Moby Dick (1956 film).html |
| | | ca | | | de | | | en | | | es | | | fr | | | it | | | nl | | | no | | | pl | | | pt | | | ru | | | ro | | | fi | | | sv | | | tr | | | vo | | |
| |  |
| Moby Dick | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Directed by | John Huston |
| Produced by | Associate producers: Jack Clayton Lee Katz Co-producer: Vaughn N. Dean Producer: John Huston |
| Written by | Novel: Herman Melville Screenplay: Ray Bradbury John Huston |
| Starring | Gregory Peck Richard Basehart Leo Genn Orson Welles Royal Dano |
| Music by | Philip Sainton |
| Cinematography | Oswald Morris |
| Editing by | Russell Lloyd |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. (1956) AAP (1956-1958) United Artists (1958-present) MGM (1981-present) |
| Release date(s) | June 27, 1956 |
| Running time | 116 min. |
| Country |  |
| Language | English |
| Budget | US$ 4,500,000 |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Moby Dick is a 1956 film adaptation of Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick. It was directed by John Huston with a screenplay by Ray Bradbury and John Huston. The film starred Gregory Peck as Captain Ahab, Richard Basehart as Ishmael, Leo Genn as Starbuck, Friedrich Ledebur as Queequeg, and Orson Welles as Father Mapple.
The music score was written by Philip Sainton.
Contents |
Cast
- Gregory Peck as Captain Ahab
- Richard Basehart as Ishmael
- Leo Genn as Starbuck
- James Robertson Justice as Captain Boomer
- Harry Andrews as Stubb
- Bernard Miles as The Manxman
- Noel Purcell as Ship's Carpenter
- Edric Connor as Daggoo
- Mervyn Johns as Peleg
- Joseph Tomelty as Peter Coffin
- Francis de Wolff as Captain Gardiner
- Philip Stainton as Bildad
- Royal Dano as Elijah
- Seamus Kelly as Flask
- Friedrich von Ledebur as Queequeg
- Orson Welles as Father Mapple
Peck was initially surprised to be cast as Ahab (part of the studio's agreement to fund the film was that Huston use a "name" actor as Ahab). Peck later commented that he felt Huston himself should have played Ahab. Ironically, Huston had originally intended to cast his own father, the actor Walter Huston in the role, but his father had died by the time the film was made. Peck went on to play the role of Father Mapple in the 1998 television miniseries adaptation of Melville's novel, with Patrick Stewart as Ahab.
Welles' salary from his cameo was later used by him to fund his own stage production of Moby Dick, in which Rod Steiger played Captain Ahab.
Production
During a meeting to discuss the screenplay, Ray Bradbury informed John Huston that regarding Melville's novel, he had "never been able to read the damned thing". According to the biography The Bradbury Chronicles, there was much tension and anger between the two men during the making of the film, allegedly due to Huston's bullying attitude and attempts to tell Bradbury how to do his job, despite Bradbury being an accomplished writer. Bradbury's novel Green Shadows, White Whale includes a fictionalized version of his writing the screenplay with John Huston in Ireland. Bradbury's short story "Banshee" is another fictionalized account of what it was like to work with Huston on this film. In the television adaptation of the story for The Ray Bradbury Theater the Huston character was played by Peter O'Toole and the Bradbury surrogate by Charles Martin Smith.
The film was shot at Las Canteras beach, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain. Some exterior scenes set in New Bedford were shot on location in Youghal, Ireland.
Much like the the great white shark in the movie Jaws, the mechanical white whale used in the special effects sequences kept developing problems and breaking down.
Peck almost drowned several times in the whale-hunting scenes. He blamed Huston for this, and at the end of filming, they were not on speaking terms.citation needed
Film rights
This was originally a Warner Bros. release; however, this film (as well as the pre-1948 Warner library) ended up being sold to Associated Artists Productions, which later was sold to United Artists Television. This would eventually be the only film in the UATV package that would not end up with Turner Entertainment, and thus UA (via its parent company, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) continues to own the U.S. rights to this film today with MGM Home Entertainment holding the home video rights. The international rights are with various other companies.
Parody
Mad Magazine published a satire of the movie, in which they depicted "Father Maplesyrup, an Ex-Sea Captain" turned preacher, giving a sermon on Jonah and the whale. The magazine comments, "Right off, they give away the whole plot!"
External links
- Moby Dick at the Internet Movie Database
|
|||||||||||||||||