The Unchanging Sea

5/5/191014m

Theatrical Release (US)

Overview:

In this story set at a seaside fishing village and inspired by a Charles Kingsley poem, a young couple's happy life is turned about by an accident. The husband, although saved from drowning, loses his memory. A child is on the way, and soon a daughter is born to his wife. We watch the passage of time, as his daughter matures and his wife ages. The daughter becomes a lovely young woman, herself ready for marriage. One day on the beach, the familiarity of the sea and the surroundings triggers a return of her father's memory, and we are reminded that although people age and change, the sea and the ways of the fisherfolk remain eternal.

Director:

D.W. Griffith

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$0.00

Revenue:

$0.00

Key words:

memory loss
based on song, poem or rhyme
silent film
passage of time

Cast

Arthur V. Johnson

~ as ~

The Fisherman

Linda Arvidson

~ as ~

The Fisherman's Wife

Mary Pickford

~ as ~

The Daughter as an Adult

Gladys Egan

~ as ~

The Daughter as a Small Child

Charles West

~ as ~

The Daughter's Sweetheart

Dell Henderson

~ as ~

The Rescuer

Kate Bruce

~ as ~

Villager (uncredited)

Alfred Paget

~ as ~

Villager (uncredited)

Frank Opperman

~ as ~

In Second Village (uncredited)

Dorothy West

~ as ~

Villager (uncredited)

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

CinemaSerf
Written 1 year(s) ago
7
Based on the poem by Charles Kingsley, this tells the tale of a young woman (Linda Arvidson) who waves goodbye to her fisherman husband (Arthur V. Johnson) as he sets off with his friends in an open boat to fish the Atlantic for their livelihood. Living in what looks like a row of beach-huts, she emerges every morning and longingly looks seaward, but when it only yields death one day she fears the worst. There's a young girl to bring up, though, so she much focus so she can grow up, turn into Mary Pickford and marry Charles West - himself a man in the same line of perilous work as her father. The audience knows something of the fate of that man, but will he ever be able to return to his love? Whilst it's certainly quite a bleak scenario, there is still a warming degree of hope here and the very simplicity of the single camera photography lends richness to what must have been for a life as routine as it was a subsistence existence for the families of these brave men. An enjoyable glimpse at a way of life now long gone.