This is a film that does not revolve solely around the mad and popular figure of Captain Ahab trying to mercilessly hunt down the white whale Moby Dick, who mercilessly took his leg off. It does not follow the entire storyline from the original, Herman Melville novel. As Hollywood has done with many films over the years, they attempted to "beef up" the story by adding in newer subplots, which unfortunately developed to become the actual plot itself and forced out the more interesting points from the original novel into strictly subplots. Mostly concerning Moby Dick himself. While the title takes its name from him and he is in a way, the most driving part of the story, the film does not focus very much on the whale. Not even indirectly for a long time. And Hollywood has thrown in another love story in order to attempt to add more drama and more improved effect into the plot of the film.
While it is probably not the best film adaptation of "Moby Dick", this 1930 verison isn't a total failure by all accounts. It's flawed, it's a tad bit underdeveloped, but it is also a great late-night flick when you want to just sit back and watch a story about adventures at sea and at the coast. And that's what this film is. It's a sea story. It's not all about a madman hunting a giant whale, it's almost as if that whale never existed. It just revolves around Captain Ahab as he deals with his crew, life at sea, and so on and so forth. And by working in this sort of fashion, it's very well-done. While I personally wanted to see more of Moby Dick himself, this film was done well for its time and age. Maby the whale was shown on such a limited basis because of the infancy of special effects at the time.
Bottom line, the 1930 version of "Moby Dick" will not be for everyone, mostly concerning fans of the original novel. Me personally, having read the aforementioned literary work, find this film as very fine for its type. It's not perfect and there was room for improvement with other than just the whale and its involvement. But as a sea story kind of film, it's perfectly enjoyable, it lasts just as long as it should last, and I wouldn't mind seeing it again.
While it is probably not the best film adaptation of "Moby Dick", this 1930 verison isn't a total failure by all accounts. It's flawed, it's a tad bit underdeveloped, but it is also a great late-night flick when you want to just sit back and watch a story about adventures at sea and at the coast. And that's what this film is. It's a sea story. It's not all about a madman hunting a giant whale, it's almost as if that whale never existed. It just revolves around Captain Ahab as he deals with his crew, life at sea, and so on and so forth. And by working in this sort of fashion, it's very well-done. While I personally wanted to see more of Moby Dick himself, this film was done well for its time and age. Maby the whale was shown on such a limited basis because of the infancy of special effects at the time.
Bottom line, the 1930 version of "Moby Dick" will not be for everyone, mostly concerning fans of the original novel. Me personally, having read the aforementioned literary work, find this film as very fine for its type. It's not perfect and there was room for improvement with other than just the whale and its involvement. But as a sea story kind of film, it's perfectly enjoyable, it lasts just as long as it should last, and I wouldn't mind seeing it again.