The Unchanging Sea

1910 film

May 5, 1910 (1910-05-05)

Running time

14 minutes (18 frame/s)CountryUnited StatesLanguageSilent with English intertitles

The Unchanging Sea is a 1910 American drama film that was directed by D. W. Griffith. A print of the film survives in the Library of Congress film archive.^[1]

Plot

The film starts with intertitles that reads “three fishers went sailing to the west, away to the west as the sun went down. Each thought on the woman who loved him best, and the women stood watching them out of the town.” A young married couple are enjoying life by going to the beach. They run into workers on the beach and they all seem in awe of the happy couple. The young couple goes back to the beach but the wife watches her husband go out to sea on a boat. She waves her husband and the other sailors goodbye and waits for them to return. Days go by and the wife and other wives go back to the beach to see if they’ve returned. Three bodies are brought back to land from the ocean. One of them is the husband, whom other fishermen manage to revive, but he has lost his memory. The wife brings her baby back to the same beach waiting for her husband to return. Years go by and the baby is now a child and they still go to the beach waiting for his return. The daughter gets married to a young fisherman. The wife now old goes to the beach and just weeps. The husband goes out to sea once more, and the familiar scene brings back his memories. The couple reunites in the end after years.^[2]

Cast

Arthur V. Johnson as The Husband
Linda Arvidson as The Wife
Gladys Egan as The Daughter as a young girl
Mary Pickford as The Daughter as a young woman
Charles West as The Daughter's Sweetheart
Dell Henderson as Rescuer
Kate Bruce as Villager
George Nichols
Frank Opperman
Alfred Paget as Villager
Dorothy West as Villager

References

^ "Progressive Silent Film List: The Unchanging Sea". Silent Era. Retrieved November 28, 2009.
^ Griffith, D.W. "The Unchanging Sea". Youtube. Retrieved October 15, 2021.