Patrick Stuart wasn't bad as Captain Ahab, but not as good as Gregory Peck. In the scene where Ahab is telling his crew that he will chase the "white whale" virtually around the world, Stuart felt the need to shout. Peck, on the other hand, did it far more intensly by a withering look and more sterness in his voice and didn't shout. A far better performance.
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kenfcee8 March 2003
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HSauer16 March 1999Nobody can expect Melville's novel to be brought to life on the screen; the story of the hunt is the bare skeleton of the novel; here, on video & TV, it's the whole whale, and a boorish and unpleasant whale it is. For 90 minutes everyone screams at everyone else (occasionally muttering darkly as if to catch their breath for the next shouting match). That in itself is enough to sink the movie. But also, the editing is terrible, the geography of the hunt is vague (except when the Pequod rounds Cape Horn in snow and ice), and the deeper implications of the novel are only hinted at in passing, as if to prove that the screenwriters are familiar with Melville's work. Read the book!!! Oh - the performances of Ahab and Starbuck are great. I think I'll watch this one again.
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StarCastle997 December 2004Usually I don't expect much out of movies made for TV. They're seven acts, instead of the traditional three, which makes plotting difficult. They work on miniscule budgets, and usually use actors on their way up or their way down. Not to be compared with theatrical motion pictures - apples and oranges. However, the exception proves the rule.
This is an epic telling of the Melville story. Okay, most of you probably had a bad experience reading the novel. You end up asking why Ahab was prepared to give his life for catching or killing the great albino whale. The answer is that Ahab and the Whale are inexorably bound in life. The whale is Ahab's grab for the eternal brass ring, one that eludes him time and again.
First: Best motion picture score I've ever heard for a TV Movie. Second: This picture is filmed like a theatrical, meant to be projected on a large screen. Third: My dear friend, Patrick Stewart who doesn't know how to give a bad performance. Patrick, like the whale is a force of nature, not to be denied. I've directed Patrick on a number of occasions and there's none of the nonsense you hear about the whims of great actors. Patrick comes to work prepared and when he makes a suggestion you take it very seriously.
I don't care about the other online reviews putting the knock on Melville or his story. What have any of us done recently that will live for more than a century and a half. That my friends is the mark of greatness. It's an elusive butterfly that anybody who gives their life to the creative arts covets and strives to achieve. I give it a ten and defy any reader of this review to tell me why it deserves a scentila less. -
The film is a masterpiece of literature, and while this film is inferior to the book, which is of no surprise really, for a TV film it wasn't that bad at all. I have to admit and this is probably blasphemy to some people here I am not a fan of the 1956 film, though I am a fan of the director John Huston, but I found it too slow for my liking and Gregory Peck I found dull as Captain Ahab. This TV version is no masterpiece in any shape or form, but it is a worthy re-make. It does start off slow, but picks up at the end, and while I found Moby Dick adequately menacing in the 1956 film this whale I didn't care for as much. Flaws aside, it is competently made, yes with some uneven effects on occasions, but the scenery, cinematography and ship are impressively rendered, while the score and script are good. And I was surprised at how faithful in general the film was in terms of story to the book. Along the way there are some improvements too, Patrick Stewart is wonderful in the title role, actually capturing the demonic presence of Captain Ahab much better than Gregory Peck, who gives a confident performance as Father Mapple in a role that suits him better I feel. Overall, a worthy re-make if inferior to the brilliant book. 7/10 Bethany Cox
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lee_eisenberg10 July 2006So Gregory Peck's final appearance was in a movie based on the same story as one of his best movies. However, this version of "Moby Dick" is a little hard to take seriously. You see, Ahab is played by Capt. Picard, and Ishmael is played by ET's friend. A previous reviewer noted that they took so much out of the story that no character seems to have any motivation.
But still, it's a pretty fun romp seeing the men sailing around the world on the Pequod, looking for the whale who bit off Ahab's leg. Maybe there might be a better version of it one day. On second thought, just stick with the 1956 version. -
TexasRedge21 May 2002I didn't even know that this film even existed until one day I was at the check-out counter at my local Wal-Mart store and the had a shelf/table full of discounted videos(you know-the ones thay couldn't sell at full price,so they move them to the front of the store and mark the price way down) And being a lover of films, I took the liberty to sift through these to see if there was anything there that might peek my interest. ....and that is when I found Moby Dick. So,I purchased the film for only $3.99
I remember reading Moby Dick in my 8th grade Jr.High class and I also remeber that I didn't like it, and I remeber wondering why this story had been so popular for so many years, and I remeber wondering why it had became such a timeless classic. Dispite the fact that I didn't like Moby Dick as a novel, for some reason I though I might Enjoy this film. Seeing how I only had $4 bucks invested in it - it seemed that I couldn't go wrong.
I ended up liking everything about this film but the story.The Music is first rate, the costumes are great,The acting is very well done. In fact this is one of the best quality Made for TV films of the 1990's (exclunding epic mini-series which are always done much better than single Made for TV films like this one). My problem with Moby Dick was that the source material for this film(the Moby Dick novel itself)isn't good to start with. Once again just like when I was 14 and in the 8th grade (only now I'm 32) I must admit that my yunger 14 year old self was right. this story is pointless.
Captain Ahab chases a Albino(White) whale all over the world because he is own a revenge quest to kill the great white whale nick-named Moby Dick. only to get him self and his entire crew killed in the process. leaving only the stories main charactor as the sole survivor.
Once again at age 32(just like when I was 14)I found myself wondering why this story has managed to stand up to the test and time and still remain one of the worlds great literary classics. The story has always been pointless to me. However this movie did absoletly the best they could with the source material that had. I guess the best way to make a movie thats not very good is to base it on a classic novel that not very good to start with.
I gave this film 6 out of 10 stars- only because the production,Music, cast and crew did a very fine job. it the story Moby Dick that stinks -
elo-equipamentos21 December 2020Conceived as mini-series, Moby Dick come out here in Brazil on full-length DVD with overlong three hours, having in the casting the legendary Gregory Peck as Father Mapple in smallest role, just acting in a few minutes making a speech at church, pryingly the quaint pulpit actually is a thumbnail bow's ship, such shortest appearance misleading the buyer, let's forget it's has been happened quite often nowadays, nonetheless has a meaningful cast as Henry Thomas, Patrick Stewart, Ted Levine, Dominic Purcell like others as well, due the length the writer could extend and deepen the story as illustrated in the H. Melville's classic novel, also due the CGI process at late nineties was enough good to display the giant white whale thoroughly meant to be, how I never read the book, thus I don't know if was accurate or not, however the picture is rather cogent with strained role-playing, at solid hands of the producer Francis Ford Coppola, further the both leading roles the already grow up Henry Thomas and the bold Patrick Stewart were on glowing acting, even with a vintage exact replica of Galleon whaling to sequence on the sea, all others sequences were shot at lavish sound stage, does not cross-check with the John Huston's classic version, nevertheless has their enchants!!
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First watch: 2020 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.25 -
Samiam328 June 2009If you felt that John Huston's film of Herman Melville's immortal epic was too old hat for you, I think you'll find what you are looking for in here. stunning photography, stronger acting, and dazzling special effects, Franc Roddam's Moby Dick, is not just one of the greatest TV movies but one of the greatest sea fearing pictures to come out of the last few decades.
Moby Dick is one of those novels that everyone talks about but nobody has read. Herman Melville's 19th century New England maritime dialog would be difficult for most contemporary readers, but his story is just as strong in a movie form as it is in a 1000 page book, ergo a viewer could gain the same knowledge and understanding of all the themes, whaling, shipping and most of all human nature.
I've never thought of Patrick Stewart as a great actor, but this is the strongest performance I've seen him give. His Captain Ahab is more colorful than Gregory Pecks, sometimes going over the top, but he does a better job of portraying the old captain as a madman Henry Thomas and Ted Levine also give good performances, and even Gregory Peck makes an appearance. Incidentilly this what the last movie he acted in.
Even though the original Moby Dick is still impressive today, the special effects are weak and they show scientific inaccuracies regarding the movement of whales. A good balance of CG and animatronic makes Moby Dick in this film, move more elegantly, like a whale rather than a rubber model. Once again the film not only emphasizes the color of the whale but the size. Moby Dick is a Sperm whale, a species which grows to a lenght of about 50 - 55 feet. however this specimen looks closer to 100 feet . There are some great shots which provide a good hint of scale, one of which involves a whaling rowboat being crushed between the giants jaws
If you can find this on DVD or catch it on television, I strongly recommend you see this, it might just blow you out of the water with awe. -
ma-cortes25 September 2023Fine television rendition about Herman Neville novel with awesome interpretations from all-star-cast. In this extremely enjoyable adaptation of Melville's classic novel, Ahab is revealed initially as a bitter and revengeful madman. This oceans saga features the sole survivor of a lost whaling ship who relates the tale of a white whale and the captain Ahab's obsession with desires for vendetta upon the greatest animal . It starts in New Bedford, Massachussets, where arrives a novice named Ishmael (Henry Thomas) who signs aboard the whaling ship Pequod and befriends a Polynesian native, harpooner Queequeg (Piripi Waretini) and others as Mr. Stubb (Hugh Keays-Byrne), Little Pip (Norman D. Golden II), Mr. Flask (Shane Connor) and Starbuck (Ted Levine) and, of course , captain Ahab (Patrick Stewart) who has a self-destructive obsession to hunt the white whale, Moby Dick . Ahab consecrates his life to hunt it full of hating and vengeance .Soon enough Ishmael aware about the great white whale who claimed the captain's leg and Ahab's determination to seek avenge on the beast that crippled and scarred him , no matter what the cost to himself , his crew or ship .
Yet another take on of Melville's classic battle of wills story. The picture is a fine television adaptation in two episodes of the famous novel well scripted/adapted and ably realized . Moby Dick is an attractive tale of life on the high seas, and in particular on board a whale schooner named 'Pequod' . This impressive adaptation based on Herman Melville's 1851 classic novel is vividly brought to screen . The interactions between Ahab, Starbuck & Stubb is reminiscent of captain Vere, Billy Budd & Master-at-arms John Claggart, the main characters of ¨Billy Budd¨, another novel written by Moby-Dick's author, Herman Melville , and it results to be one of the most thrilling and moving see sagas ever written. Suspense and tension of the ocean is completely captured , including enduring images as the storm with the 'fire of Saint Telmo' . Climatic final battle is an overwhelming piece of television as you are likely to watch . Nigel Williams, Anton Diether, Benedict Fitzgerald and director Franc Roddam himself wrote a screenplay that was partially faith to the novel and filmmaker Franc Roddan stamping this movie with epic images and thought-provoking dialog. Above average recounting , including quite a few moments that click make this top-of-the-range movie more than watchable . The FX experts created a great whale made by means of ordinary computer generator. Top-notch main and secondary cast realize extraordinary performances. Patrick Stewart is very good as Ahab, giving a masterful acting. Phenomenal support cast, such as: Hugh Keays-Byrne of Mad Max, Bruce Spence, Dominic Purcell, Shane Connor and Ted Levine as Starbuck and Gregory Peck who takes on the character of Jonah-and-the-whale sermonizing Father Mapple who in classic adaptation was vividly played by Orson Welles. It contains a sensitive as well as thrilling musical score by Christopher Gordon . Impressive images from Australia, filmed by cameraman David Connell who does wonders shooting the appropriately the oceans in colorful cinematography and splendidly us conveys the bleaker qualities of the sea chase. The motion picture was professionally directed by Fran Roddan, though with no originality . He's a nice director working usually for television as well as cinema Roddan has directed a number of decent movies in all kinds of genres and adaptations based on novels, as Cinema as TV , such as : "Cleopatra", "Moby Dick" , "War Party", "Aria", "The bride", "The lord of Discipline" and his greatest success was "Quadrophenia", his best movie.
Other renditions about this famous novel are the following: 1930 rendition by Lloyd Bacon with John Barrymore, this is the first production of "Moby Dick" to have a leading female character, Joan Blondell . The classic Moby Dick (1959) by John Huston, an over-the-top rendition of Herman Melville's high seas saga with a sensational Gregory Peck as unforgettable captain Ahab. It's remade in 1998 TV series by Mark Binder (2011) with William Hurt as Ahab, Eddie Marsan as Stubb , Gillian Anderson as Elizabeth , Ethan Hawke as Starbuck, Charlie Cox as Ismael, Billy Boyd as Elijah , Raoul Trujillo as Queequeg and Stephen McHattie. And this Moby Dick (1998) by Franc Roddan with Patrick Stewart ,Henry Thomas , Bill Hunter . Furthermore , recent lousy rendition 2010: Moby Dick (2010) by Trey Stokes with full of computer generator FX starred by Barry Bostwick and Renee O'Connor . -
When I finally saw this on TV recently, I wasn't expecting much, but it was even worse than I thought it would be.No redeeming features whatsoever.Even the special effects were bad.In the 1956 movie the whale had a genuine air of menace.Here it was just a big white lump moving through the ocean.One of the idiot features of the movie was that everyone addressed the narrator as "Ishmael".Both the book and the 1956 movie made that plain that that was a symbolic name, not his real one.Queequeeg in Huston's version is an impressive, dignified man.Here he is just a wild eyed lunatic.The novel is a morality play, and John Huston kept that flavor in his version.Nothing of that in this version. The actor who plays Starbuck is not even remotely as good as the one in the 1956 version(but that is generally true of the whole cast),and totally fails to convey the true motivation of the character.In the book, and in the 1956 movie, Starbuck says"Our mission in life is to provide oil for the lamps of the world.And as long as we perform that task to the best of our abilities,we are performing a service for mankind,and that is pleasing to God." And then he says that forsaking that to assist the Captain in personal vengeance is a perversion of that.But in this version Starbuck seems only concerned that they are losing money.There is a sort of driving spirit in the book, that is conveyed in the 1956 movie,that is totally absent in this,nothing but a bizarre hodgepodge.
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Zen-418 November 1998Patrick Stewart gives an outstanding performance as the tragic and obsessed Captain Ahab. The film shines with a compelling storyline, talented cast, and stunning visual effects.
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JurviZ3 August 2010I watched this immediately after finishing the book, and all I can say is that I am a bit baffled.
There were quite a lot of changes made in this version, compared to the book. Now, while this is a pretty normal thing, most adaptations require changes, I must say that all the changes made here were for the worse.
All the ways this movie/mini-series differs from the original book are bad. I cannot understand why the makers of this film made the changes they made. It seems to me they cut out the very depth of the story.
Most of the characters, for example, were more shallow, more over-the-top, like caricatures of the originals. This ruins the mood and the atmosphere of the story. Granted, the at times ridiculous language in the book does a bit of the same in the original, but not nearly as badly as the style of this adaptation.
I feel that the whole core of the book Moby Dick is the character of Ahab, and his dual nature. He is hell bent on killing the whale, but also, deep down, a good man. Now, for some reason, the latter aspect of the character was much down-played in this version. The beauty of the original story is Ahab's own struggle with his obsession, and all the rest of the events in the story are just reflections of this internal struggle. This version does itself a disservice by not following the original on this.
The book has it's problems, it's long and tedious, but the story within is a far better one than the one told by this adaptation. -
Little Minx8 April 2001When I sat down to watch a new version of an old classic, I was not quite certain what to expect,particularly from a TV movie. Having seen some of the names listed in the cast, I was hopeful. Happily, I was not disappointed. Not only was the acting superb, but the cinematography was beautiful and the soundtrack stirring.
Patrick Stewart was quite compelling as Ahab and his rendering of a man possessed by his inner demons was excellent. However, it was Ted Levine's Starbuck who truly stole the show. He said more with just a glance than most actors can with an entire dialogue. One truly felt his emotional and spiritual turmoil. Hopefully this very fine actor will have more roles of this caliber in the future that are worthy of his talent.
The rest of the cast was excellent as well. All in all, a very enjoyable viewing experience and a movie I will return to again and again. -
This television film is a mix of good intentions and missed opportunities, that results in an acceptable but not brilliant version of Melville's book. Patrick Stewart is fine as Ahab, and gets to deliver some of Melville's best lines wonderfully. Ted Levine is a terrific Starbuck, with a real emotional depth to his performance that is probably the best thing in the movie. The ship looks good, the street scenes and the Spouter Inn, are all well done, and there is a grimy, grungy realism about the look of the clothing and the buildings and everything that makes up the day to day world of Nantucket.The acting generally is good and it's not at all a bad adaptation of a classic.
However, it does miss most of the eerie, overwhelming sense of strangeness and mystery of the book. Moby Dick is simply not as majestic and terrifying as he should be, with the sense of awe he inspires in the superstitious seamen. Ahab's mad rage at the whale should be stronger, as well as his hypnotic hold over his crew. The biggest loss in a film that otherwise gives us more of Melville's characters and incidents than any other film adaptation, is the inexplicable omission of Fedallah's spooky prophecies to Captain Ahab. At least the character is included, and he is shown to have some sort of special relationship to Ahab, which is never fully explained in the novel, either. But the dramatic scenes near the end of the book, with Ahab listening to the fatalistic prophecies of Fedallah, concerning the outcome of the hunt for the White Whale, are excluded, and what could have been a truly inspired adaptation becomes a pretty good version, but not the great work it could have been.
Overall, a good adaptation worth seeing, but the 1956 John Huston version, though not as detailed, captures more of the awesome, wild tone of the original. -
ShadowTwo5 October 2008Any one who has read the book or seen the 1956 version are if for a terrible disappointment. Obviously made for TV with all the required commercial breaks to keep the viewer glued to the set; this production not only reinvents the original plot, but also adds in it's own "dark philosophy" of Ahab. Queequeg jabbers like a magpie, Starbuck is a lilly-livered character, and the crew is a mishmash of Africans, crazies, American Indian (?) and what have you. In essence, a waste of time.
The 1956 version, though there are some deviations from the book, still gives the depth that Melville intended to portray. True, Moby Dick may be snazzier in the recent version, but he is PURE white, and looks very plastic. The 1956 whale at least had some age about him, especially since Ahab remarked "when you smell land, and there be no land." The pure white whale would be scentless as opposed to the white/greenish/brownish one in the earlier version. -
For some strange reason Texas-born Henry Thomas affects an Irish brogue in his portrayal of Ishmael, the narrator in Melville's towering novel written in the second person. It is this young schoolmaster's first experience with the sea but former child actor Thomas takes the wide-eyed innocent thing too far. But this time at least the part went to an actor of appropriate age.
Patrick Stewart is best known to American audiences as Capt. Luc Picard in the syndicated TV series "Star Trek--The Next Generation". As Captain Ahab, speaking in accents midway between British and American, he really does seem like a Nantucket man out of the 1840's. He is diabolic, obsessed, yet sea-wise and with considerable personal magnetism.
As first mate Starbuck, husky, stolid Ted Levine gives the performance of his career. He plays the part in an understated fashion, does not try for any period accent, yet there is real conviction in his portrayal of a man of conscience who knows he is serving a captain who will lead the ship and crew to destruction yet is bound by his oath of fealty.
A genuine South Pacific Islander, Piripi a New Zealender of Maori descent, plays the harpooner Quequeg in this production. He has a fine speaking voice and turns in a creditable performance despite some occasional over the top routines.
The scene where the two, Quequeg and Ishmael, go aboard the **Pequod** at its berth in Nantucket harbor and are questioned by the owners is particularly well acted. It is evident that these are sharp businessmen for all their Quaker dress and speech.
As this was a made-for-television production, the special effects are less spectacular than even the Hollywood filming forty years earlier. -
scroggs7 October 2007I must reiterate the remarks made by Mr. Vaugh Birbeck. This made-for-TV version of Moby Dick misses the mark by a mile and then some. All of Birbeck's points are valid, but I'll add a few of my own.
Moby Dick is about a lot of things obsession, revenge, objective evil, the nature of existence the novel is so pregnant with meaning both within and below the text that it has become a byword for significant literature. It is the perennial head-scratcher which has introduced generations of students to the richness of the English language as an artist's palette of tones and colors. Captain Ahab is Socrates run amok. He has seen beneath the façade of mere things to glimpse a sublime Truth, which isn't simply a benevolent deity, but a horror show of forces vast, inscrutable and infinitely hostile.
But Moby Dick is also about whaling. On top of everything else it's a story of mariners and ships and the trade of whaling as it was experienced by Melville himself. Director Franc Roddam doesn't seem to realize this. Evidently he has so little regard for the source that he doesn't feel the need to make the Pequod a real ship from a real place on a real whaling voyage with real whalers aboard. Instead we get a rather unconvincing studio prop for a ship, miscast actors with slipshod direction for a crew, and the classically trained Patrick Stewart struggling with a wretched screenplay that preserves little of Melville's language. Watch the 1956 John Ford production with Gregory Peck in the role of Ahab instead. Even though it is only 116 minutes long Ford's direction of a masterful screenplay by the brilliant Ray Bradbury really gets under the skin of the novel. -
Wyrmis12 December 2002There has been some debate as to what precisely Melville meant by the story of Moby Dick. On one hand, it is a whaling story which is largely based on shipping legend and fact. On another level, there is a lot of reference to Moby Dick the whale being self-referential to the book itself (white beast with black blood, he describes the whale as being a large book at one point). Ultimately, though, most readers find a two pronged story which is search for God on one hand (Ahab's need for revenge and Ishmael's need for purpose and love, note that both names also refer to biblical characters) and is the passionate bonding between males on the other. Unfortuneately, it is in these two areas that the movie does not quite portray the book with due respect.
Now, there is plenty of bonding and Ishmael does sort of get jostled around as per normal, but Melville did not want this to be the standard group of "older men ragging the new". These men, in the book, developed a passionate bond for one another. Ishmael's deep loneliness lead to his deep love for his fellow crew.
As for the search for God, the movie has some of the key scenes to suggest Ahab wants to slay the greatest of God's creatures because he feels his life has been failed and to suggest needed to get away because his life had no meaning. Yet, for the most part, the scenes become much more "sea adventure" oriented and I am not sure that there is much hey could have done to fix it considering the media of choice. I think they could have at least given Father Mapple more passion in his scene and the painting at the beginning (which suggests both the three crosses of Christ and a whale killed by a the three masts of a ship at the same) which offers a great thematic moment could have done more besides show up briefly as it did. It is almost as though they expected one to have read the book and to know what they were talking about.
Finally, as far as the movie's lacks go, they cut out most of the (usually tongue-in-cheek) humor of the book.
Now, as a made for TV movie, it is good stuff. Some of the acting is pretty sketchy at times and there are a few places where the special effects flat out fail in their purpose, but overall the movie is worth watching. Stewart plays a different version of Ahab than what I pictured, but at the same time his version has a lot of life and passion which is good. The other acting had moments of perfect time and moments of almost the opposite, but no scene comes directly to mind where the movie "cracks".
The pacing of the movie actually sort of improves upon the stop-go style of the book.
I think some of the visuals were a little less gory than they should be (this is a violent tale with a good deal of blood and despair in the original) but most of the cues are there for those who have read the book.
Because of such things as this, I almost feel as though one needs to read the book to fill in the gaps, or the story does not get the treatment it deserves. But, as long you know more of the depth of the story, the movie is a decent vessel for which to carry it in. 7/10 -
medofocus21 February 2022Iconic and unforgettable. Sir Patrick Stewart's personified Ahab's twisted and bitter character elegantly and brilliantly. At certain moments he was absolutely terrifying and crawls under your skin. The blinded sheep-like crew makes you feel uneasy as you pity the presence of poor Ishmael in their midst meanwhile you admire the magnificence of Queequeg and his devout sense of friendship towards Ishmael, the unfortunate wannabe sailor.
The mighty fearsome whale strikes the Pequod as fiercely as it strikes your heart. Your sense of cold loneliness and abandonment grows while the masts breakdown in the abyss of the bottomless seas. -
d-millhoff4 September 2005I rented this remake with high expectations.
I was disappointed.
In four hours, they failed to tell half the story Huston and Bradbury got so perfectly right in the 1956 classic.
Huston's classic is a little dated, particularly in terms of special effects that look like the miniatures they in fact are. While the CGI whale in this remake is a refreshingly-convincing manifestation of a 60-foot sperm whale, it's not Moby Dick.
This movie is bright and colorful, and the whale's just a whale. The cast doesn't come across as seasoned whalers, it feels like actors playing weekend yachtsmen, thanks in no small part to a script that can't seem to respect the intelligence of its audience.
Moby Dick is a dark, slow story of building, brooding menace, which makes the moments of action all the more thrilling and terrifying.
This remake captures none of the atmosphere or colorful character or menace of Melville's classic. At its best moments, it's simply re-hashing moments that were were perfected 42 years before.
If you want to see Moby Dick, see John Huston's 1956 masterpiece. -
bkoganbing22 September 2014Gregory Peck returned to Moby Dick, this time in the one scene role as Father Mapple to give a farewell performance in the same work he did 42 years earlier as Captain Ahab. It was a great part to cap his career with and he received much acclaim.
Taking over the Ahab part is Patrick Stewart as the demon obsessed whaling ship captain who sees a giant albino sperm whale as the root of all evil. And why not since on a previous voyage trying to capture him it cost Stewart a leg. But the point of the whole story is how the charismatic Ahab infects the crew of his ship the Pequod with his own madness.
First mate Starbuck is played by Ted Levine best known as Captain Stottlemyre on Monk. And the novel's teller of this tale is played by Henry Thomas all grown up now and best remembered as the young lad from E.T. Ishmael calls and the story has not slackened a bit.
Some wonderful cinematography of the Tasmanian Sea where this story was filmed. Most of the cast in the supporting roles are Australian.
In the recent biography of Gregory Peck author Lynn Hamey describes the screen legend's failing health. A chronic back ailment which made him a 4F during World War II and he was suffering emphysema and his memory was failing. Still he summoned up enough reserves to be unforgettable as Father Mapple delivering that sermon for the outbound sailors about Jonah and the whale. In Peck's own Moby Dick the part had been similarly unforgettably done by Orson Welles.
A lot of the subtleties in Herman Melville's great novel had to be glossed over for the big screen. But in this fine TV mini-series they're all there. The cast is well up to the challenge in this epic done for the Hallmark Channel. -
What an awful film. Geez. I watched this in a film class and just plain hated it. As I watched this I couldn't help but think what Franc Roddam and Anton Diether thinking. I usually don't base a film on one specific thing and I didn't with this. The visual effects were terrible, the acting terrible and the story was nothing as the classic book or '56 adaption.
Even Patrick Stewart couldn't bring the film out of the huge hole it dug . Everything for a bad film is used in this mini-series and it really shouldn't be seen by anyone. Nothing is explained and nothing really happens except a bunch of guys talking about a whale.
Moby Dick. Starring: Patrick Stewart, Henry Thomas, Piripi Waretini, and Bruce Spence.
1 out of 5 Stars. -
vaughan.birbeck6 November 2000As a long-time fan of the 1956 John Huston film I was looking forward to seeing a new interpretation of what is recognised as a classic of world literature.
What went wrong? Well, it might have helped if the makers had respected the audience's intelligence and used (as Huston did) as much of Melville's language as possible. Alright, all viewers will understand the meaning of a "flat calm sea", but surely a "soft and dirge-like main" is so much more evocative. Worse still, Ahab's major speeches ("pasteboard masks" and "mild, mild day") are chopped by the writers and thrown away by the direction, leaving us with a story about a man who for some reason wants to chase one particular whale, his true motivation is completely lost.
Patrick Stewart did a decent job as Ahab given the circumstances but with that loss of motivation he lost the mythical, superhuman stature the character needs to give the story greatness. Gregory Peck was fine as Father Mapple (again, the sermon was chopped down until it was meaningless, depriving the actor of his best opportunity to make a lasting impression).
The supporting cast are best described as nondescript, ranting their dialogue. Starbuck is completely miscast. His opposition to Ahab is shown by surly sulking and droning on about the financial purpose of the voyage. He doesn't seem to realise the true nature of Ahab's obsession at all. Even the small but crucial appearance of Elijah (where Royal Dano had two superb minutes in 1956) is turned into a caricature who adds nothing to the mythical dimension of the story.
The effects were adequate although, for some reason I never felt the Pequod was actually moving, even in the storm scenes. Strange that a film set on a small sailing ship should feel to static.
As for Moby Dick himself, I've always felt that in Huston's film he was a *character* with an individual personality. In this version Moby Dick is just a whale, and that sums up the failure of the film as a whole.