"Command the murderous chalices! Drink ye harpooners! Drink and swear, ye men that man the deathful whaleboat's bow -- Death to Moby Dick!" So Captain Ahab binds his crew to fulfil his obsession -- the destruction of the great white whale. Under his lordly but maniacal command the Pequod's commercial mission is perverted to one of vengeance. To Ahab, the monster that destroyed his body is not a creature, but the symbol of "some unknown but still reasoning thing." Uncowed by natural disasters, ill omens, even death, Ahab urges his ship towards "the undeliverable, nameless perils of the whale."
Adaptations (13)
Moby-Dick has been adapted 13 times, across film, television film, television series, and miniseries, from 1926 to 2011. The most recent is Moby Dick (2011).
Moby Dick1930 · film · 80 min · dir. Lloyd Bacon · IMDb ↗IMDb5.6Herman Melville's mad Capt. Ahab (John Barrymore) spends years hunting the white whale that got his leg.
Moby Dick1954 · television film · dir. Albert McCleery · IMDb ↗The demented, ruthless Captain Ahab pursues the white whale which took off his leg years before.
Moby Dick—Rehearsed1955 · film · dir. Orson Welles · IMDb ↗IMDb7.8A meta-theatrical adaptation of Moby-Dick in which a rehearsal evolves into a full performance, as actors are absorbed into the roles of Ishmael, Starbuck, and Ahab in a stripped-down, imagination-driven staging. Filmed by Orson Welles in 1955, the footage remains unreleased and is considered lost.
Moby Dick1956 · film · 116 min · dir. John Huston · IMDb ↗In 1841, young Ishmael signs up for service aboard the Pequod, a whaler sailing out of New Bedford. The ship is under the command of Captain Ahab, a strict disciplinarian who exhorts his men to find Moby Dick, the great white whale. Ahab lost his leg to that creature and is desperate for revenge. As the crew soon learns, he will stop at nothing to gain satisfaction.
Moby Dick1977 · film · 51 min · dir. Richard Slapczynski · IMDb ↗IMDb6.4In 1841 young Ishmael signs aboard the whaling ship Pequod, under the command of the strict, one-legged Capt. Ahab. Ishmael soon finds out that Ahab is searching for the legendary white whale, Moby Dick, who cost Ahab his leg, and he will let nothing stand in the way of getting his revenge on the beast.
Moby Dick1978 · film · 90 min · dir. Paul Stanley · IMDb ↗IMDb6.9A one-man version of Herman Melville's classic 1851 novel Moby Dick. The film stars Jack Aranson, a Shakespearean actor trained in the Old Vic.
Hakugei: Legend of the Moby Dick1997 · television series · 30 min · IMDb ↗IMDb7.7Hakugei: Legend of the Moby Dick is an animated Japanese television series, based on Herman Melville's original novel Moby-Dick. However, this adaptation used futuristic outer space as the setting, with "whales" being large abandoned spaceships instead. It aired from 1997 to 1999, albeit with a suspension of new episodes from November 1997 to October 1998. The series ran for 26 episodes, which have been released on DVD in the USA by ADV Films, spread across six discs.
Captain Ahab2007 · film · 100 min · dir. Philippe Ramos · IMDb ↗IMDb6.0When Ahab's mother dies in childbirth, the infant's gruff father places his son in the care of his pious aunt. It is Rose who sparks the imagination of the young boy by teaching him to read the Bible, though when Ahab is reclaimed by his father a decade later the growing boy strives to become a hunter like his old man. Later, after Ahab warms to his father's lover Louise, the old man dies and the boy is sent back to his God-fearing aunt. Rejecting Rose and her abusive husband Henry's unforginv brand of discipline and infuriated that his aunt confiscated the locket given to him by Louise, young Ahab boldly stages his own kidnapping as an ingenious escape plan.
Moby Dick2010 · film · 87 min · dir. Trey Stokes · IMDb ↗IMDb2.4That infamous whale is bigger, badder and a whole lot stronger in this sci-fi reimagining of Herman Melville’s classic tale of the battle between man, sea and sea creature starring “Xena” alum Rene O’Connor as the (traditionally male) narrator. But the boat — now a high-tech submarine — is also bigger, and Capt. Ahab is as determined as ever to settle the score and take down the mighty sea mammal that maimed him.
Age of the Dragons2011 · film · 91 min · dir. Ryan Little · IMDb ↗IMDb3.49%Age of the Dragons is an adaptation of Herman Melville's classic novel Moby Dick. Set in a medieval realm where Captain Ahab and crew hunt dragons for the vitriol that powers their world, Ishmael, a charismatic harpooner and his friend Queequeg join their quest. Ahab's adopted daughter Rachel, beautiful and tough, runs the hunting vessel. Ahab's obsession to seek revenge on a great White Dragon that slaughtered his family when he was young and left his body scarred and mauled, drives the crew deeper into the heart of darkness. In the White Dragon's lair Ahab's secrets are revealed and Rachel must choose between following him on his dark quest or escaping to a new life with Ishmael.
Moby Dick2011 · miniseries · 184 min · IMDb ↗IMDb6.2The sole survivor of a lost whaling ship relates the tale of his captain's self-destructive obsession to hunt the white whale, Moby Dick.
