The 1956 historical adventure film Moby Dick was adapted by Ray Bradbury from Herman Melville’s 1851 epic classic novel Moby-Dick. Bradbury wrote the script with some input from director John Huston. Huston received a co-writing credit but whether this was deserved is up to film scholars.

This was the first time I had seen the film beginning to end since reading the book though I do remember seeing part of it in the intervening years. It was also the first time I had watched the film since reading Ray Bradbury’s novella Leviathan ’99 which is an outer space adaptation of Moby-Dick.

The film opens with the famous first line “Call me Ishmael,” said in voiceover by the viewpoint character, played by Richard Basehart. This narrator is a young man who ships aboard an ill-fated voyage on the Pequod, commanded by Captain Ahab, played by Gregory Peck. On his way with his new island native friend Queequeg, played by Friedrich von Ledebur, the two encounter a prophet named Elijah, played by Royal Dano, who predicts catastrophe for the voyage.

It’s been awhile since I read the book but the film is largely true to it with one important improvement over the novel. Ray Bradbury found the character of Fedallah, a mysterious Parsee (Persian) Zoroastrian harpooner and prophet annoying and useless in the extreme. Fedallah seems present due to the author’s opinion that the story would be better with an exotic character. The crew of the Pequod is plenty diverse and exotic without him.

Captain Ahab doesn’t make an appearance for quite some time. When he at last emerges he ranges from quietly menacing to loudly threatening. Gregory Peck has the perfect look for the role despite a marked resemblance to Abraham Lincoln. Captain Ahab is obsessed with killing an unusually large, supernaturally powerful white whale named Moby-Dick, which has bitten off his leg. For the role Peck wears an astonishingly realistic artificial leg. Over the years Peck tried to stretch as an actor by taking on villainous roles and although he was often unconvincing in these parts he does fine in this.

Chief mate Starbuck, played by Leo Genn, tries to serve as a voice of reason. The ship is owned by investors and its mission is to hunt whales to benefit these investors, not to pursue a mad course chasing one particular whale. Unfortunately Starbuck is no match for Ahab...no one is. He would smite the sun if it insulted him.

Objectionable content includes smoking. Some of the whale hunting scenes are real so actual whales are shown being wounded and killed. For this reason this could never be filmed today but would be all CGI with maybe some archival footage. There is human-on-whale violence, whale-on-human violence, and human-on-human violence, including one particularly brutal scene directed at Queequeg which is not in the book.

I am one of those rare souls who actually enjoyed the book. It does tend to meander quite a bit but makes many good observations on life.

Some of the whale scenes are practical effects such as models which range from extremely well done to astonishing. This film was sadly underrated and neglected, with no Oscar nominations.

The climactic end scene was suggested by the fate of Fedallah in the novel but is much more appropriately accomplished. Frankly, Melville should have written it that way. In my opinion this film is brilliant. I watched it as a child and except for the whale hunting scenes it shouldn’t be too upsetting for children.