We only see a glimpse of Gregory Peck’s Ahab for the first thirty minutes of the film but when he does surface he delivers a whale-sized performance. Huston and co-screenwriter Ray Bradbury give the much beloved literary classic the royal treatment; big boats, colorful characters, Orson Welles as Father Marple, and judging by 50′s standards one heck of a white whale, but the real star here is Peck who seethes with anger and vitriol. Frequently criticized for being too one-note in his portrayals, Peck here delivers a performance that when juxtaposed with his Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird provides a compelling argument to his versatility as an actor.
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Tags: john huston, Moby Dick, Orson Welles, Ray Bradbury
