Reply
Sun 31 Aug, 2003 11:04 am
Well, i've tried my level best to get y'all a link for this, but i've failed . . . so, here goes anyway.
I don't watch tv at home, so it's kind of a treat when i come to visit eBeth to watch a little now and again. She went to the fair with her friends, and i stayed home with the doggies. Last evening, i watched tv, and ran across a program on the History Channel, The Essex, the True Story of Moby Dick. I had hoped to find a link, to avoid doing this from memory, but . . .
Essex left Nantucket in August, 1819. She did not have a good voyage, and her captain was irresolute, which lead to problems in the future. In November, 1820, she arrived at the central Pacific whaling grounds, where the females await the annual arrival of the males. One particular sperm whale, which was grey, and therefore stood out, was immense by comparison to his fellows. He was estimated to be 85 feet in length. This whale was spotted from Essex at about 100 years off the port beam on day, and then the whale, incredibly, charged the ship, and rammed it--damaging the keel (a fatal wound, the ship's back had been broken). This may have been an anomaly, and the whale floated alongside for a while, seemingly stunned (the main deck was 87 feet, and it was by a comparison while the beast floated alongside that his length was estimated). Then the whale rallied, and swam off about a quarter of a mile--and then charged again. This time, he rammed on the port quarter, breaching the hull, and sending the ship over on its side. The crew now had to abandon ship quickly. They put to sea in three whale boats, and the story of their quixotic journey, complete with cannibalism, drawing lots to die for the others' food, or to kill the victim, was all included in the book which the first mate, Mr. Chase eventually published, and which Mellville used as the take off point for Moby Dick.
This was then followed by a screening of Moby Dick, with Gregory Peck as the deranged Ahab, and Richard Baseheart (looking very young in 1956) as the narrator. Directed by John Huston, it was a very impressive color production. Knowing a good deal about sailing vessels, i was particularly impressed with the realism of the shipboard experience. Peck played the mad captain to a tee, although i was less impressed with Baseheart.
What were your impressions of this film?
Thought Peck played Ahab more like Abraham Lincoln and the Bradbury prose of the script was hardly what one expects from seafaring men. It threw me off from the feeling of the book. The newer TV movie with Patrick Stewart (and Peck in a cameo as the minister) wasn't much better. I just don't believe it is a filmmable book. Actually got into a little argument with Bradbury back in the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society days in L.A. over the shortcomings of the script. It's status as far as being a classic film is still debated.
Was Bradbury one of the screen-writers?
He was the screenwriter, although Huston did some minor re-writing all in cooperation with Bradbury.
Heh thats how the english teacher spells my name but its Ismail. Oh well that was random
I don't get your post, Tyrius. In Moby Dick, the name is Ishmael.
My name is Ismail. Pronounced the same, so my english teacher spelled my name like in the book.
Frankly, i ain't qualified to decide what is or isn't a classic movie. I was quite taken with the scenes of the ship at sea, which accounts entirely for my fascination with the movie, which i had never before seen.
I saw this film on television quite a few years ago - Hard to judge from that.
One the big screen, the special effects of that time were truly spectacular and made the more quiet storytelling even more pallid. The prints are unfortunately not very good and it would help if someone puts the money up to restore the film from it's aging prints (if they can find a pristine 70MM print which is how I saw it in its initial previews).
BTW, I also think the make-up man was drinking heavily.
I saw the film with Gregory Peck so many years ago now, I can barely remember it. All I remember is, it was stirring, but gloomy. It is a sobering subject, echoed later in the books of Joseph Conrad.
The lives of the whalers was so unbelievably hard by today's standards. I have been on the Henry Morgan, sailing whaler, in Mystic Seaport museum. How evocative that is.
The story of the Nantucket whaling community, and of the pre-Moby Dick whale which sunk the ship Essex, is well told in the book "In the Heart of the Sea", Nathaniel Philbrick, ISBN 0-00-653120-2
McT
Good lookin' out, McT, thanks . . .
Tyrius, just say to your teacher: "Call me Ismail" and pronounce it like it is spelled. Then, when she gets confused, say: "If you would stop looking at Dick for a second and read the student roster, you would know what I mean." Just don't be surprised if you get in a lot of trouble.
What kind of link were you looking for, Setanta?
Joe Nation wrote:What kind of link were you looking for, Setanta?
Here's one, me hearties:
http://www.puffin.co.uk/static/rguides/us/in_the_heart_of_the_sea.html
I haven't read it all yet but it looks quite good. Interesting perspective:
"Whale oil, I realized, was what petroleum is to us today, and Nantucket, this little sandbank at the edge of a watery wilderness, was the Mobil Oil headquarters of the nineteenth century."
Melville added the romance and the human element to what was a very hard calling, which claimed many men's lives.
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace