On the face of it, this is a story to warm the heart of any anti-whaling campaigner. If there had been a few demon whales to discourage whalers, the extermination of these incredible animals might not have gone so far. This isn't real life though. This is mad Ahab's all consuming obsession. Moby Dick does appear to be indestructible. The Nemesis of Captain Ahab is an irresistible force of nature. Ahab cannot tolerate the notion that a mere animal - a brute - could be beyond his control, could almost destroy him, could reduce him to a powerless cripple. He's a charismatic captain and even without the flattery ("I think ye do look brave") and bribery ("whosoever finds me the white whale, ye shall have this Spanish gold ounce") the sailors would follow him. And he exploits that power to risk them all in his quest for vengeance and to regain the sense (or delusion) of control he had before Moby Dick took his leg and "tore [his] soul and body until they bled into each other".

Excellent film. A story with depth. Wonderful characters. Good acting. Fine cinematography. Just one small criticism (not of the film but of the DVD): there are no subtitles and they would have been helpful on a couple of occasions.

The movie drags in Spots
Review date: 2003-02-06 Rating: 8 out of 10

MOBY DICK was obviously a very good movie which presented several obstacles for director John Huston. I definitely would have cast some other actor in the role of the crazed Captain Ahab. Even Edward G. Robinson would have been a better choice. The action scenes were better than average and the whale was probably superior by the standards for special effects in 1956. Ray Bradbury helped Huston with the script.

My main complaint is that the movie drags in spots.

Moby Dick, or the challenge: from the novel to the film.
Review date: 2000-07-18 Rating: 8 out of 10

To put Moby Dick, the enormous whale created by the pen of Herman Melville, on the wide screen had been an almost impossible undertaking until 1956, when John Huston's Moby Dick appeared. Twice the enterprise had been tried before he realised the film: first in 1925 with the title The Sea Beast directed by Millard Webb and in 1930 directed by Lloyd Bacon. On both occasions it had proved a failure because they had turned Moby Dick in a romantic story. On the contrary Huston, with Ray Bradbury's co-operation, struck on the right idea. They wrote a script as faithful to the novel as possible. In fact they caught the true feeling of the story, which is based on the ambiguity of the whale who shift from the physical to the metaphysical dimension. The difficulty of turning the masterpiece by Melville into a film is also proved by the long period that passed from the beginning of the forties, when Huston decided to realise the film, until the fifties when he was really able to do it. In Huston's adaptation, great importance is given to the first part of the story, which presages an unlucky voyage. Huston actualizes the ambiguous hunt for the white whale paying great attention to Captain Ahab's mad quest. This role is superbly played by Gregory Peck who perfectly embodies the brave, obstinate, blasphemous and damned captain. I cannot avoid of highlighting the brilliant starring of Father Mapple by Orson Welles and the very impressive Huston's Queequeg acted by Count Friedrich Labour.

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