Dreadfully Boring

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

MOBY DICK is famed as one of the greatest and most difficult to read novels of all time. The tale of a man obsessed with the destruction of a legendary white whale that took his leg and left him scarred has long been considered an allegorical tale of good and evil, looks at the differences in class structure and discusses the existence of God. At 822 pages that's a lot to transfer to a movie that last only an hour and 56 minutes but somehow it was done.The story itself tells the tale of a young seaman named Ishmael (Richard Basehart) who signs aboard the ship Pequod, a whaling vessel run by one Captain Ahab (Gregory Peck). Ishmael is bunkmates his first night before they sail with a tattooed harpooner named Queequeg who has a set of shrunken heads on hand in the room. The two start off tentative but become fast friends as Queequeg teaches Ishmael the ways of the ship.Eventually Ishmael meets the famed Captain Ahab who promises his crew to return with their ship filled with whale oil and success for all on board. But Ahab is a strange sort who also has an ulterior motive. He doesn't just seek whales but one in particular, a white albino whale feared by all and known as Moby Dick. The desire to find the whale is one filled with revenge as it was Moby Dick who took the leg from Ahab on another voyage.The majority of the movie takes the time to set up the final confrontation between man and beast. Segments on dry land before the ship sets sail include a scene set in a church where the pastor preaches from the bow of a ship installed in the church. That pastor is played by Orson Welles who is nearly unrecognizable. The journey of the men, the harsh penalties for wrong doing and the long wait to find the whales they seek all take up a portion of the time.When the great white whale is finally found Ahab promises those who follow him untold fortunes if they will but help him destroy the whale. His obsession with the whale becomes their own and all seem to set aside not just the fortune in whale oil they've already filled the ship with but their own safety as well. Larger than the ship they sail on the white whale seems as determined to insure none of them leave alive and the battle between man and beast is on display.The movie is a mixed bag, entertaining for some and tedious for others. That it is a well-made film that tackled the chore of bringing the novel to life is worth noting and for that matter makes it one worth seeing as well. While the cast does a great job it is Peck who stands out as the near mad Ahab, determined to have his revenge at all costs.The effects for the time are amazing to witness and the sequences involving the whale are fantastic. Done before the days of CGI as it would be accomplished now, the movie here offers practical effects. The whale is a terrifying sight to behold and imagining what it would be like to confront it on its own ground would be something I for one would choose to avoid.Twilight Time is releasing the film in blu-ray format and as with all of their titles limiting it to just 3,000 copies. If interested make sure you pick yours up right away.

I guess "Moby Dick" is my favorite American novel. I've read it numerous times and taught to to many students. It is such a complex book. Much of it should just be ignored because of its endless explanation on whaling, but the central story knows no peer, in my opinion. I am also of the opinion that one should never judge a movie based on a literary classic, using the same criteria as the book critic. This is quite a wonderful film. The screenplay by Ray Bradbury, one of our contemporary gems, is engaging. He seems to pick out enough of the significant events to get the idea across. Some characters are missing, but then.... He must deal with the time constraints of two to three hours for a book of over 700 pages. We get a genuine feel for Captain Ahab, played beautifully by Gregory Peck. He has that stark unapproachable being, those chiseled features, and a voice that comes from deep in his psyche. He is, of course, on a death mission and his unfortunate fellows are along for the ride. The action scenes are intense and violent and capture the monomaniacal sense of Ahab's being. I loved two other parts of this film. One is Orson Welle's sermon as Father Mapple. The other is Ishmael's introduction to Queequeg, as they become bedmates at the Spouter Inn. Great fun.

This film comes from one of the best books ever written, the tall task of taking such an iconic classic and making it into a film, no small order. Yet thanks to Ray Bradbury for writing the screenplay than enabled John Huston to make this film worthy of the book.I think maybe this film just hasn't graced the TV Screens more than it has is just a shame, it makes me wonder is this the reason that its not one of the all time greatest movies. There are so many timeless classics I know its impossible for them all to make it but still a shame.Gregory Peck as Ahab, Orsen Wells as the minister, both performances make this a stand out movie. Both actor's brought so much to this film, maybe some of the special effects let the film down a tad, but that's why its an 8 not a 10. Still well worthy of a watch. Enjoy.

The classic seafaring novel by Herman Melville gets adapted for the big screen by author Ray Bradbury and producer / director John Huston, and is just as entertaining as another big budget literary adaptation of two years previous, the Disney production of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea". A likable Richard Basehart stars as the narrator Ishmael, who signs on as a crewman on a whaling ship, feeling an irresistible urge to go to sea. His captain is the stubborn Ahab, a man blinded by his need to get his vengeance on Moby Dick, the enormous snow white sperm whale who maimed him. As we will see, Ahab is willing to go to any lengths, and push all of his men to their limit, in the pursuit of his goal. His first mate Starbuck (Leo Genn) is dismayed, believing no good can come of such an obsession. Meanwhile, Ishmael comes to discover a good friend in the stolid cannibal Queequeg (Friedrich von Ledebur). Worth a mention is the fact that this dark, ultimately downbeat tale was initially a hard sell in Hollywood without any substantial female roles, and that Warner Bros. only agreed to make it on the condition that a big star like Peck should get the main role. Even Peck himself had felt that he was miscast, not having enough years on him (he was 38 at the time), yet he shows a real commitment to immersing himself in the role and reciting the prose from the novel. There's much to enjoy here, from an atmospheric recreation of New England in the 19th century, to the production values (the Pequod is vividly created for film, having previously been used in the Disney version of "Treasure Island" and gotten a makeover), to the quite good special effects (I was wondering how Moby Dick himself would look in this film, and came away satisfied) to Philip Saintons' thunderous score to a cast full of very talented actors. Basehart and Genn are excellent, as are James Robertson Justice (as Captain Boomer), Harry Andrews (as Stubb), Mervyn Johns (as Peleg), Seamus Kelly (as Flask), Royal Dano (as Elijah), and Orson Welles in a memorable, captivating cameo as Father Mapple, whose speech about Jonah and the whale sums up the themes of the story. The desaturated pastel colour effect of the movie is the work of cinematographer Oswald Morris, and it helps to give this movie a wonderful old fashioned feel. Hustons' insistence on shooting on an actual ship on the actual ocean would cause cost and time overruns, and while this would unfortunately result in a less than successful film in a financial way, it stands up pretty well today and does deserve some respect. Eight out of 10.