Line #15 Film/MobyDick


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5	[[quoteright:325:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mobydick1956_1.png]]
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7	''Moby-Dick'' is a 1956 film directed by Creator/JohnHuston with a screenplay by Creator/RayBradbury.
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9	It adapts the Creator/HermanMelville [[Literature/MobyDick novel of the same name]], about the tale of the self-destructive obsession of a whaling crew's captain, Ahab, to hunt an albinos sperm whale called Moby Dick, witnessed by Ishmael, the crew's new recruit.
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11	The cast includes Creator/GregoryPeck as Captain Ahab, Creator/RichardBasehart as Ishmael, Leo Genn as Starbuck, Friedrich von Ledebur as Queequeg, Creator/HarryAndrews as Stubb and Creator/OrsonWelles as Father Mapple.
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13	!!This film provides examples of:
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15	* AccordionToMostSailors: Early on, a whaler at the inn plays "Amsterdam" (aka "A-Rovin'") on a concertina, which leads to the whole room singing and dancing.
16	* AdaptationDistillation: In the novel, Ishmael stays briefly in New Bedford before taking a packet ship to Nantucket, since he wants to sail aboard a whaler from the original home of the New England whaling industry. In the film, the trip to Nantucket is cut out and Ishmael signs aboard the ''Pequod'' at New Bedford. The film reassigns the mystique the book builds up around Nantucket to New Bedford as a result.
17	* AdaptationalHeroism: There's nothing hinting at Queequeg's tribe being [[ImAHumanitarian cannibalistic]] in this version, unlike the novel.
18	* AdaptedOut: The film leaves out several characters of various importance, most notably Fedallah (whose role of making specific predictions about Ahab's fate is handed to Elijah).
19	* AgeLift: Creator/RichardBasehart, who played Ishmael, was actually ''older'' than Gregory Peck.
20	* BookDumb: Queequeg draws a whale when he has to sign the crew list of the ''Pequod'' when he's hired, instead of signing with his name. He's a very skilled harpooner otherwise.
21	* {{Brownface}}: Queequeg was played by Austrian actor Friedrich von Ledebur. The fake tattoos look okay at a glance; von Ledebur as a Pacific Islander is less convincing.
22	* CompositeCharacter: Fedallah's part is filled early on by Elijah.
23	* LargeHam: Ahab as played by Gregory Peck swings between ChewingTheScenery and just [[ColdHam sounding like he's about to]].
24	* LockedIntoStrangeness: Ahab has a white line going through his hair, tracing the scar left by a lightning bolt.
25	* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: Every time some other ship mentions that they've seen Moby Dick, Ahab anxiously asks "You didn't kill him, did you?", and is relieved to hear that the whale is still alive. Ahab wants to get revenge ''personally''; it won't do if some other ship kills Moby Dick first.
26	* RiverOfInsanity: It becomes quickly apparent that Ahab is not sane, and he ends up perishing and leading his crew to their doom in the irrational pursuit of his AnimalNemesis.

Context Film / MobyDick