That would have been great if Citizen Kane/ Harry Lime/ Le Chiffre had played the role of Captain Ahab.
He was a much more qualified actor for the part imo. He was able to play that dark character of Ahab better than Peck, though Peck did quite well.
That, or John Huston himself should have played the role and cast somebody like Jack Lemmon as Ishmael for the box office draw.
This is a good point that we've gone into before. Welles badly wanted to play Ahab, but Huston was set in his mind with his dad, Walter. Greg Peck was the nearest Anglo replacement around.
shareLoL if Huston wanted the closest thing to his dad, should have looked into a damn mirror :D
shareHe sure wanted to do it, but no one would've bankrolled that.
shareWhy not?
Wasn't Huston a big name director back then? Did he also have a decent acting career? How else did he get the parts of Gandalf and Noah Cross (Chinatown)?
MOBY DICK was budgeted at 3.5 million (it came in at $5 million) which was a huge budget in 1955 when the film was announced. Even if Walter Huston were alive it's doubtful Warner's would've bankrolled the film with him in it as by the mid-40's he had become a dependable character actor not a major star. For that kind of dough, studios want a bankable star like Gary Cooper or Jimmy Stewart. Gregory Peck was the name Huston agreed to and off they went.
Reportedly on the set during rehearsals, Huston would often demonstrate his portrayal of Ahab to the cast and crew. To a person they all claimed he was mesmerizing making Peck's performance look puny by comparison. Peck, himself, claimed he was more suited to the role of Starbuck, and was, of course, disappointed in his portrayal feeling he was too young for the role. So it goes.
Peck did his best, which is pretty good to be fair.
But such a tragedy that it never happened that Huston or even Welles would play Ahab on screen.
Y'know, I'm very fond of Peck's portrayal (and I've been watching it for forty years). I think he's leagues better than Patrick Stewart in the 90's TV version, although Stewart was sabotaged by an over-the-top script and bland direction.
shareFarley, after listening to that little strutting peacock, Patrick Stewart, blather "make it so" "make it so" "make it so" ad nauseum, in his little uniform, looking like the Mahatma Ghandi in an usher's uniform, I can only say that he is the single-most overrated actor ever to strut upon the boards!! His Scrooge? horrible! His Ahab? a mockery! He is the very embodiment of the One Note Actor. In fact, if you look-up "one note actor" in the dictionary, I would full expect to see a picture of Patrick Stewart right there!
Now, anyone with at least a small particle of brain lodged in their thick skulls, such as yours truly, will readily admit that Welles is almost always VERY interesting in any role he takes on. His Father Mapple blew me away (even if that set piece pulpit was a bit much. I used to live on Nantucket and I've spent plenty of time in New Bedford - there ain't nothing like that in those places)! But, I'd have to say that if Welles had got on the back of Moby Dick as Ahab, poor Moby Dick would have sunk under the weight of his considerable bulk and girth!
This film is a special case for me, jackboot. It's the first film I remember seeing as a child. And, indeed, I saw it over and over, so I can't judge in without bias.
shareI was late to the party to see this Moby Dick for the first time, farley, so, I feel a little less fettered by bias and I think it's a tremendous film. And so, so, so much better than the Patrick Stewart outing. And Orson Welles was just incredible in his one scene as Father Mapple. He scared me silly!
I just can't understand why Patrick Stewart has had much of a career. I don't think that he's much of an actor at all.
I used to walk by the house where lived the captain of the whaler, "The Essex", the last voyage of which was Melville's inspiration for Moby Dick. I'd pass by there every day! There are two surviving records of that tragedy, one by a seaman named Nickerson and the other by the first mate, named Owen Chase. Supposedly, Melville was shown Owen Chase's journal of that voyage and that was what got the ball rolling! The two accounts were on sale at the Nantucket Whaling Museum when I lived there, they are well worth reading, especially since you're such a fan of the story!
Yeah, I doubt if any adult viewer could watch this film today and think Peck is mesmerizing in this role (just saw him give about the same performance in his first role in KEYS OF THE KINGDOM).
I've always contended that films can only truly be enjoyed by kids and young teens. At that point, films are extensions of their lives. God, I remember thinking how much I wanted to be a whaler when I was 8 years old. Of course, after watching BLOOD AND SAND with Tyrone Power at nine, all I wanted to be was a matador.
Capt. Chase Owen was the captain of the Essex. His next ship ran aground also (oh, the luck), and he was relegated thereafter to lighter of the streetlamps in Nantucket. In a perfect world, John Huston would've played Ahab, and they would've worked a little harder on the special effects.
Owen Chase was the first mate. George Pollard, Jr. was the captain of the Essex and only 28 years-old at the time. Yes, he was able to secure another commission as captain and lost that ship, which ran into rocks near the Hawaiian Islands and sank. Yes, he was relegated to being a watchman on the waterfront on Nantucket thereafter and Melville wrote of seeing him. Owen Chase was traumatized by the experience for the rest of his life and would have terrible nightmares and would hide food in the attic of his Nantucket home. I lived on Orange Street, on Nantucket, which was the same street Chase and Pollard's houses were on. Orange Street at one time boasted the homes of the most ship captains in the world in the day.
The tragedy of the Essex, and particularly the cannibalism and the drawing of lots (not straws as has been popularized) to kill and eat the loser, and all of that, was not spoken of openly and only mentioned in whispers on the island. Ironically, the kid who drew the "short straw", actually a black spot, was the young cousin of Capt. Pollard and Pollard had sworn to the boy's mother that he would personally see to her son's safe return. You can imagine her displeasure upon Pollard returning home to Nantucket alive as a consequence of having killed and eaten her son.
Also, Nathaniel Philbrick wrote "In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex". I knew Nat Philbrick and I highly recommend his book.
Take a glance at these two wikipedia articles, which briefly summarize the events pretty well:
George Pollard, Jr. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Pollard,_Jr.
Whaleship Essex http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whaleship_Essex
I love Gregory Peck as an actor and as a person and I think that the gave a fine performance as Ahab. When he was silent and brooding, he was most fearsome. I never knew when he would blow a valve and explode!
Great stuff. I'm going to look it up. The other contributing legend to Herman Melville was, of course, the great sperm whale, Mocha Dick, "the stout gentleman of the Pacific." Just read recently that Mocha Dick was, indeed, killed and made into ambergris sandwiches. How apropo your description of Gregory Peck, which lines up perfectly with Mocha Dick, who "when he was silent and brooding, he was most fearsome. (One) never knew when he would blow a valve and explode!"
I'm ashamed to admit but I'm amused by the dark irony of Capt. Pollard assuaging the mother of his cousin (weren't they both his cousin?) of the poor lad's unfortunate demise. "In the end, he gave his all to his crew. And it was delicious."
I've read about Mocha Dick who was white, and who had several old harpoons sticking out of him!
I didn't know about the sandwiches! Whalers generally didn't eat whale meat, but maybe they made a point of it in his case??
I'm not certain of the relationship between young Coffin, Pollard and young Coffin's mother. Most likely she was Pollard's cousin, too.
That's pretty funny, farley, "he gave his all..."!!!
No, there are no such things as ambergris sandwiches. In the novel, Mr. Stubb does cut off a piece of sperm whale and cook himself a steak, however.
shareHow about that.
The prevailing folklore around Nantucket was that whalers never ever ever ate whale meat. Maybe they made an exception for ambergris? Sounds kind of nasty.
I can't remember the chapter name (I think it's "Mr. Stubb's Dinner - or Meal"), and it's point is that Mr. Stubb is the ONLY whaler on the Pequod who dares to eat whale meat. So, it's kind of an oxymoronic story that whalers don't eat it, but this one fictional 2nd mate does. Where does the truth like, it's the chicken or egg all over again.
If so, we lucked out. "Moby Dick" as is, is perfectly cast, and Walter Huston is one of the most overrated actors in history.
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