Moby Dick (1930)

Moby Dick: Directed by Lloyd Bacon. With John Barrymore, Joan Bennett, Lloyd Hughes, Noble Johnson. In this extremely loose adaptation of Melville’s classic novel, Ahab is revealed initially not as a bitter and vengeful madman, but as a bit of a lovable scamp. Ashore in New Bedford, he meets and falls for Faith Mapple, daughter of the local minister and beloved of Ahab’s brother Derek. Faith herself quickly returns Ahab’s love, as Derek is drab and ignoble. On his next voyage, however, Ahab loses a leg to the monstrous white whale Moby-Dick. When upon his return to New Bedford he mistakenly believes Faith wants nothing to do with him because of his disfigurement, Ahab returns to sea with only one goal in mind — to find and kill the great white whale.

“Herman Melville lost his readers when his later novels like u0026#39;Moby Dicku0026#39; became too philosophical and he died in obscurity in 1891. There was renewed interest and a more favorable re-evaluation of his work in the 1920u0026#39;s with the discovery and publication of the manuscript for u0026#39;Billy Budd.u0026#39; Hollywood was not far behind when Warner Brothers released a bowdlerized version of u0026#39;Moby Dicku0026#39; renamed as u0026#39;The Sea Beastu0026#39; with their biggest star, John Barrymore. Itu0026#39;s probably good that Melvile wasnu0026#39;t around to watch the plot changes and character additions such as Ahabu0026#39;s brother and fiancé. In 1930 WB decided to remake the silent with Barrymore, still a big star, but whose legendary looks were beginning to fade from years of boozing which is noticeable in comparing both versions. The same plot was used but this time audiences could hear his stage-trained voice that aided his characterization in the later mad scenes. Listen for his howling when his wounded leg is treated, Besides borrowing the plot from the silent version, you can also observe ocean footage with an obviously younger Barrymore spliced into the remake since Barrymore didnu0026#39;t repeat the same stunts for whatever reason. Notice the difference in the projection speeds of the old and new footage. This version will appeal to Barrymore fans and as an example of an early sound film that still used silent film techniques. Itu0026#39;s safe to say the 1930 u0026#39;Moby Dicku0026#39; is more of a curio than a classic. Although the Gregory Peck-John Huston version has its detractors, at least itu0026#39;s faithful to Melvilleu0026#39;s novel than this, Iu0026#39;ll admit as a Barrymore fan, amusing chowder with its good production values. And 1962u0026#39;s u0026#39;Billy Buddu0026#39; also proved that a Melville story could be done faithfully without an additional love interest and comic relief .I would love to see the German version made at the same time. Anyone know where to find it?”