Jim le harponneur

This rousing adventure romance is very loosely based on Herman Melville's Moby Dick. A few plot elements are taken from the novel and fashioned into a completely different story. The film is a showcase for John Barrymore, whose transformation as Ahab is reminiscent of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde.

However, the new Televista DVD release is recommended only for silent film collectors (like myself) who must have this movie in their libraries. Much of the spectacle of the original is lost due to the poor quality of the print used for this DVD. It is identified as a print held by the George Eastman House which originated from the Henry A. Strong collection. Although it may be the best available print, it is pretty bad. Details are blurred and grainy, some inter-titles are difficult to read, and when letters are held up to the camera, they are completely unreadable. The Televista DVD is priced at $15, but the quality is no better than Alpha Video DVDs available for $5 or $6.

This film is rarely seen and not available on video. I made a personal copy on Beta tape (from a 16mm print) over 20 years ago to assist in the writing of my master's thesis on the adaptations of Moby Dick. Although it has some interesting maritime visual elements including some documentary footage of the butchering of sperm whales - it has very little to do with Melville's story or characters. Ahab is given a more heroic and romantic treatment. A love interest (Esther) and a rival half-brother provide a conflict never dreamed of by the novelist. The 1930 sound version is similar in most respects although shorter. I won't spoil the ending but you can again be sure it has nothing to do with Melville.

I streamed an online version of this that was copyrighted Televista, Inc, 2007. I don't know how close to the original print it really was, but I assume it was pretty much the same as what audiences saw in 1926. If it is an accurate transfer, then, man oh man, this is the worst edited movie in history. The philosophy that guided the editing of this film must have been, if you can have an eight-second close-up of someone's face, why not make it eighteen-seconds instead? More than twice as good! Why settle for two reaction shots from a character if you can have five? Why have a character tell someone she love him just once when you can have the same scene repeated three times?

The pacing is atrocious, with a simplistic, conventional love story that reduces Ahab to a forlorn lover, completely scraps Ishmael, and doesn't even give names to most of the Pequod crew. This is most certainly not Melville's book, and the events that at all resemble the novel don't begin until over an hour and fifteen minutes into the film.

There are some decent flourishes at the end, including an innovative use of Ahab's peg leg that's original to this film and also some decent expressive acting from John Barrymore and Dolores Costello in the final scene. The version I saw also had some pretty sweet percussive music during some of the action scenes, though most of the score was fairly conventional stuff.

This is an interesting curio considering Melville's novel was a massive flop whereas this was a blockbuster success. There truly is no accounting for taste. This might satisfy the curiosity of Melville enthusiasts, but for a general viewer this movie is an absolute bore.

Young sailor Ahab (aka John Barrymore) loves lovely Dolores Costello, but his black hearted brother Derek wants her too. So, when the dangerous SEA BEAST (aka Moby Dick) raises its vicious head from the briny deep, awful brother is around to make sure Barrymore suffers at the hands of the white whale. Will true love triumph, or will Barrymore's Mr. Hyde makeup as the obsessed Capt Ahab scare off lovely Dolores?

Since the print I watched had both dreadful music, and a frequently washed out picture, it is impossible to evaluate this movie fairly. It is quite slow (slow enough that I questioned whether it was recorded at the right speed), and the first two-thirds of the movie are devoted to the younger Ahab, his true love for Dolores, and the machinations of the villainous Derek. That part is, except for a few moments of hot romance, and the whale hunt, quite dull. The second part, featuring Barrymore's Mr. Hyde as Ahab, stays on the right side of risible, and thrives on Barrymore's ability to be as scary as Lon Cheney. Some rousing storm scenes, and a final confrontation between Ahab and Derek make this part quite fun in a rousing old movie way.

This is worth seeing, if you like Barrymore, who is excellent throughout. But you might have more fun if you fast forward things through the many tedious bits in part 1.

While this is not very faithful to Herman Melville's novel, indeed, Ishmael isn't even a character, this is a good film. Barrymore, of course, is perfectly cast as Ahab, with Dolores Costello, his lover at the time, as Esther, the woman both he and Ahab's brother (where did he come from)fighting for her love.

The print isn't perfect. It's washed out in places, but overall, it's not bad, and the score is terrific. I waited a long time to see this and really enjoyed it! If you want to see a Moby Dick that's closer to the book, there are the 1956 version with Gregory Peck, which is excellent, and the TV version starring Patrick Stewart, which really follows the book!

Orson Welles also wrote a stage adaptation that's exciting. Now why hasn't that been one on a PBS Theatre in America program?