John Huston - Moby Dick (1956) :: top Movie Channel

http://roberthood.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/moby_dick.jpg

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/5333/imdbimage.jpg

Starring Gregory Peck, Orson Welles, and Richard Basehart

Dan Jardine (Apollo Film Guide) said this:
“Herman Melville’s seminal study of one man’s obsession with bringing down the legendary white whale is the source material for John Huston’s uneven, though often riveting, film. …Huston does an admirable job of taking us into the world of the 19th century whaler, and crafts a handful of memorable screen moments while he’s at it.

The film quickly establishes context – New England, 1841 – and conflict – the town’s pastor (Orson Welles) climbs aboard a mock up of a ship’s prow, which serves as his pulpit, and delivers a surly Jonah-inspired sermon on the mighty hubris of pride, admonishing folks to bend themselves to the will of God. The story’s narrator (let’s call him Ishmael) and his companion the “cannibal-prince” Queequeg – a most extraordinary-looking tattoo-covered recreation of Melville’s morally-neutral figure – are soon recruited to serve on the ship of Captain Ahab (Peck), for whom the preacher’s sermon has clearly prepared us. Ahab is a man on a vision quest: to kill the mighty white whale that left him peg-legged and filled with an unquenchable rage for some not-so-Christian vengeance. It is Ahab’s genius at being a leader of men that enables him to convince an entire crew to fulfill his self-aggrandizing ambition. It is clear to both the whalers and the audience that the men who sign on to board the Pequod are making a Faustian deal, exchanging their freedom for Ahab’s pride-filled revenge-laden pursuit. Refusing the spiritual advice of first mate Starbuck, Ahab rages, “Speak not to me of blasphemy, man; I'd strike the sun if it insulted me!… The white whale tasks me; he heaps me…[he is] the malignant thing that has plagued mankind since time began; the thing that maws and mutilates our race.”

Melville’s novel is essentially a spiritual treatise on the nature of man’s relationship to his world and his God, but such texts rarely make for sterling cinema. Director Huston keeps the philosophizing to a minimum, choosing to focus on the more visually compelling conflicts between man and the creatures of the sea. The thrilling, expertly edited and plentiful whaling scenes, which are graced with Huston’s trademark skill at action sequences, thrust the audience right into the boats along with the crew. Also, Huston’s focus on the single-mindedness of Ahab’s quest is an effective narrative technique for riveting the audience, even when Peck’s stilted performance sometimes is not. The set design aboard the whaling ship is immaculate, and renowned cinematographer Oswald Morris warms the screen with picture-postcard scenery; you can practically taste the salt water.

Other than Peck and the rather bland Richard Basehart in the narrator’s role, the supporting cast, particularly Frederick Lederbur’s fine work as Queequeg, are commendable. Moby Dick, a cinematic obsession of Huston’s for several years, is a well-crafted film that rises above the limitations of its studio-enforced casting.”

top Movie Channel

Friday, May 21, 2010

John Huston - Moby Dick (1956)

0 comments:

Post a Comment

HIstory

Category

About Me

Followers