.The direction (by the underrated John Blystone) and the camera set-ups are excellent. Arthur Stone is good as a crooked toff, but Claire Windsor and Jane Winton are not very effective in the female leads. I'll rate 'Captain Lash' 6 out of 10, largely for Clyde Cook's virtuoso performance.
IMDB:tt0019748