Cinema
Moby Dick
John Huston · 1956
Synopsis
1841. Ishmael leaves New Bedford, shares an inn room with the harpooner Queequeg, and the two sign on to the whaler Pequod, despite the predictions of a certain Elijah. Captain Ahab does not show himself during the first days. When he finally appears, with an ivory leg and a scarred face, he nails a gold doubloon to the mainmast and promises it to the first man to sight the white whale that took his leg: he now hunts nothing else. His first mate, Starbuck, opposes him.
Context
The director had wanted this film since the forties, and had the screenplay written by Ray Bradbury, who came to live in Dublin for seven months for the purpose; their tensions fed a book that the writer published in 1992. The sea shooting took place off Wales, at Madeira and in the Canary Islands, and at least one of the mechanical whales built for the film was lost at sea, the number varying according to the sources. Huston had thought of his father, Walter, who died in 1950, for one of the leading roles.
Who it is for
A film of one hour fifty-six minutes, whose colours, superimposed on a black-and-white negative, recall old engravings of whalers.
Prizes and reception
Huston was named best director by the National Board of Review and by the New York critics, but the film disappointed in cinemas.
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