09-19-2012, 10:16 PM | #1 |
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Lafayette, Indiana
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Moby Dick
YouTube link to 1956 film starring Gregory Peck
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale is a novel by Herman Melville, first published in 1851. It is considered to be one of the Great American Novels and a treasure of world literature. The story tells the adventures of wandering sailor Ishmael, and his voyage on the whaleship Pequod, commanded by Captain Ahab. Ishmael soon learns that Ahab has one purpose on this voyage: to seek out Moby Dick, a ferocious, enigmatic white sperm whale. In a previous encounter, the whale destroyed Ahab's boat and bit off his leg, which now drives Ahab to take revenge.Was discussing this with folks online and figured I'd post this thread so people might give either the novel or the '56 film a look. I watched the film as a young boy and quite enjoyed it. I read the first third of the novel for an English project in the 11th grade and couldn't stand it. Revisiting the movie again tonight though I watched the first ten minutes and was spellbound both by the snippets of the story beginning to be fed to me as well as the humble, mature craft of storytelling Hollywood used to have back in the '50s. I'd really encourage you guys to check this one out if you've nothing better to do. The film's less than two hours long and right there for you to watch on YouTube. You can't beat that!
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09-19-2012, 11:40 PM | #2 |
我が名は勇者王!
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I saw this movie when I was younger, then saw To Kill A Mockingbird, then saw the Moby Dick movie again.
I kept thinking to myself, "say it ain't so Atticus, say it ain't so". Also, Ahab is the most evil Quaker since Quaker Oats.
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09-20-2012, 01:07 PM | #3 |
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Watched a lot of this last night; finished it off during lunch today. Thoughts:
It wasn't as good as I remembered it being from childhood but it was surprisingly good in some ways and it was much, much better than the book. Basically, Ray Bradbury (who wrote the screenplay for this, can you believe it!? XD) streamlined the novel and focused on the core relevant bits to the plot (discussed below). The film's thus a visual Cliff's Notes version of the book. And considering the nature of the novel, I appreciated this. That stated, you could appreciate that the two-hour format was a bit suffocating for this tale. Many of the scenes were supremely condensed. I would have had a hard time following them had I not read parts of the Wikipedia article on Moby-Dick before watching the movie. Gregory Peck's acting as Ahab was also not nearly as good as I remembered. When Doppel replied with "Say it ain't so Atticus, say it ain't so," I was confused. I thought Peck was the whole reason this movie was great! Or at least, that was what I remembered from childhood. But watching the film again I can definitely side with Doppel here that Peck's acting in To Kill a Mockingbird was superior to his acting as Ahab. But a lot of it I think wasn't even down to his acting: it was all about casting. Just as one might argue that Jack Nicholson or Bob Hoskins are really good actors but would make for terrible Captain Ahabs, so too do I think Peck wasn't an ideal casting choice. He was far too young for a 58-year old weathered whaling captain. The movie peculiarly lent him some white hair that spread down into his beard by the end of the film but in the opening bits he had a solid head and beard of jet black. Very strange. I also don't think Peck's super-stern sounding voice was the best voice for Ahab. Like, yeah, he should have a voice whose seriousness we can appreciate ... but it shouldn't sound like we're being scolded by our Sunday school teacher. ^^; That tone of voice worked really well for the single father defense attorney Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird but for the obsessed 58-year old whaler from New Bedford I just wasn't feeling it. Plot discussion: Spoiler: show In the end, would I recommend this movie? Is it worth your two hours? No if you're seriously strapped for time but yes if you have time to fuck around playing Pokémon ROM hacks or the like. It lands in that zone. It's not a masterpiece of cinema that you have to see or else you're missing out but it's definitely better than most things most of us tend to waste our time on here. See it once, check it off your checklist, and then forget about it for the next fifteen years.
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