Gregory Peck is Abraham Lincoln as Capt. Ahab in...

Moby Dick (1956) is another classic movie I never got to see. So we did. 

It starts with Richard Basehart doing "Call me Ishmael" in voice over. He heads for New Bedford, gets a bunk with Queequeg (Friedrich von Ledebur) at Peter Coffin's inn, and goes to see Orson Welles preach at the whaler's chapel. Then he and Queequeg sign on with Captain Ahab on the Pequod.

When Ahab finally emerges from his cabin (after building some suspense), he is Gregory Peck with an Abe Lincoln chinstrap beard and stovepipe hat. He offers up a Spanish gold piece to the man who first spots Moby Dick, the whale that took his leg.

The Pequod looks like a real ship, not a model or soundstage. There are a few whale hunts that appear to be real (filmed in the Madieras). Then the great white whale - a series of life-sized rubber models that are quite realistic. I liked the script (by Ray Bradbury), too. It had to rely on voice-over to wedge in some Melville, but I don't mind and I like Melville.

Unfortunately, the whole thing is scuttled by the acting, especially Peck's. We are led to believe that he held a hypnotic sway over his men, but you couldn't see it. Some of his best lines ("From Hell's heart, I stab at thee!") are sort of thrown away. Maybe Peck was trying to be restrained, but it came across to me as wooden. Richard Basehart, not a notably skilled actor, didn't really rise to the occasion either. In Ice Station Zebra, I think he was supposed to be a more or less unimaginative, solid sort. Here, he just kind of is. 

I guess director John Huston gets points for all the non-actor related stuff - this is pretty cool as an adventure movie, with some poetic touches. I also assign him the blame for the acting.