There are a couple of shots in this film somewhere off Catalina Island, but it is made in the main not on the Main. In fact, it's a long way from either New England or Herman Melville, but why labor the point?
For 1930, just as movies were beginning to speak, this is not a bad effort at taking the art to a new level. Once again the only relevant comment someone can offer seventy-odd years years after the fact is that for its time and place the production probably succeeded. It is thus an artifact rather than a movie to be taken seriously for its story or characters in terms of 21st century values.
John Barrymore as can be plainly seen was primarily a stage actor, a bit long in the tooth by 1930 to be swashbuckling. And Constance Bennett barely out of her teens was hardly the stunningly attractive mature actress she was to become. Beyond that, Noble Johnson and the rest of the crew give very credible performances for the time. What is surprising is not how quaint and misguided this sort-of rendering of Moby Dick is, but rather how well-produced it is for a talkie.
In fact, the production qualities are marginally quite good, and seem to get better as the story proceeds. Lighting, editing, and costumes are at times excellent even by today's standards.
Did anyone notice how much Moby Dick resembles Monstro from "Pinocchio" of ten years later?
For 1930, just as movies were beginning to speak, this is not a bad effort at taking the art to a new level. Once again the only relevant comment someone can offer seventy-odd years years after the fact is that for its time and place the production probably succeeded. It is thus an artifact rather than a movie to be taken seriously for its story or characters in terms of 21st century values.
John Barrymore as can be plainly seen was primarily a stage actor, a bit long in the tooth by 1930 to be swashbuckling. And Constance Bennett barely out of her teens was hardly the stunningly attractive mature actress she was to become. Beyond that, Noble Johnson and the rest of the crew give very credible performances for the time. What is surprising is not how quaint and misguided this sort-of rendering of Moby Dick is, but rather how well-produced it is for a talkie.
In fact, the production qualities are marginally quite good, and seem to get better as the story proceeds. Lighting, editing, and costumes are at times excellent even by today's standards.
Did anyone notice how much Moby Dick resembles Monstro from "Pinocchio" of ten years later?