Moby Dick (1956)

I hardly think anyone thinks Moby Dick is a Horror story or movie, and yet it qualifies as genre on so many other levels.

Monster?

Check.

Moby is a monster in at least four basic ways.

It is presented as simply a large whale, but that is hardly what we see. Moby is clearly aware of Ahab and his vendetta.

Moby not only kills Ahab, but kills the rest of the crew and sinks the ship. As such, Moby must be seen to have some kind of sentience and evil purpose.

Moby is also presented as a sort of supernatural demon who can be an many places at once. Is the sailor wrong? We don't know.

A third aspect of Moby is that it is also presented as an instrument of God or the Devil.

A whole sequence is devoted to the tale of Jonah (by a fire and brimstone breathing Orson Welles,) and while Jonah's tale does not really fit in exactly with the events that transpire, it achieves the connection it strives for.

Ahab's actions are not merely lashing out against a godless Universe, he is lashing out against God himself.

All the ritualistic behavior is a dark mirror image of the Sacraments, he uses communion to make a murder pact with the crew, he baptizes the newly forged weapons with sacrificial blood, he extinguishes St. Elmo's fire (an attempt to cancel Pentecost?) etc.

Ahab was punished twice before, he not only lost a limb to Moby Dick, he was also struck by lightning! And yet he persists.

And the final aspect is that Moby is also a monster of the mind: The object of Ahab's personal obsessions that ultimately destroys him.

Other than dealing with the many possibilities for Moby's nature, the script also deals with science.

Ahab has developed a map illustrating many years of exploration dealing with whale migratory routes to make predictions on Moby's future location.

He understands that Moby, regardless of other aspects, is still bound by nature. Starbuck, the first mate, insists that Moby is merely an animal.

It deals with religion, as mentioned, it basically starts with the story of Jonah and makes reference to sacraments and sins against God ("pagan and heathenish.")

A prophet who calls himself Elijah, makes a prediction that comes to pass.

And it also deals with superstition: The ignorant sailors tell different tales about Moby: it is a demon, it is a God; they see other cultures as savage (which in turn possess true bone divination magic;) they see their voyage as an evil one; they perceive a sailor's death as a bad omen.

Ultimately they are infected by Ahab's blood lust and are destroyed for it.

The film does not match the novel's structure:

The novel alternates chapters telling the story of Ishmael's experiences with the Pequod with chapters detailing technical aspects of whaling.

The film does spend little time with actual hunting of whales and the processing of the blubber into oil, but only just enough.

It is never bogged down by these details, and sequences that feel long such as the days long lack of breeze or wind are used to good effect to show the crew's deteriorating morale.

It is a very efficient film. Credit must go to John Huston's direction, but also to Ray Bradbury's literary script.

Obviously this movie has been extremely influential. The basic structure of Jaws was clearly inspired by it, but also all the implied supernatural goings on in the rest of the series (as silly as they got) were also taken right out of this one... Do Ahab and Moby share a psychic connection?

But also, Ahab is iconic, not only in general culture but in the Horror and Fantasy genres.

We would not have The White Buffalo, we would not have The Last Dinosaur, (among countless others) were it not for Moby Dick.

Need a movie model for a ship's captain?

No need to look further.

I just reviewed The Ghost Ship (1943), its psychotic captain pales in comparison with the original, despotic Ahab, yet Ahab murders no one.

I also reviewed The Rapture (1991), and there were questions regarding the main characters suffering and perdition... Watch Moby Dick for some clues as to why it would happen the way it did. ("From hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee. Ye damned whale.")

There are some interesting parallels, and some lines from Moby Dick which anticipate events in The Rapture.

Regardless of the fact that we know the character is mad, we can still find something to admire in him: Ahab shows us something of the essence of the human spirit. ("I'd strike the sun if it insulted me.")

Richard Adams' General Woundwort owes much to Ahab both in his dangerous, murderous psychosis, but also in the way that he is remembered, and admired, in the warrens long after he dies.

A genuine classic. Highly recommended.