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Moby Dick (1956)
Country of Origin: UK
Year of Production: 1956
Running Times: 116m
Length:
Format:
Colour Format: Technicolor
Ratio:
Sound: mono
DIRECTION
Director: John Huston
CREW
PRODUCTION
Production Company: Moulin
Producer: John Huston
Co-Producer: Vaughan N. Dean
Associate Producers: Jack Clayton, Lehman Katz
Production Manager: Cecil Ford
SCRIPT
Script: Ray Bradbury, John Huston, Norman Corwin (uncredited)
Novel: Moby-Dick; or, The Whale by Herman Melville
DIRECTION
Assistant Directors: Jack
Martin, Kevin
McClory
PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Oswald Morris
2nd Unit Director of Photography: Freddie
Francis
Camera Operators: Arthur Ibbetson, Freddie
Francis
Stills: Ernst Haas, Bob Penn
Lab: Technicolor
EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Editor: Russell Lloyd
Assistant Editor: Jean-Pierre Steimer
MUSIC
Music: Philip Sainton
Conductor: Louis Levy
Music Recordist: Harold King
SOUND
Sound Recordist: John Mitchell
Sound: Alex Pront, Len Shilton
Post-Synchronization Director: Alfred Kirschner
Post-Synchronisation: Studios Éclair, Épinay-sur-Seine
Sound System: RCA Sound System
COSTUMES AND MAKE-UP
Costume Designer: Elizabeth Haffenden
Make Up: Charles Parker
SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects: Augie Lohman
VISUAL EFFECTS
Whale Model Technical Advisors: Robert Clarke, Charles Parker
DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designers: Geoffrey Drake, Stephen Drake
Art Director: Ralph Brinton
Assistant Art Director: Stephen Grimes
Colour Style Creators: John Huston, Oswald Morris
LOCATIONS
Locations: Canary Islands, Spain; Fishguard, Wales, UK; Irish Sea, North
Atlantic, Atlantic Ocean; Nantucket, Massachusetts, USA; New Bedford,
Massachusetts, USA; Youghal, County Cork, Ireland
Studio: Associated British, Elstree, England
STUNTS
Stunts: Paul Stader (uncredited)
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 (the innkeeper)
Francis De Wolff (Captain Gardiner)
Philip Stainton (Bildad)
Royal Dano (Elijah)
Seamus Kelly (Flask)
Friedrich Ledebur (Queequeg)
Orson Welles (Father Mapple)
UNCREDITED CAST
Tamba Allenby (Pip)
Tom Clegg (Tashtego)
Ted Howard (Perth)
A.L. Bert Lloyd (lead shantyman)
Arthur Mullard
Joan Plowright (Starbuck's wife)
Iris Tree (Bible woman)
PLOT SUMMARY
Captain Ahab becomes obsessed with the hunt for a massive white whale
known as Moby Dick. Many years before, the whale had bitten off Ahab's
leg and the captain's lust for revenge on the near-mythical creature
puts the entire crew of his whaling ship in mortal danger.
CAPSULE REVIEW
A fabulous adaptation of one of the classics of American literature,
this screen version of Moby Dick is simply stunning. The script helps
the novel make a faithful transition to the screen and is brought to
life by a wonderful cast, particularly Peck as the obsessed Ahab. And
Huston's direction is simply the icing on the cake. A classic –
and if anyone questions its merits as a horror film, watch Jaws
(1975) again and see just how closely the two films are related.
AVAILABILITY
Germany
DVD Distributor: MGM Home Entertainment
USA
Theatrical Distributor: Warner Bros.
DVD Distributor: MGM Home Entertainment (1002064)
CENSORSHIP HISTORY
Finland
Rating: K-16
Spain
Rating: 18
UK
Rating: PG
USA
Rating: unrated
West Germany
Rating: 12
AWARDS
1956
British Society of Cinematographers, UK
Best Cinematography Award (Oswald Morris) - nominated
National Board of Review, USA
Best Director (John Huston) - winner
Best Supporting Actor (Richard Basehart) - winner
New York Film Critics Circle Awards, USA
Best Director (John Huston) – winner
1957
Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists, Italy
Regista del Miglior Film Straniero (John Huston) - winner
TIMELINE
1956
June
27: USA – theatrical release
October
17: West Germany – theatrical release
November
16: Finland – theatrical release
1958
September
8: Denmark – theatrical release
2001
June
19: USA - DVD release (MGM Home Entertainment (1002064))
2002
March
7: Germany - DVD release (MGM Home Entertainment)
POSTER TAGS
In all the world - in all the seas - in all adventure,
there is no might like the might of
Before the shark there was the whale
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Moby Dick - valkoinen valas - Finnish
title
Moby Dick la balena bianca - Italian title
Moby Dick, la ballena blanca - Spanish title
LINKS
REMAKE OF
Sea Beast, The (1926)
Moby Dick (1930)
REMAKE
Moby Dick (1998)
FOOTAGE INCLUDED IN
John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick (1989)
Thar She Blows: The Making of Moby Dick (1998)
SEE ALSO
Dicky Moe (1962)
Hidden Values: The Movies of the Fifties (2001)
Hijacking Hollywood (1997)
Jaws (1975)
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The (2003)
Piranha (1978)
Rabbitson Crusoe (1956)
Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
REFERENCES
PERIODICALS
American Cinematographer vol.37 no.9
(1956) pp.534-535 (USA)
article (Moby Dick sets new style in color photography by Derek
Hill)
Film Culture vol.2 no.4 (1956) pp.3-7 (USA)
article (Modesty and Pretension in two new films by Jay Leyda)
Film Culture vol.2 no.8 (1956) pp.1-4 (USA)
article (An Encounter with John Huston by Edouard de Laurot)
Films in Review vol.19 no.6 (1968) pp.358-77 (USA)
article (Melville on the Screen by Stanley Fuller)
Literature/Film Quarterly vol.3 no.2 (1975) pp.160-171
(USA)
article (Ahab gets girl, or Herman Melville goes to the movies
by Edward Stone)
Take One vol.3 no.11 (1973) pp.15-24 (USA)
article (Ray Bradbury on Hitchcock, Huston and Other Magic of the
Screen by Arnold Kunert)
NEWSPAPERS
Diário de Notícias 2 March 1999 p.55
(Portugal)
review
KEYWORDS
book into film, children, harpoons, obsession, priests, the sea, ships,
storms, whales, whaling
Last Updated:
1 May, 2009
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