Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Isbel A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

GManfred "The Captain Hates The Sea" is an entertaining but dated offering from Columbia, with touches, as has been noted, of "Grand Hotel" and "The Love Boat". The feel is of a somewhat confined stage play despite taking place at sea, and the overall impression is of a competent but minor picture that is overrated by virtue of the fact that it is the last movie John Gilbert made. He was good but not memorable, but at least proved that he had a good enough voice for talking pictures.Today's moviegoers would be somewhat put off by the cast of actors, who are familiar to us of a certain age but would be strangers to them. They may not have heard of John Gilbert, or Victor McLaglen, Helen Vinson, Leon Errol or the marvelous Alison Skipworth, for that matter. Add in the customs, styles and social disparities between now and then, and you have a filmed museum piece of interest to us older, savvy moviegoers only.I thought it was good enough for a rating of 6, and I will leave it at that.

MartinHafer Most of the actors in this film are second-string actors or people like John Gilbert whose careers are in decline. That's because this film was made by Columbia Pictures--either a very low-budget major studio or the best of the 'Poverty Row' film studios depending on your perspective. Columbia managed to create a lot of lower budget films during the 1930s and 40s and despite lower costs, the writing and acting tended to be pretty good.In many ways, this is a soapy film whose structure is a lot like MGM's prestige film "Grand Hotel"--but set to sea and with these less famous actors. There are many different characters, plots and some romance all thrown together--and now that I think about it, it's even a bit reminiscent of "The Love Boat"--but with less love! I think the best thing about this movie is the cast. John Gilbert has long been unfairly maligned for having a weak voice--though I have never seen a talking picture in which his voice was thin. Despite being a hard-core drinker and nearing a very premature death, he still was in top form here. I also loved seeing Walter Connelly--a wonderful character actor who also unfortunately also had a life shortened by drink. Additionally, Victor McLaglen and several other good actors are on hand. But to me the biggest surprise was seeing tiny cameos by by the Three Stooges as members of a three-man band. What made this particularly interesting is that they played these roles straight--and with their non-Stooge hairstyles, it's hard to see that it's even them! Now placing them in these roles really wasn't that big a stretch. The team had only been with Columbia a short time and they still were relative unknowns--and I'm sure the studio had no idea what to do with them--especially because MGM never really hit on a formula for the boys--prompting their exodus to this new studio.Overall, it's an enjoyable little film despite it's unimpressive pedigree.

drednm A sort of B version of Grand Hotel but on a cruise ship, The Captain Hates the Sea is fascinating for a couple of terrific performances among the wreckage of this film that seems badly directed because of the confusing plot.A disparate group of people take a cruise and get involved in the petty squabbles of the crew as well as each other's messy lives. There's something about bonds and bad reputations and undercover cops but none of it makes much sense.However, John Gilbert, in his final film, is magnificent as the drunk. His voice has never been better and how ironic that this great star, whose career was supposedly ruined by his lousy speaking voice, turns in yet another terrific performance in a talkie. For anyone who has seen Gilbert in this film or Downstairs, Queen Christina, or The Phantom of Paris, you know that Gilbert had no voice problems.Here is suave and cool and funny in a William Powell sort of way, and he's just mesmerizing to watch. Also very good are Alison Skipworth as the bossy hostess, Helen Vinson as the bonds thief, Walter Connolly as the captain, Walter Catlett as the bartender, Donald Meek as the bearded passenger, Wynne Gibson as the woman with the past, Leon Errol as the ship's mate, Akim Tamriroff as the troubled man, and the Three Stooges as the ship's musicians.Victor McLaglen and Fred Keating are also after the bonds while John Wray is defending his wife's honor. Claude Gillingwater and Emily Fitzroy are also along for the ride. Quite the cast.Not a great film but certainly worth a look for the cast and for the superb John Gilbert.

paskuniag As another poster has stated, John Gilbert had taken to heavy drink after his dismissal from MGM for having a less-than-adequate speaking voice, at least according to Louis B. Mayer. Director Milestone convinced irascible Columbia Studio chief Harry Cohn to hire Gilbert for this movie, promising Cohn that he would keep Gilbert sober by shooting at sea, away from bars and nightclubs. Problem was, many of the other actors in this film also had tremendous thirsts- Victor McLaglen and Leon Errol, to name a couple- and they found ways to hide their bottles even while filming on water. It wasn't long before the drinking began holding up the shooting, prompting a telegram from the studio: "What's holding up production? The costs are staggering." To which Milestone replied: "So is the cast."