The Sea Gull
AKA A Woman of the Sea in the USA
(1926) American
B&W : Feature film
Directed by Josef von Sternberg + [Charles Chaplin]

Cast: Edna Purviance, Eve Southern, Gayne Whitman

Charles Chaplin production. / Produced by Charles Chaplin. Scenario by Josef von Sternberg and Charles Chaplin. Set design by Danny Hall. Cinematography by Paul Ivano. / Preview 1926 as A Woman of the Sea in Beverly Hills, California. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.37:1 format. / Scenes were shot on-location in Monterey, California, and on Monterey Bay. Two versions of the film were completed, The Sea Gull as completed by von Sternberg and A Woman of the Sea as modified by Chaplin and previewed in 1926, but were never released; Chaplin directed some scenes in the second version. Chaplin studio documentation states that Chaplin had the film’s original negative and all prints destroyed on 21 June 1933, yet Vance-Chaplin p. 370 notes that the studio projection-room logbook documents that Chaplin screened a 35mm print of the film as late as 16 February 1939.

Drama: Romance.

Survival Status: The film is presumed lost.

Keywords: USA: California: Monterey

Listing updated: 12 December 2007.

References: Bohn-Light p. 88; Brownlow-Parade p. 192; Sarris-Sternberg p. 13; Vance-Chaplin p. 370 : Website-AFI.