AllMovie

Silent-movie favorites Priscilla Dean and William Farnum appear in the company of up-and-coming action star Rex Bell in the low-budget Law of the Sea. Ship's captain Farnum and his wife Dean are saved from drowning by sadistic skipper Ralph Ince, who promptly blinds Farnum and casts him adrift again, the better to "have his way" with Dean. The wife kills herself, whereupon Farnum vows to have his revenge against Ince -- but he'll have to wait 20 years to do so. When events threaten to repeat themselves as Ince goes on the make for Sally Blane, the sweetheart of Farnum's son Bell, Farnum is at last afforded the opportunity to settle his long-standing account with his old enemy. In addition to borrowing heavily from Jack London's The Sea Wolf, Law of the Sea is also beholden to the 1919 seafaring melodrama Behind the Door.