MovieChat Forums > Moby Dick (1956) Discussion > Why a remake? This movie stands up just...

Why a remake? This movie stands up just fine.

posted 15 years ago by BigShoe62
30 replies | jump to latest

Somehow I have managed to miss seeing this movie all these years... I finally got to see it today and really loved it! it is currently in the rotation on the "THIS TV" network.

I found it to be engrossing, visually and "historically" interesting, and just plain fun. I loved the pastel creepy look to the film -- appropriate, dreamlike and memorable. I also thought the use of miniatures was more-or-less sparse and pretty cleverly done. Those artisans that created special effects back before computers deserve our respect. Back when special effects was more than clicking the mouse and tapping the keyboard...? Anybody...?

Anyway, in my opinion there is no need to remake this movie, it stands up just fine. Why do people think everything must be remade?

I was born when she kissed me. I died when she left me. I lived a few weeks while she loved me.

[–] magolding 13 years ago

One reason to remake the film might be revealed in the thread about how Houston improved upon Ray Bradbury's script and even Melville's story in some respects, especially making Ahab's fate more dramatic.

Possibly a remake could take that a step further and have Ahab be dragged under only to have Moby Dick resurface before Ahab could drown, with Ahab tangled upon Moby Dick's forehead. Moby Dick would swim away on the surface too fast for the boats to follow. Thinking Ahab was already dead, the boats would return to the Pequod.

Then Moby Dick would return and swim towards the Pequod. The crew would see Ahab moving on Moby's forehead as the whale got closer. Ahab would pull out an old harpoon and stab at MObdy Dick. Shouts from the crew would alert Ahab to look behind and see that they were rushing toward the hull of the Pequod.

Stabbing again, Ahab would shout "With life's last breath I spit at thee! From Hell's depth I stab at thee!". Then Moby's vast head would smash into and through the Pequod's hull, penetrating many feet. Moby would back off, with no sign of Ahab on his forehead, and the Pequod would instantly fill up with water through the hole a hundred times larger than was necessary to sink the ship, and it would capsize upon the crew trying to launch the whaleboats on one side and drag down the whaleboats on the other side with its suction.

Another reason to remake Moby Dick would be to base it not only upon Melville's novel but also upon a story that Moby Dick was the protagonist. A Story such as White as the Waves: A Novel of Moby Dick, by Allison Baird.

A remake should make it clear that the business of whalers was to kill beings who might be people as intelligent as humans and sell their body products for profit.

[–] intexor 13 years ago

I see there are at least two big remakes of this movie. Haven't seen them, but I agree, what's the point. This movie held up great and is still very impressive over half a century later.

[–] SeanJoyce 13 years ago

They aren't "remakes of this movie"...they're adaptations of the book.

No movie, no matter how definitively it captures the book, has a stranglehold on the source material. This is especially true of classic opuses like "Moby Dick".

How many film iterations are there of stuff like "Romeo and Juliet", "A Christmas Carol", and "The Three Musketeers"? Is every new edition a replication of its predecessor? Nope.

"...if that was off, I'd be whoopin' your ass up and down this street." ~ an irate Tarantino

[–] cwente2 13 years ago

Yup. Nicely said. . . And I like this adaptation, too.

[–] puirt-a-beul 13 years ago

Anyway, in my opinion there is no need to remake this movie, it stands up just fine. Why do people think everything must be remade?

I think on most occasions it's got nothing to do with anyone feeling that a previous version "needs" a remake. Sometimes studios want to cash in on previous successes, sure, and recycle a protiable title for a new generation of audience; that happens, no question. But I think remakes happen mostly because the creative people responsible for getting projects off the ground - writers, producers, directors and actors - simply want to have their own go at telling a great story. It's like in theatre, where there are great roles or plays that actors simply want their turn at playing for themselves, even if someone else has already done it brilliantly.

And if the end result doesn't turn out as they'd hoped, well there's no harm in their giving it a try.

All that said, I've seen several versions of this story so far, and only one actor I've seen (Steven Berkoff, in a one-man stage version) has caught the essence of the terrifying maelstrom of a man at the centre of Melville's original story. Of those I've seen on film (Gregory Peck, Patrick Stewart and William Hurt), in my opinion none of them has done the character justice, though Peck came closest of the three. So there's probably still room for the story to be retold yet again.

You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.

[–] VaticanAssassinWarlock 12 years ago

Just watched this for the first time. I'm a huge fan of historical seafairing movies and I would rate this pretty highly but at the same time there are some aspects that could be done better with modern technology. The whale isn't very convincing and the Pequod in the final scenes reeks of Monty Python-esq 'it's only a model' (shh!). Perhaps one of the best sailing films ever made, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World demonstrates just how impressive and realistic a mixture of modern practical effects and digital effects can be. I'm not normally a critic of older special effects (for example Harryhausen's work remains breath-taking even though you're unlikely to be fooled by it) but I definately felt the end of the film suffered from the limitations of the time.

[–] herbsuperb 12 years ago

I love this movie. It's one of my favorites, and in many ways a masterpiece. That being said, I'd love to see a really well put together re-imagining of this piece. Big budget, big names. There are some immensely talented actors and filmmakers out there today, and with the technological evolutions since '56 I think it could be spectacular. Just one thing, STAY AWAY FROM CGI to the extent possible. I'd love to see this done with really top-notch animatronics. Dummy whales (that obviously cost a LOT of money), spectacular miniatures, footage of actuals whales where possible, and the like. I want to be able to feel like I'm actually on the water, with the whalers, not sitting in a theatre watching a film that was obviously put together entirely on computers. I want it to look and feel real, by virtue of being real for the most part.

I think the biggest obstacle to this is that it's not PC to show whales being killed. I think at this point the film-going audience is ready to move past that. At least I hope so. Whaling was a pretty ugly business, but it is part of our shared history, and should be portrayed as such.

If someday I see a trailer for a new Moby Dick film with some really talented folks names attached to it. I will be really, really excited.

[–] OnlyRocknRoll 12 years ago

I don't understand the whole "remake thing" either. What, no one else has written a decent book or script recently?? The cruddy movies over the past 25 years are enough. They have to remake the excellent films into cruddy ones as well??

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[–] spyretto 11 years ago

Because we need cgi and exploding whales.

[–] murdoch1111 11 years ago

@BigShoe62 » Thu Mar 18 2010 AND OTHERS

The 1956 film is by far the best version of Herman Melville's magnificent novel. It's better than the 1998 version, and MUCH better than the 2011 one.

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Times_Up 9 years ago

I agree, just saw it, I think, for the first time and it is wonderful in the way only older films can be. Nothing wrong with a remake. Especially since it'd be a new adaptation more than anything, but you can't beat this as being the original Jaws is quite a claim.

All good things must come to an end - Chaucer