'A Woman of the Sea' or 'Seagull', which was the working title, was made in 1925. The film was funded by the Chaplin Studio and directed by Josef von Sternberg. The cast included Edna Purviance in the lead with Eve Southern, Gayne Whitman, Charles French and Raymond Bloomer. The film was viewed once at the Chaplin Studio but never released. In June 1933, the negatives for the film were burned to settle Chaplin's taxes.
She is also a woman obsessed with a lover, an enigmatic man from the sea and from her past.
Spence Porter's adaptation, The Woman From the Sea, sets the story in the 1950s, perhaps the period least suited to the waking dream tone the play would require were it to have any chance to succeed.
Margaret Dawson, cast as this woman of the twin obsessions, is nowhere near a strong enough actor to carry the role.
So maybe when they call from the depths of the sea, they are not calling men to them as much as they are speaking to their sisters who are on land.
Perhaps, the mythological ideal that the sea is luring men away is less accurate than that she is simply speaking to the hearts of women everywhere as only sisters can.
But come to the sea with me in the months when she is all alone if you want to really get to know her and celebrate the many secret treasures she has to offer.
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