Rating: NR
Genre:
Adventure
Release Date: 06/19/2001
SubTitles: English/French/Espanol
Dubbed: English/French/Espanol
Sound: 5.1/1
Run Time: 115 Minutes
Flags: Questionable for Children
Distributor/Studio: MGM
Previous film versions of
Moby Dick insisted upon including such imbecilities as romantic subplots and happy endings.
John Huston's 1956
Moby Dick remains admirably faithful to its source. "Call me Ishmael" declares itinerant whaler
Richard Basehart as the opening credits fade. Though slightly intimidated by the sermon delivered by Father Mapple (
Orson Welles in a brilliant one-take cameo), who warns that those who challenge the sea are in danger of losing their souls, Ishmael nonetheless signs on to the
Pequod, a whaling ship captained by the brooding, one-legged
Ahab (
Gregory Peck). For lo these many years,
Ahab has been engaged in an obsessive pursuit of
Moby Dick, the great white whale to whom he lost his leg.
Ahab's dementia spreads throughout the crew members, who maniacally join their captain in his final, fatal attack upon the elusive, enigmatic
Moby Dick. Screenwriter
Ray Bradbury masterfully captures the allegorical elements in the
Herman Melville original without sacrificing any of the film's entertainment value (
Bradbury suffered his own "great white whale" in the form of director
Huston, who sadistically ran roughshod over the sensitive author throughout the film).Cinematographer
Oswald Morris' washed-out color scheme brilliantly underlines the foredoomed bleakness of the story.
Moby Dick's one major shortcoming is its obviously artificial whale-but try telling a real whale to stay within camera range and hit its marks.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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