Moby Dick

I red Herman Melville's book "Moby Dick" some years ago and though the story was really captivating and I enjoyed it very much but somehow it seemed too long to me. This film version by John Houston lasts a couple of hours and I think it works very good as a resume of Captain Ahab's revengeful chase of the white whale. Don't get me wrong: the book is a classic and a very good one too but it is movies we're talking about here.

"Moby Dick" is a real good adventure film and Houston's direction is pretty accurate. He delivers the plot slowly but constantly up to the moment we are all waiting for: the appearance of the whale ("huge as mountain of snow"). In the meantime he shows the different characters on board the "Pequod" such as the professional Mr. Starbuck, the second in command; the tough and at he same time friendly Mr. Stubb; the mysterious Queequegg with his body covered by tattoos; and Ishmael the newcomer in search for adventure.

But the center of the whole thing is Captain Ahab with his leg ripped of by the white whale and living with the only purpose of taking revenge of the beast. Nothing else matters for him. And so obsessed Ahab is that he finally passes his madness into his men too.

Gregory Peck brings a fine performance as the tortured and insane Captain and he shows perfectly he has been a dead man long before his meeting at sea with Moby Dick. Leo Genn is good too as well as Harry Andrews as Stubb (I can't recall a bad performance from Andrews in all his many appearances as a supporting actor). Richard Basehart is correct in the role of Ishmael, though perhaps his acting is a little too light here.

The final battle between the men and the white whale is outstanding or even more if you consider it was made with the special effects of the 50's. Huston shows his skill here too.

Watch this film if you missed it (don't go for that recent too long all computer TV version starring Patrick Stewart as Ahab); you'll sure enjoy it if you like high classic adventure with psychology in the characters too.

When John Huston was casting for Moby Dick he got to make it on condition that he get a name actor to play Ahab. He went to Gregory Peck who was surprised by the offer. Given his image and the roles he had played up to that time, Peck thought he'd be better cast as Starbuck the first mate. Nevertheless he agreed to do Ahab.

Peck got mixed reviews at the time, but over the course of 50 years his performance has gotten better with time. The film itself which was shot in Ireland and Wales has also aged well. It's a nice depiction of life on a whaling ship in the 1840s and the crew of the Pequod are nicely cast in their roles.

Orson Welles was set to do his own adaption of Moby Dick and canceled his film when he heard his friend John Huston was doing Moby Dick. Welles asked about doing Ahab, but was given the small role of Father Mapple, the minister who blesses the Pequod's voyage. In fact Huston gave Welles a free hand to do the scene as he saw fit and the results are gratifying.

Of course Herman Melville's novel is about obsession and vengeance. I've always thought the point of Moby Dick is that the evil white whale who Ahab so personalizes and demonizes is just a whale doing his whale thing trying to stay alive. It is in fact the whalers who hunt him and his kind. And Ahab losing his leg is what we would call an occupational accident. The evil is how Ahab seduces the whole crew into his own madness, even first mate Starbuck, played winningly by Leo Genn who is the voice of reason and civilization.

Other cast members to note are Harry Andrews as second mate Stub, Friedrich Ledebuhr as Queequeg the Pacific Islander harpooner, and of course Richard Basehart as Ishmael who tells the tale.

This is a film that becomes part of you. I used to watch it over and over again on TV when it was shown during my childhood in the 1960's, and I never tire of watching it. And whenever I find myself living somewhere away from the ocean, the longing is intense to find water again. "Call me Ishmael".

The screenplay was written by Ray Bradbury, and it was his first. In his lectures and interviews, Bradbury always seems to tell the story of how John Huston contacted him out of the blue for this assignment. Evidently, he flew Bradbury and his wife to Ireland, where the science fiction writer was holed up in a hotel for a few weeks, in a wonderful agony of creation.

Bradbury has always been enamoured with classic novels. His book "Fahrenheit 451" told us how great literature somehow becomes subversive, in a controlled society. Under fascism, individuals are not encouraged to understand what it is to be truly human. Life becomes flat, and it is a deliberate process.

Before I had a VCR, I taped this movie on an audio cassette. It was an amazing experience to see it unfold in my mind's eye.

Bradbury put his whole heart into this screenplay, and the result can never be matched.

For those folks that want great literature without having to read a 500-page tome, then this Readers Digest like condensation might be the ticket. All the high points of Moby Dick are touched on starting with 'Call me Ishmael," and so on.

As all have already pointed out, Gregory Peck has nailed the Ahab character. You got me how he managed the whalebone peg leg. The obsessive rush to take vengeance on the great whale boils in crazed Ahab's head and certainly his crew one by one catch the fever for either greed or blind allegiance. Therefore, our allegorical story full of biblical references mete out large portions of philosophical sophisms, enough for the entire Humanities Departments at fifty Universities to burn the midnight whale oil; oh, the reams of paper written about poor Moby, we're talking deforestation here.

If ever there was a story to get young men to read Lit, Moby Dick is the one.

This oceans saga features the sole survivor of a lost whaling ship who relates the tale of a white whale and the captain Ahab's obsession with desires for vendetta upon the greatest animal . It starts in New Bedford , Massachussets, where arrives a novice named Ishmael (Richard Basehart) who signs aboard the whaling ship Pequod and befriends a Polynesian native , harpooner Queequeg (Friedrich Ledebur) . He meets captain Ahab (Gregory Peck) who has a self-destructive obsession to hunt the white whale , Moby Dick . Ahab consecrates his life to hunt it full of hating and vengeance . Soon enough Ishmael aware about the great white whale who claimed the captain's leg and Ahab's determination to seek avenge on the beast that crippled and scarred him , no matter what the cost to himself , his crew or ship .

This impressive adaptation based on Herman Melville's 1851 classic novel is vividly brought to screen . Suspense and tension of the ocean is completely captured , including enduring images as the storm with the 'fire of Saint Telmo' . Climatic final battle is an overwhelming piece of cinema as you are likely to watch . Huston, along with prestigious Sci-Fi author Ray Bradbury wrote a screenplay that was faithful to the novel , stamping this movie with epic images and thought-provoking dialogs . In his memories , Huston wrote that it was his most difficult and enduring film . Huston decided to do the opening sequences at a small village called Youghal located on Irland coast and the maritime scenes were filmed in Islas Canarias , Spain . The FX experts created a great whale made with gum and plastic and moved by means of remote control . Huston bought to Walt Disney the ship used in 'Treasure Island' (by Byron Haskin) and was modified as Herman Melville described the Pequod . Top-notch main cast who realizes extraordinary performances . Peck is fabulous , though Huston had wanted to make the movie 20 years earlier and star his daddy Walter Huston . Phenomenal support cast as Bernard Miles as Manxman , James Robertson Justice as captain Boomer , Harry Andrews as Stubbs , and Leo Genn who steals the show as officer Starbuck . Cameraman Oswald Morris's breathtaking color cinematography splendidly conveys the bleaker qualities of the chase . Exciting and rousing musical score by Philip Stainton and well conducted by the usual Louis Levy . Rating : Above average , quite a few moments that click make this top-of-the-range movie more than watchable . It results to be one of the most thrilling and moving see sagas ever realized .

It's remade in 1998 TV series by Franc Roddan with Patrick Stewart ,Henry Thomas , Bill Hunter and Gregory Peck who takes on the character of Jonah-and-the-whale sermonizing Father Mapple who in this classic adaptation was vividly played by Orson Welles . Furthermore recent lousy rendition full of computer generator FX starred by Barry Bostwick and Renee O'Connor .