Moby Dick

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"The sea, where each man, as in a mirror, finds himself". Mysterious, haunting and most of all, honest account of the passions and tribulations of life at sea. Stand-out performance from Gregory, given free reign to let rip at a brilliant script. "Is it real? Do you see it?"; "Aye, we all see it, but that doesn't mean it's real". You can tell a quality film when the lead star is kept off screen as in this movie, for the first half hour. Extraordinary moments a-plenty here

Well, after reading the book for the first time, I decided to search for and download a movie version. This is the only one I could find available. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm no stranger to the movies from this era (production value, obvious painted backdrops vice real-life backgrounds, et cetera), and some of my favorite movies (I've seen and own literally thousands of movies) were made then as well. But with this one, I couldn't even make it through the first half hour. At first I was slightly annoyed by the dozen or so completely wrong details and dialogue, but I kept going because I know that always happens when a movie is adapted from a book. What finally killed it for me and what I simply couldn't bear was the ab....so.....lute....ly... TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE acting of Gregory Peck as Captain Ahab. It honestly reminded me of when an adult film star "acts" in a movie. I don't believe I've seen many, if any, of his other films, but given his very long career, I have to assume this was just one of the "let's just move on and try to forget about it" movies that all long-term actors seem to inevitably make at some points in their careers. For those who wrote those extensive, raving reviews, if you honestly believe what you wrote, I envy you and the ease with which you are satisfactorily entertained, though I suspect many were written simply in an attempt to "break in" to the business by sucking up to someone or another.

Ahoy there me hearties, did you happen to see, the biggest white whale, as big as can be; riven by scarring, barnacle strewn, the mind of a demon, tattooed by harpoon. It's a tough book to crack but the filmed story leaves us under no illusion of the barbarity of man over his perceived kingdom, and one man in particular, the tormented tyrant of the Pequod. Outstanding performances all round, none more so than the gnarled and knotted Ahab presented by Gregory Peck.

source: Moby Dick

Richard Baseheart looks and sounds more like a steward on the "Q.E.2" than a crewman on a whaler.Orson Welles doesn't so much chew the scenery as liposuction it.He had played Ahab in his own production on the London stage and it might have been a good idea for him to have exchanged roles with Gregory Peck who really lacks the juice that it needed. Sundry British character actors rhubarb around cheerily and the set of the whaling town looks like something left over from "Greyfriars Bobby". Despite these rather fundamental flaws John Huston kicks arse and takes names to such good effect that "Moby Dick" is a much better movie than it could have been given what he had to be getting on with. The "Pequod" is well-realised,it looks and sounds right.Some of the shipboard scenes are reminiscent of a badly-made pirate movie however. I must admit I am a little confused by the highly laudatory reviews on the previous pages.Many of them seem more concerned with the book than the film,but,compared to the novel,no filmmaker on earth could ever produce anything more than "Moby Dick Lite" because of the obvious limitations of the medium.Like Howard Hawks,John Huston is most effective portraying a predominantly male environment and the women in this film have little to do but stand around looking sad.Mr Huston's greatest achievement here is to coax a sympathetic and quietly stirring performance from Leo Genn,a steady but hardly charismatic actor. The sound recording is outstanding,well mixed and well balanced. Like many Huston films it is a mixture of the good and the ordinary,the director seeming to lose interest before the end,thinking ahead perhaps to his next project. If you think of it less as an adaptation of a great novel,more as a movie about catching whales it's not so bad.

I know that there are people who cherish this film, so take this review with a pinch of salt, and I hope I don't upset anybody. I didn't hate Moby Dick, I was just disappointed. It is definitely worth watching, especially if you love John Huston. Speaking of John Huston, I think he is a terrific director, and I think he directs decently here. Some of the cinematography is very nice and a number of scenes throughout the course of the movie are very nicely shot. The score is also good, not overpowering but atmospheric, while the great white whale is adequately menacing if not terrifying, if anything I found Moby Dick much more frightening in the book. In terms of acting which is a perfect case of the supporting players being better than the leads, Orson Welles comes off best as Father Mapple, he is quite excellent. However, despite these good things, there were some disappointments too. Herman Mellville's book is absolutely brilliant, if you haven't read it, do. While I am not going to try comparing, I'll be frank- the book is better, much more complex and suspenseful. The film does make a very noble attempt to keep true to the spirit of the book which I appreciated greatly, but there are some assets where the film fell short. The pacing is very slow at times, so some scenes feel very draggy and drawn out, and the script is perhaps too wordy, a valiant attempt to stick close to the source material no doubt. What hurt the film most though was the miscasting of Gregory Peck as Captain Ahab. Captain Ahab is a very complex figure, very demonic in his presence, a man who is bitter, angry and mad to his core, there were times in the book I was more frightened of Captain Ahab than Moby Dick himself, but Peck doesn't come close to reaching these character traits. In fact, he was rather dull here, and I don't think it helped he was too young for the character- it was if he was overwhelmed slightly by a character that was a little out of his league. Peck once thought that Huston himself should've played Captain Ahab; actually thinking about it that mayn't have been too bad an idea. Richard Basehart tries his best, but he is playing a character that is too young for him, so he doesn't quite convince, though I will say he was better than Peck. Overall, this was a disappointment, but it is definitely worth seeing. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Very minor spoilers ahead. John Huston did a fantastic job adapting Melville's masterpiece for film. Ray Bradbury did an excellent job adapting the dialogue and exposition from the novel for the film. he took giant and important chunks of essential dialogue, without needing to take up the extraneous scientific jargon or soliliqiues that are better suited for the printed page than the screen. He remains faithful to Melville's vision, and the important symbolism is there. It's a very difficult job, and Melville's novel is a very difficult book to adapt, but Bradbury, who apparently hadn't read the book before adapting it, did one hell of a job. The actors are great, and it's a shame they didn't win any Oscars. Gregory Peck is excellent as the sullen, vengeance-driven Captain Aheab. He made the role his own, and knew when to be passionate and when to be calm and quiet. Some parts of the novel may seem wordy to viewers, but are important in conveying Melville's meaning, such as Father Mapple's sermon on man's obedience to God. If you have a short attention span, and only like action films that are short on substance, this movie is not for you. Everyone else must do themselves a favor and watch this classic. This is an adaptation for the ages.

Having read Hermann Melville's brilliant novel when I was fourteen I was naturally hoping for great things from this movie. Unfortunately, it does not deliver on any level. The film is too slow and takes too long to get going, while the script should have been shorn of some of the novel's prose to give it some life. However, what really lets it down is the complete miscasting of the two leads. Richard Basehart, aged 40 but looking older, was clearly far too old to play the youngster Ishmael. An actor under thirty like Stanley Baker would have made an excellent choice. Far worse though is the casting of Gregory Peck as Ahab. Not only was Peck much too young for the part (Ahab was 58 in the novel), he simply didn't have the requisite talent to play a deranged villain convincingly. If only a better, older actor had been cast like Fredric March, Spencer Tracy or even the director John Huston himself. Orson Welles comes of best in the cameo role of Father Mapple. Worth watching, but certainly no classic.

I tried to enjoy this movie but was prevented by the old world language and the rampant whale abuse. I know that whales were a significant source of oil but it was hard to watch all these whales being harpooned in the triumphant celebratory manner in which they were being hunted. I get that the essence of the movie isn't about whaling in general but about Ahab's insatiable need to catch the one whale. Still hard for me to see past the killing.