Moby Dick (1956 film)


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 Flag of the United Kingdom
Language English
Budget US$ 4,500,000

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 the director. 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

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.

Of the three film versions of Moby Dick made between 1926 and 1956, Huston's is the only one which is faithful to the novel and uses its original ending.

A myth that was put to rest in cinematographer Oswald Morris' autobiography, "Huston, We Have A Problem," is that no full length whale models were ever built for the production. Previous accounts have claimed that as many as three 60-foot rubber "white whales" were lost at sea during filming making them "navagational hazards." According to Morris, the Pequod was followed by a barge with various whale parts (hump, back, fin, tail). These were used as needed; and, indeed, one twenty foot cylinder section did come loose from its tow-line and drifted away in a fog. Morris does not say if Gregory Peck was aboard the prop, but the actor was as this has been corroborated by others involved in the production, and was confirmed by Peck in May, 1995, when he spoke at the Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis. 90% of the shots of the white whale are various size miniatures filmed in a water tank in Shepperton Studios in London. Whales and longboat models were built by special effects man, August Lohman, working in conjunction with art director Stephen Grimes. Studio shots also included a life-size Moby jaw and head - with working eyes. The head apparatus which could move like a rocking horse was employed when actors were in the water with the whale. Gregory Peck's last speech is delivered in the studio while riding the white whale's hump (a hole was drilled in the side of the whale so Peck could conceal his real leg).

Peck and Huston intended to shoot Herman Melville's Typee in 1957, but the funding fell through. Not long after, the two had a falling out. According to one biography, Peck discovered to his disappointment, that he had not been Huston's choice for Ahab; but in fact, was thrust upon the director by the Mirisch brothers at Warner's to secure financing. Peck felt Huston had deceived him into taking a part for which Peck felt he was ill-suited. Years later, the actor tried to patch up his differences with the director, but Huston rebuked him and the two never spoke to each other again.[citation needed]

As of 2008, Oswald Morris is the last surviving member of the film's first unit.

Film rights

This was originally a Warner Bros. release; however, this film (as well as the pre-1950[1][2] 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.

Parodies

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!" Another Mad Magazine parody of the movie, "Where's Moby?" turned the film into a musical using melodies from actual shows (such as I'm In Love With A Wonderful Guy from South Pacific).

Notes

  1. ^ You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story (2008), p. 255.
  2. ^ WB retained a pair of features from 1949 that they merely distributed, and all short subjects released on or after September 1, 1948; in addition to all cartoons released in August 1948.

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