DVD Review: Under Full Sail: Silent Cinema on the High Seas (The Yankee Clipper / Around the Horn / The Square Rigger / Ship Ahoy / Down to the Sea in Ships): William Boyd, Junior Coghlan, Dennis James, Rupert Julian;Alan J Villiers: Movies & TV
DVD Review: Under Full Sail: Silent Cinema on the High Seas (The Yankee Clipper / Around the Horn / The Square Rigger / Ship Ahoy / Down to the Sea in Ships): William Boyd, Junior Coghlan, Dennis James, Rupert Julian;Alan J Villiers: Movies & TV
Product Description
Flicker Alley invites you to discover a time when the truest adventure had the wind at your back and an infinite horizon all around. UNDER FULL SAIL: SILENT CINEMA ON THE HIGH SEAS proudly collects five breathtaking films that preserve the romance, grandeur and allure of windjammers sailing open waters, exquisitely photographed in the style of the time.
The Yankee Clipper (1927), produced by Cecil B. DeMille and directed by Rupert Julian, restored to the most complete version available since the film s release, is a feature-length melodrama recreating the real-life race from Foo Chow to Boston for the China tea trade. The gorgeous production filmed at sea for six weeks aboard the 1856 wooden square-rigger Indiana with stars William Boyd, Elinor Fair and Frank Junior Coghlan. Renowned organist Dennis James, in his solo DVD premiere, accompanies the film on an original-installation 1928 Wurlitzer pipe organ, recorded at Seattle s Paramount Theatre.
Around the Horn in a Square Rigger (1933) was filmed by noted sailor and author Alan Villiers documenting the record-breaking 83-day voyage of the 1902 barque Parma from Australia to England in the 1933 Grain Race. Villiers writes, We wanted to make a picture that would capture some of the stirring beauty of these ships, that would perpetuate, in the realm of shadows at least, something of the glory of their wanderings … some glimmer of understanding of the attraction which they hold over those who sail in them. Music by Eric Beheim.
The Square Rigger (1932), an early sound short filmed as part of Fox s Magic Carpet of Movietone, shows life aboard the schoolship Dar Pomorza, The White Frigate. Built in 1909 as the Prinzess Eitel Friedrich, it was ceded from Germany to France as a prize of World War I, and was later donated to the Polish State Maritime School in 1930 where it served 50 years and trained more than 13,000 cadets.
Ship Ahoy (1928) is a unique record of the conditions and traditions of the North American lumber trade featuring an unidentified schooner equipped with a fore and aft rig as it transports lumber from the Carolinas up the coast to a northern port. Music by Eric Beheim.
The collection is rounded off with a ten-minute sequence from Down to the Sea in Ships (1922) documenting an authentic whale hunt from the 1878 wooden ship Wanderer out of New Bedford, Massachusetts. The camera-men risk their lives to capture practices unchanged since Herman Melville immortalized them in Moby Dick. Music by Dennis James.
DVD bonus features include an audio reminiscence by Frank Junior Coghlan about the filming of The Yankee Clipper. An enclosed booklet includes detailed program notes by film scholar and U.S. Navy marine engineer John E. Stone and an essay about the scoring of The Yankee Clipper by organist Dennis James.
THE YANKEE CLIPPER Sails Again!,
By Chip Kaufmann
(Asheville, N.C. United States) -
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)
I am so happy for this release as it finally allowed me to see Rupert Julian’s THE YANKEE CLIPPER in something other than the truncated 1998 Critic’s Choice VHS version which was taken from the Killiam Collection. That version ran less than an hour and had narration from Paul Killiam himself. It was probably taken from his old SILENTS PLEASE TV series (which would account for the narration) and gives you a feel for the film, but now Flicker Alley has given us an 81 minute version that not only plays well but gives us the opportunity to appreciate the glorious at sea cinematography as well as the more complete performances from the actors.
Long before he became associated with the role of Hopalong Cassidy, William Boyd was a capable leading man for Cecil B. De Mille during the late 1920s. In CLIPPER he is joined by his wife Elinor Fair, child actor Junior Coghlan, and veteran silent villain Walter Long. The real stars here are the clipper ships which were refitted for the movie and captured on film for all time. The movie is also one of only 3 films from director Rupert Julian to survive. Julian’s main claim to fame is the 1925 Lon Chaney PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. He was also given solo credit for the 1923 MERRY-GO-ROUND where he took over from a fired Erich von Stroheim.
The title of this DVD, UNDER FULL SAIL, refers to the 3 documentaries included as well as THE YANKEE CLIPPER. They are SHIP AHOY, THE SQUARE RIGGER, and AROUND THE HORN IN A SQUARE RIGGER. Bonus features in addition to the docs are a 10 minute excerpt from the 1922 feature DOWN TO THE SEA IN SHIPS (which is fully available elsewhere) and an audio interview with 90 year old Frank (Junior) Coghlan who was 10 when he made CLIPPER. Special mention should also be made of the fine organ scores provided by Dennis James who has stepped in to fill the shoes of the late Gaylord Carter. Yet another top flight release from Flicker Alley. Thanks to all concerned who helped bring this project to fruition.
Flicker Alley produces another interesting collection,
By calvinnme “Texan refugee” (Fredericksburg, Va) -
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)
This latest set of silent and sound films by Flicker Alley has the central theme of seafaring. The feature film in the set is 1927’s The Yankee Clipper, produced by Cecil B. DeMille and directed by Rupert Julian who also directed some early Universal horror films. This film is still incomplete, so it’s likely the other short films were added to round out the package. Filmed on an actual ship from the 1850’s, the story is not that compelling. It basically focuses on a stowaway and a young couple that wind up on the ship during its big race from China to Boston. William Boyd, who is primarily remembered for his westerns, plays the ship captain. The main reason to see this film is the art direction, plus I’ve always had a fond spot in my heart for the film work of Bill Boyd.
The other short films included are so rare they don’t even have entries in imdb. I believe that they are all sound films.
Around the Horn in a Square Rigger (1933) is a short about the 1933 Grain Race that spanned from Australia to England. The other two shorts are Fox Movietone entries. They are “The Square Rigger” (1932), which is about life aboard a ship that at the time this film was made had just started serving 50 years at the Polish Maritime School. “Ship Ahoy” (1928) is about the maritime conditions of the American lumber trade at the time. These last two films in particular have a newsreel quality to them.
Finally there is a ten-minute sequence from Down to the Sea in Ships (1922), documenting a whale hunt from the 1878 wooden ship Wanderer out of New Bedford, Massachusetts. The film itself is about a group of Quakers that are involved in the whaling industry. This last entry is rather strange since the film is already on DVD in its entirety by Kino via Parisian Love / Down to the Sea in Ships. The film in its entirety is about 80 minutes long.
BONUS FEATURES:
Audio Reminiscence by Frank “Junior” Coghlan about the filming of The Yankee Clipper.
PLUS: An enclosed booklet includes detailed program notes by film scholar and U.S. Navy marine engineer John E. Stone and an essay about the scoring of The Yankee Clipper by organist Dennis James.
I own several Flicker Alley collections, and they have all been technically excellent and put together in an interesting way, placing films on DVD that would otherwise probably never see the light of day.
Search Under Full Sail: Silent Cinema on the High Seas (The Yankee Clipper / Around the Horn / The Square Rigger / Ship Ahoy / Down to the Sea in Ships): William Boyd, Junior Coghlan, Dennis James, Rupert Julian;Alan J Villiers: Movies & TV from AmAzon
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