DOWN TO THE SEA IN SHIPS
Starring Raymond McKee and Clara Bow
PHOTOPLAY
February, 1923
Here is a story with an idea. John Pell wrote "Down to the Sea in Ships" to depict the whaling industry, the adventurous record of which is the history of our New England sea coast. Pell placed his action in the golden days of 1850, when the hardy whalers swept the seven seas. This isn't all the idea. The rest concerns itself with the way the picture was produced, for it was financed by descendents of these very seamen themselves. The result is an oddity and an interesting one. There is a superb freshness to the whaling scenes - and brand new thrills to the hand-to-hand combats. And the land episodes among the Quakers of the day have quaintness. Unfortunately the story as it is developed now isn't just right. Cutting and editing are needed.