IMDb plot summary: In this extremely loose adaptation of Melville's classic novel, Ahab is revealed initially not as a bitter and vengeful madman, but as a bit of a lovable scamp.
Directed by Lloyd Bacon. Starring John Barrymore, Joan Bennett, and Lloyd Hughes.
Moby Dick is a loose 1930 film adaptation of the famous book by Herman Melville, featuring John Barrymore as Captain Ahab. When I say loose adaptation, I mean that it's kept the premise of Ahab's frenetic search for the white whale, and that's about it. In this version of the story, he was going to marry a woman from back home, only to lose his leg and his chance at love, which drives him in his quest for Moby Dick. Given the fact that I didn't enjoy the original book at all and found it to be mostly a collection of whale facts, I much preferred this narrative-driven version of the story. Barrymore's Ahab is charming in the first half of the movie and believably tortured in the second half, and it's easy to resonate with his struggle. I truly found myself wondering how you adapt Moby Dick to the screen, though I know it's been done several times, but this is one way to do it that works pretty well for me.
How it entered my Flickchart:
Moby Dick > Hairspray (1988)
Moby Dick < Safe
Moby Dick > A Scanner Darkly
Moby Dick < The Mummy (1932)
Moby Dick > Invictus
Moby Dick < A Tree Grows In Brooklyn
Moby Dick > Florence Foster Jenkins
Moby Dick > Moonwalker
Moby Dick > The Crying Game
Moby Dick > The Miseducation of Cameron Post
Moby Dick > Trouble in Paradise
Final spot: #1215 out of 3700, or 67%.
No comments:
Post a Comment