Moby Dick Overview:

Moby Dick (1956) was a Adventure - Drama Film directed by John Huston and produced by John Huston and Jack Clayton.

Moby Dick BlogHub Articles:

Warner Archive: John Barrymore in a Pre-code Version of Moby Dick (1930)

By KC on Sep 27, 2016 From Classic Movies

"Call me Ishamael." Herman Melville's opening line to Moby Dick is one of the most famous first sentences in English literature, and yet, when a large volume of the book is opened to the first page in the credits of this pre-code take on the novel, there is no Ishamael in sight. The man himself neve... Read full article


See all Moby Dick articles

Quotes from Moby Dick

Ishmael: [in voiceover, about Starbuck] His courage was one of the great staples of the ship, like beef or flour. There, when required, and not to be foolishly wasted.


Father Mapple: Delight is to him who coming to day him down can say, "O Father, mortal or immortal, here I die. I have striven to be Thine, more than to be this world's. Yet this is nothing. I leave eternity to Thee. For what is man, that he should live out the lifetime of his God?"


Captain Ahab: By heavens man, we are turned round and round in this world, like yonder windlass, and fate is the handspike.


read more quotes from Moby Dick...

Facts about Moby Dick

Although Ishmael is supposed to be in his twenties, Richard Basehart was actually forty when the film was made - two years older than Gregory Peck.
John Huston shopped the film around Hollywood for three years before United Artists and Moulin Productions agreed to produce it. It was a dark, depressing story, without any female parts or love interest, so Hollywood shunned the screenplay. Warners only entered the agreement for theatrical distribution on the condition that a big-name actor take the role of Ahab. Many thought Gregory Peck was miscast, and Peck actually thought that Huston himself would have been the best choice for the role.
Orson Welles suffered from stage fright while filming Father Mapple's sermon. To quell the actor's nerves, John Huston hid a bottle of brandy on the set so Welles could visit it as needed.
read more facts about Moby Dick...
Share this page:
Visit the Classic Movie Hub Blog CMH
Also directed by John Huston




More about John Huston >>
Also produced by John Huston




More about John Huston >>
Related Lists
Create a list


See All Related Lists >>
Also released in 1956




See All 1956 films >>