Moby Dick (1956)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

John Huston

Writers:

Herman Melville (novel)
Ray Bradbury (writer) ...
(more)

Release Date:

27 June 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama

Tagline:

The most eagerly awaited motion picture of the year!

Plot:

The sole survivor of a lost whaling ship relates the tale of his captain's self-destructive obsession to hunt the white whale, Moby Dick.

Plot Keywords:

Whale | Ship | Obsession | Whaling | Revenge

Awards:

4 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Gregory Peck	...	Captain Ahab
Richard Basehart	...	Ishmael
Leo Genn	...	Starbuck
James Robertson Justice	...	Captain Boomer
Harry Andrews	...	Stubb
Bernard Miles	...	The Manxman
Noel Purcell	...	Ship's Carpenter
Edric Connor	...	Daggoo
Mervyn Johns	...	Peleg
Joseph Tomelty	...	Peter Coffin
Francis De Wolff	...	Captain Gardiner
Philip Stainton	...	Bildad
Royal Dano	...	'Elijah'
Seamus Kelly	...	Flask
Friedrich von Ledebur	...	Queequeg (as Friedrich Ledebur)
Orson Welles	...	Father Mapple
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tamba Allenby	...	Pip (uncredited)
Tom Clegg	...	Tashtego (uncredited)
Ted Howard	...	Perth (uncredited)
A.L. Bert Lloyd	...	Lead shantyman (and shanty adviser) (uncredited)
Arthur Mullard	...	(uncredited)
Joan Plowright	...	Starbuck's Wife (uncredited)
Iris Tree	...	Bible Woman (uncredited)
Carol White	...	Young girl (uncredited)

Directed by
John Huston

Writing credits
Herman Melville		(novel "Moby-Dick; or, The Whale")
Ray Bradbury		(writer) &
John Huston		(writer)
Norman Corwin		uncredited

Produced by
Jack Clayton	....	associate producer
Vaughan N. Dean	....	co-producer
John Huston	....	producer
Lee Katz	....	associate producer (as Lehman Katz)

Original Music by
Philip Sainton

Cinematography by
Oswald Morris

Film Editing by
Russell Lloyd

Production Design by
Geoffrey Drake
Stephen Drake

Art Direction by
Ralph W. Brinton		(as Ralph Brinton)

Costume Design by
Elizabeth Haffenden

Makeup Department
Charles E. Parker	....	makeup artist (as Charles Parker)

Production Management
Cecil F. Ford	....	production manager (as Cecil Ford)
Gerry Mitchell	....	production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jack Martin	....	assistant director
Kevin McClory	....	assistant director

Art Department
Stephen B. Grimes	....	assistant art director (as Stephen Grimes)
Bill Beavis	....	scenic artist (uncredited)

Sound Department
Alfred Kirschner	....	post-synchronization director
John W. Mitchell	....	sound recordist (as John Mitchell)
Alex Pront	....	sound
Len Shilton	....	sound

Special Effects by
Augie Lohman	....	special effects
George Blackwell	....	special effects (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Robert Clarke	....	technical advisor: whale model
Charles E. Parker	....	technical advisor: whale model (as Charles Parker)

Stunts
Robert Porter	....	stunts (uncredited)
Joe Powell	....	stunts (uncredited)
Paul Stader	....	stunts (uncredited)
John Sullivan	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Freddie Francis	....	camera operator
Freddie Francis	....	director of photography: second unit
Ernst Haas	....	still photographer
Arthur Ibbetson	....	camera operator
Bob Penn	....	still photographer: special publicity photographs
Steve Birtles	....	gaffer (uncredited)
Kelvin Pike	....	focus puller (uncredited)
Paul Wilson	....	first assistant camera (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Jean-Pierre Steimer	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Harold V. King	....	music recordist (as Harold King)
Louis Levy	....	conductor

Transportation Department
Eddie Frewin	....	driver: generator (uncredited)

Other crew
Angela Allen	....	continuity (uncredited)
John Breslin	....	dialect advisor (uncredited)
Tadeo Villalba	....	production assistant (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Moulin Productions Inc.

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1956) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. (1956) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1962) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2001) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Vídeo (????) (Brazil) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Studios Éclair, Épinay-Sur-Seine  post-synchronisation

Also Known As:

Herman Melville's Moby Dick (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

116 min | 115 min (TCM print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-12 (1986) | Finland:K-16 (1956) | Iceland:L | South Korea:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #17465) | Australia:G | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Associated British Elstree Studios, Shenley Road, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company:

Moulin Productions Inc.

Trivia:

Starbuck's Coffee franchise took its name from the character Starbuck of the Pequod crew.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Jet contrails visible in the background when Starbuck plans to shoot Ahab.

Quotes:

Ishmael: [seeing Moby Dick for the first time] Is it real? Do you see it, too?
The Manxman, a sailor: We all see it. That don't make it real.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Paul Merton: The Series: (#2.3)" (1993)

Better and better each time you see it

Some critics panned this pic when it came out - Peck too wooden, the script too cliched, etc, etc. Don't believe a word of it. I saw this one when I was 8 or 9, and for years I watched it every time it came on TV - even in B&W! Peck isn't wooden, he's intense and fascinating (my favorite scene: in his cabin, saying to Starbuck, "That bed is a coffin"). The language may sound stilted, but it's MELVILLE'S, and the cast sink into it with conviction.

Some critic (I don't know which) has said that Moby Dick (the book) is an "uncomfortable masterpiece" - or something like that - meaning that it's a hard pill to swallow. The movie is bound to be a hard pill for many viewers as well. But that's their loss. Huston's movie is a great big powerful thing - you believe in Peck's crazy passion, in Starbuck's gentleness, in Ishmael and Quequeg's bond, in the evil of the whale, even.

Another favorite sequence: the Pequot becalmed, the crew lying about under the intense sun, slowly going crazy. The climactic chase is superb and thrilling, of course; what it all adds up to is a film about the elements, and our relationship to them. The whale is just the biggest of a whole slew that constantly threaten to destroy us. Nature, our natures - all the things we fight against with our intelligence, that threaten to engulf us.

Beautiful film, one of Huston's best. I find the analogy with Hitler/Nazis in an earlier comment very interesting. Another would be with an earlier Huston film, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre - another film about people taking terrible chances for reasons that don't stand up to a lot of examination, whose biggest obstacle turns out to be themselves. By the way, will someone please rerelease Moby Dick in a restored version so we can get a really good look at all that glorious Technicolor?