Moby Dick (1956)

Cast

Gregory Peck
as Captain Ahab
Orson Welles
as Father Mapple
John Huston
as Barman / Ship's Lookout
Richard Basehart
as Ishmael

Get more information about Moby Dick (1956) on IMDb

Genres & Description

Action Adventure Drama

7.4 / 10

This classic story by Herman Melville revolves around Captain Ahab and his obsession with a huge whale, Moby Dick. The whale caused the loss of Ahab's leg years before, leaving Ahab to stomp the boards of his ship on a peg leg. Ahab is so crazed by his desire to kill the whale, that he is prepared to sacrifice everything, including his life, the lives of his crew members, and even his ship to find and destroy his nemesis, Moby Dick.

Similar Movies

Two Men in Town

5.7

(2014)

The Horse Thief

7.1

(1986)

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

8.0

(1966)

Boyhood

7.9

(2014)

Comments on this trailer
Comments may include spoiler!

Joe Morrissey

Great movie and I too thought Peck's performance was perfect. As for the Million Dollar Movie. In the fifties and early sixties when local networks in major markets like New York and L.A. struggled to create programming they block booked entire libraries from various studios like RKO, EARLING, and even TOHO to fill their air time. So as a consequence we got to see a lot of movies. And yes, they'd run them five nights a week but when I first saw The Crimson Pirate I didn't mind. Watched it ever night. - @Thursday, October 25, 2018 2:57 AM

SpockBoy

Between this and Boys From Brazil, goody-two shoes handsome leading man Peck, is superb in the role of a dark character. - @Friday, October 5, 2018 8:11 PM

richard murphy

moby dick what are you going to do its moby dick wtf - @Sunday, July 22, 2018 9:57 PM

Malafakka

Love this movie. My favorite scenes are between Ahab and Starbuck in Ahab's cabin and on the morning after the storm. And yes, of course, the scene when Ahab is on Moby Dick's back, stabbing and cursing it with as much hatred as he can muster. Was there ever a character who hated as intensely as Ahab? Such poetry. - @Wednesday, December 13, 2017 1:30 AM

philmfan

They did a pretty good job cramming a long, complex novel - some say THE great American novel - into the confines of a standard length Hollywood film. Even though Huston was a great director, someone today could possibly get even more of the novel into a same sized package or manage to make a longer film of it that remained compelling, purely due to changes in film technique that allow for more experimentation and less exposition, but there are simply no directors today who are up to the task IMO, at least none willing to take a crack at Moby Dick. Consequently, limitations of the time (purely for state of technique alone) considered, this is an excellent, unfairly and inaccurately maligned adaptation. As with Dickerson, it's one of my favorites and many scenes have lost none of their impact over the years. Basehart was well-cast, the portrayal of Quequeg much better than the overly accurate islander portrayal from the tv film, Royal Dano as Elisha a high point, really excellent cast all around. And a master class in adaptive screenwriting from Bradbury. The remastered Twilight Time disc, while not perfect, is probably the closest to a perfect presentation we'll ever see of this often overlooked classic. Yeah, that's what I said - a CLASSIC! - @Saturday, April 15, 2017 1:14 AM

marksandsparks1

and the 1964 Cold War flick The Bedford Incident wasn't a bad interpretation of Melvilles book, with Widmark a very realistic Ahab. - @Tuesday, January 17, 2017 10:11 PM

Mark Burgh

I always thought that they should have dumped Peck, let John Huston play Ahab and let Orson Welles direct this film. Then it would have been something. - @Wednesday, July 27, 2016 1:20 PM

Just think

Call me.........Ishmael............one of the most beautiful entry sequences on film. music, acting, dialog, cinematography. it has it all. I first saw it at the drive in in El Paso in the late 50's. I have the dvd, but it needs to be remastered. it's a classic film. - @Saturday, January 2, 2016 6:52 AM

Numinous20111

The film's reputation (I've only seen it once - about 30 years ago) is mixed. The cast are excellent and it's very visually impressive. I can understand why it would leave an impression on Ernest Dickerson. It's unfortunate that Richard Basehart didn't have a bigger career. - @Sunday, September 28, 2014 3:12 PM

Elder Predator Jungle Hunter

The best whale movie ever MOBY DICK!!! - @Saturday, November 23, 2013 3:29 PM