Elmer Clifton — Directors I Have Met (1923) 🇬🇧
A lot of people who never hear of picture makers until their names are in large type letters, had never even heard of Elmer Clifton, but all that is past history.
by Elizabeth Lonergan
Just a short time ago, a wonderful picture was released in New York at a little theatre rented for the occasion. The picture was unusual in many ways, but the producer, who was most optimistic, never expected that it would attract the crowds that waited for hours for a chance to see this decidedly unusual story of whaling in the Caribbean, a story that had its setting back in the forties in the most picturesque part of the new country, in New England. Down to the Sea in Ships the picture was called and a more thrilling, more absorbing picture of sea life has never been shown.
I went to see Mr. Clifton hoping to get some unusual photographs and data and discovered that he is a Canadian cousin. Yes, he was born in Toronto, has visited England and when this picture was taken, he confesses that he had the English public in mind, as a play that would be of interest to them. “It is not so long ago,” he said, “when the square rigger was commonly seen in English harbours. There are probably a few still in existence, just as there are on this side of the water. I know that English audiences will be interested, too, in the many old-fashioned bits of furniture and dresses used in the picture, many of which are of English origin. The picture was made in New Bedford, Mass., a fishing centre where there are many old-time traditions. The church with its tablets to former members who lost their lives at sea, was the one in which the celebrated John Fox preached and the majority of those in the community can trace their ancestry back to England.”
When the picture is shown in England the public will realize what a stupendous undertaking it was. Nearly two years were consumed with scenes photographed in New Bedford, and then the whaling pictures were taken in the Caribbean. Pictures show an actual whale hunt, the first time such a thing has been filmed and there are many exciting moments. During the capture of a big bull, the boat was upset and the actors nearly lost their lives. At last the whale was secured and the fight went on. For more than two hours the whale dragged the boat with the players in it at such terrific speed that it was a thrilling screen sight. Far more so than all the thrills of the most exciting serial! The whale weighed ninety tons and the details of its capture and cutting up, are a wonderful lesson in the relative sizes of whales. He seemed to have “yards and yards” of teeth, for one thing!
Down to the Sea in Ships has an interesting story running through it which takes it out of the educational class and makes it a straight feature film. Marguerite Courtot and Raymond McKee play the principal roles and McKee took part in all the whaling scenes, spending two months in the South, and, incidentally learning a lot about the habits of whales.
And so did Mr. Clifton, who told me with a laugh, “Those whales got so used to being directed that they finally would take my orders when I called through the megaphone!”
Top: The Charles W. Morgan, the oldest whaling vessel afloat.
Above and right: Two thrilling scenes in Down to the Sea in Ships
Collection: Picturegoer Magazine, September 1923
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see also other entries of the Directors I Have Met series:
- 1923-02: Frank Lloyd
- 1923-03: Allan Dwan
- 1923-04: Rex Ingram
- 1923-05: Frederic Sullivan-Londoner
- 1923-06: James Cruze
- 1923-07: John Robertson
- 1923-08: J. Gordon Edwards
- 1923-09: Elmer Clifton
- 1923-11: Herbert Brenon
- 1924-01: Harold Shaw
- 1924-06: Al Christie
- 1924-11: Millard Webb
- 1925-11: John Francis Dillon