''Moby Dick'' is a 1930 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorshi ...

film from

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

, directed by

Lloyd Bacon Lloyd Francis Bacon (December 4, 1889 – November 15, 1955) was an American screen, stage and vaudeville actor and film director. As a director he made films in virtually all genres, including westerns, musicals, comedies, gangster films, an ...

, and starring

John Barrymore John Barrymore (born John Sidney Blyth; February 14 or 15, 1882 – May 29, 1942) was an American actor on stage, screen and radio. A member of the Drew and Barrymore theatrical families, he initially tried to avoid the stage, and briefly att ...

Joan Bennett Joan Geraldine Bennett (February 27, 1910 – December 7, 1990) was an American stage, film, and television actress. She came from a show-business family, one of three acting sisters. Beginning her career on the stage, Bennett appeared in more t ...

and

Walter Lang Walter Lang (August 10, 1896 – February 7, 1972) was an American film director. Early life Walter Lang was born in Tennessee. As a young man he went to New York City where he found clerical work at a movie studio, film production company. The ...

. The film is a sound remake of the 1926 silent movie, '' The Sea Beast'', which also starred Barrymore. It is the first adaption film of

Herman Melville Herman Melville (Name change, born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American people, American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance (literature), American Renaissance period. Among his bes ...

's 1851 novel ''

Moby Dick ''Moby-Dick; or, The Whale'' is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is the sailor Ishmael's narrative of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship ''Pequod'', for revenge against Moby Dick, the giant whit ...

'' which includes a

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

Plot

The film tells of a sea captain's maniacal quest for revenge on a great white whale that has bitten off his leg. After disembarking in

New Bedford New Bedford (Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. Up through the 17th century, the area was the territory of the Wampanoag Native American pe ...

, Ahab Ceely meets and falls in love with Faith Mapple, the daughter of the local minister. Although courted by Ahab's brother Derek, she falls in love with the daring-do Ahab. She is heartbroken when he leaves on another voyage, but says she will wait three years for him to return. During this next voyage, Ahab loses his right leg to

, a white whale. When Ahab returns to New Bedford, he mistakenly believes that the woman he loves no longer wants to see him due to his disfigurement, an opinion encouraged by Ahab's brother, who wants Faith for himself. Ahab vows revenge against the whale, and to kill it or be killed in the process, and returns to sea. Eventually, Ahab raises enough capital to buy and be captain of his own ship, but no one wants to crew with him because of his passion for destroying Moby Dick. On a resupply visit to New Bedford, most of the crew deserts the ship. Ahab directs his first mate to shanghai a crew and unknowingly takes his brother on board. Although the crew mutinies, Moby Dick is sighted, and Ahab heads the harpoon boats out to spear him; driven with a bloodlust, he harpoons Moby Dick and kills him. The crew boils the sperm whale down for whale oil, and they return to New Bedford, where Ahab and Faith are reunited.

Cast

Captain Ahab Captain Ahab is a fictional character and one of the main protagonists in Herman Melville's ''Moby-Dick'' (1851). He is the monomaniacal captain of the whaling ship ''Pequod''. On a previous voyage, the white whale Moby Dick bit off Ahab's leg, ...

Ceely *

as Faith Mapple * Lloyd Hughes as Derek Ceely *

Noble Johnson Noble Johnson (April 18, 1881 – January 9, 1978), later known as Mark Noble, was an American actor and film producer. He appeared in films such as '' The Mummy'' (1932), ''The Most Dangerous Game'' (1932), ''King Kong'' (1933) and ''Son of ...

Queequeg Queequeg is a character in the 1851 novel ''Moby-Dick'' by American author Herman Melville. The son of a South Sea chieftain who left home to explore the world, Queequeg is the first principal character encountered by the narrator, Ishmael. T ...

Nigel De Brulier Nigel De Brulier (born Francis George Packer; 8 August 1877 – 30 January 1948) was an English stage and film actor who began his career in the United Kingdom before relocating to the United States. Biography De Brulier was born in Frenchay, a ...

as Elijah * Walter Long as Mr Stubbs *

May Boley May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the third of seven months to have a length of 31 days. May is a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, May ...

as Whale Oil Rosie * Tom O'Brien as Starbuck * John Ince as Reverend Mapple

Foreign-language versions

One foreign-language version of the 1930 film of ''Moby Dick'' was produced. The German version was titled '' Dämon des Meeres'' and was directed by

Michael Curtiz Michael Curtiz ( ; born Manó Kaminer; since 1905 Mihály Kertész; hu, Kertész Mihály; December 24, 1886 April 10, 1962) was a Hungarian-American film director, recognized as one of the most prolific directors in history. He directed cla ...

Box office

According to Warner Bros. records. the film earned $579,000 domestically and $218,000 foreign.

Preservation status

The film survives intact and has been broadcast on television and cable and is available through Warner Archive DVD-on-demand. A print has long been preserved at the Library of Congress.

Comparison to novel

''Moby Dick'' was considered a loose adaptation of the novel; Marc Di Paolo said it was "a poorly conceived ''and'' unfaithful version . . . in which Ahab . . . slays the white whale at the end and goes home to his true love." Walter C. Metz said the film excludes the novel's central character Ishmael and "produces a conventional Hollywood love story between Ahab and Faith, the invented daughter of Rev. Mapple, whose moral purity reforms Ahab from a bawdy sailor into a marriageable man." Metz also said that the film created Ahab's back story, having a love story that does not appear in the novel.

References

External links

*
Moby Dick
' at the

TCM Movie Database Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of At ...

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Moby Dick (1930 Film) 1930 films 1930 adventure films American black-and-white films Remakes of American films 1930s English-language films Films based on Moby-Dick Films directed by Lloyd Bacon Films set in the 1830s Films set in the 1840s American multilingual films Sea adventure films Sound film remakes of silent films Warner Bros. films American adventure films 1930 multilingual films 1930s American films