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Matt Hough

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John Huston’s 1956 adaptation of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick does quite a remarkable job retaining both the story and the essence of the book without being slavish to its meanderings and philosophizing.



Moby Dick (1956)



Released: 03 Oct 1956
Rated: UNRATED
Runtime: 116 min




Director: John Huston
Genre: Adventure, Drama



Cast: Gregory Peck, Richard Basehart, Leo Genn, James Robertson Justice
Writer(s): Herman Melville (novel), Ray Bradbury (screenplay), John Huston (screenplay)



Plot: The sole survivor of a lost whaling ship relates the tale of his captain's self-destructive obsession to hunt the white whale, Moby Dick.



IMDB rating: 7.4
MetaScore: N/A





Disc Information



Studio: MGM
Distributed By: Twilight Time...

Continue reading...
 
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Mike Frezon

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I haven't seen this movie since I was a young boy, Matt. It completely overwhelmed me at that time (keeping the cast of characters straight, etc.). So I am very much looking forward to watching it with the eyes of an adult and being able to enjoy it and bury my fear of the film and its source material. :D
 

Matt Hough

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I haven't seen this movie since I was a young boy, Matt. It completely overwhelmed me at that time (keeping the cast of characters straight, etc.). So I am very much looking forward to watching it with the eyes of an adult and being able to enjoy it and bury my fear of the film and its source material. :D
I had an early experience with it at the cinema, and hadn't watched it all the way through since then, so I was a bit wary, too, since the film had done a number on me as a kid with the enormity of the sea, the immensity of Moby, and that blood which was a lot for a very young kid to take in. Now, I could see the machine behind the film's making as I watched, and it was much less intimidating.
 
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Joe Birrittella
I felt a slight trepidation at first over the desaturated look, but I trusted Twilight Time.
Wow!
The color timed transfer blew my socks off, giving an image unlike any other movie ever. It re-ignited my love for this film I had as a child, but somehow lost its way through growing up. Ironic, because the first 3 times seeing it was on a black and white TV. This new color pallet transfer is a pleasure to behold.
 

benbess

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I'm watching this 1956 epic again as I write this, and since it's now out of print I'm glad I picked up the TT blu-ray right when it went on sale. But for anyone who missed the blu-ray, John Huston's Moby Dick is now available for "free" watching on Amazon prime. Matt H.'s review is worth quoting for anyone who likes old movies but hasn't yet watched this one....

"Ray Bradbury is credited with the screenplay adaptation of Herman Melville’s fiction masterpiece (with John Huston taking a co-screenwriter credit), and the script and John Huston’s engaging direction manage to carry us back to 19th century seaport life from the very beginning with the dedicated sailors taking a proprietary hold on their vocation and with the site for their work, the seas around New Bedford, drinking and singing and dancing to share their common vocation amid the brotherhood of sea-faring risk takers (the director takes special pains to focus on faces during these early scenes, interesting countenances of the men and their womenfolk who make up this solid community). Huston captures magnificently the flavor of the endeavor, even with the movie’s unquestionable mix of actual sea filming, studio tank work, and interior soundstage shots which are edited with surety together to fashion a whole (only some clumsy process photography late in the film gives the game away). Melville’s sometimes endless segues into the whaling life and the process of extracting all of the various goods from the harpooned creatures gets their due in the film without the processes ever seeming tedious or tacked-on, all the while focusing, of course, on the ever-continuously growing mania of Ahab toward his ultimate goal: a no-holds-barred final encounter with his nemesis."


And for fans of director John Huston there's another classic that he made that has also recently become available for watching on Amazon prime—the 1952 Technicolor film Moulin Rouge, starring Jose Ferrer in perhaps his greatest role as artist Henri Toulouse-Lautrec. This lavishly-produced movie seems have been restored and is worthy of a blu-ray. Moulin Rouge was not only a box office hit, it was also nominated for seven Oscars (including best picture and best director) and won two, for art direction and costume design.
 
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Bartman

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Trevor Bartram
I had the MGM laserdisc, I believe it was fullscreen (4:3) format. I've just watched this streaming from Prime, it shows the MGM logo, it's formatted 16:9 and, it's soft and grainy. The special effects are extremely impressive for its day. Do the Twilight Time or StudioCanal Blu-rays look significantly better than Prime?
If not, what's the chance/possibility of a restoration?
 

Malcolm R

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I had the MGM laserdisc, I believe it was fullscreen (4:3) format. I've just watched this streaming from Prime, it shows the MGM logo, it's formatted 16:9 and, it's soft and grainy. The special effects are extremely impressive for its day. Do the Twilight Time or StudioCanal Blu-rays look significantly better than Prime?
If not, what's the chance/possibility of a restoration?
The review of the Twilight Time disc is at the top of this thread. From Matt's description, it sounds like you watched a different master on Prime:

The film is framed for this release at 1.66:1 and is presented in 1080p resolution using the AVC codec. Color timed to resemble 19th century engravings of whaling ships and sailors, the film’s unique look has been recaptured by colorist supreme Greg Kimble in as close to John Huston’s original intentions as it was possible to achieve with a limited budget. Sharpness is quite excellent (enough to see the spirit gum attaching Orson Welles’ beard to his face and some of the make-up seams on Gregory Peck’s scars), and one adjusts to the desaturated color palette fairly quickly. Black levels are first-rate with excellent shadow detail.
 

Bartman

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The review of the Twilight Time disc is at the top of this thread. From Matt's description, it sounds like you watched a different master on Prime:
I did further research and I believe I watched the MGM transfer from 2003 on Prime, originally prepared for the MGMHD channel. As for the other releases (mostly horrid) it appears the Twilight Time Blu-ray is the best but it suffers from some edge enhancement and other minor defects endemic to the print. Unfortunately the Twilight Time is OOP and expensive on the used market.
I wonder if 3-strip elements are available and if 'the look' could be created using modern digital techniques. From negative comments online and to appeal to a broader audience it appears two versions should be created: a modern version without muted color and an original version with muted color. Let's hope Jeff Bezos is a classic film lover and funds a full restoration!
 

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