Under Full Sail: Silent Cinema on the High Seas

Flicker Alley continues to champion the silent film era with Under Full Sail: Silent Cinema on the High Seas (co-produced by noted film historian David Shepard and Flicker Alley founder Jeff Masino), a collection of five rarely-seen films chronicling life aboard 19th and early-20th-century sailing ships on the high seas. The flagship of the set is the exciting 1927 feature film The Yankee Clipper, produced by Cecil B. DeMille and directed by Rupert Julian (two years after his triumphant Phantom of the Opera). Restored to the most complete version available since its original release, The Yankee Clipper dramatically recreates a race between the titular American ship and a British rival, sailing from Foo Chow, China to Boston in a bid to dominate the Chinese tea trade. A tale full of romance, villainy, and mutiny (featuring a charming performance by child star Frank “Junior” Coghlan, who also provides a DVD bonus audio commentary reminiscing about the film's production), The Yankee Clipper filmed at sea for six weeks aboard the 1856 wooden square rigger Indiana, lending a sense of genuine authenticity to the movie. The film's timeless appeal is further enhanced by a thrilling new score played by renowned organist Dennis James on an original 1928 Wurlitzer pipe organ, recorded at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle. Each of the other films represents a different aspect of the bygone era of great sailing ships: In Around the Horn in a Square Rigger (1933), noted sailor, author, and photographer Alan Villiers chronicles the 83-day voyage of a 1902-vintage ship from Australia to England; The Square Rigger (1932) is an early sound-era short depicting life aboard the Polish maritime training ship Dar Pomorza, built in Germany in 1909 and later ceded to France during World War I; Ship Ahoy (1928) documents the activities of an unidentified schooner in the North American lumber trade; and an excerpt from Down to the Sea in Ships (1922) spotlights a Moby Dick-vintage whaling expedition aboard the 1878 wooden ship Wanderer. Background information on all five films is included in an accompanying booklet, along with an essay by James on scoring The Yankee Clipper. An appealing and historically vital collection, Under Full Sail is highly recommended. (J. Shannon)