Moby Dick

A sailor signs on to a ship whose captain is set on hunting a white whale. The captain lost his leg to it, and there is no other purpose aboard. The film shortens the novel's philosophical passages and concentrates on the obsession; the narrative shows the captain not as a hero but as a man spending his crew's lives on his own account. The image was deliberately drained: a black and white print was combined with the colour to produce a texture like old engravings. John Huston directed and wrote it with Ray Bradbury. Gregory Peck plays the captain. It is adapted from Herman Melville's novel, and the sea shooting was extremely difficult. Who it's for: those who like classic literary adaptation and sea films. Who it's not for: viewers expecting fidelity to the novel; much of the text is gone.