MOBY DICK (1930)

John Barrymore had a big hit with a silent version of MOBY DICK, retitled THE SEA BEAST, so a sound remake seemed a natural.  But much had changed in the years between 1926 and 1930, especially in the book’s reputation.  A failure on publication, then forgotten, its foundation as the great American novel coming too late for the first film.  (SEA BEAST also the first ever film adaptation for anything by Herman Melville.)  So while modern audiences are vaguely appalled at the mishmash screenwriter Bess Meredyth made of the novel (whaler Ahab vies with his brother to marry before heaving off for another three-year stint at sea, returns sans leg to rejection, heads back to take revenge on Moby Dick - and on his nefarious brother, returning to find his love had been true all along), audiences were unlikely to know the diff.  By 1930, the book fully established in the pantheon of American Letters, yet Warner Bros. sticking with the Meredyth scenario, but with an hour trimmed off the running time.  A real shame as Barrymore more or less perfect at the time for the book’s Captain Ahab, reveling at any chance he gets to play something out of the novel.  (Slim pickin’s!  The ad copy describing Ahab as ‘The Mad Cap in the Crow’s Nest.’*)  Director Lloyd Bacon makes a good show out of the lux production and Early Talkie possibilities with striking, if uneven, special effects work.  (One shot with Barrymore in pursuit of the Great White Whale on one of those small whaling rowboats an intriguing mix of process shot, miniatures, tank work and split-screen exposure.)  A real missed opportunity here.

WATCH THIS, NOT THAT/LINK: The John Huston/Gregory Peck MOBY DICK/’56 looks better now than it did on release, mechanical whale excluded.  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2016/01/moby-dick-1956.html

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *Filmed directly after Barrymore’s London triumph with HAMLET in 1925, the silent version would make a fascinating comparison, in spite of the ridiculous storyline.  Also a chance to compare Dolores Costello in ‘26 (soon to be Mrs. Barrymore) with Joan Bennett taking on the role for a pregnant Dolores in 1930.  If only a decent print could be found.