160 years ago, Herman Melville put all humanity on a ship and sent them off to find out what God was thinking. In 1930 the Warner Bros. figured since nobody had read this book but might have heard of it, why not make a ripping sea movie with John Barrymore? Barrymore spends a great deal of the movie drinking and/or drunk, which I'm sure cut down on rehearsal time since it came naturally to him. The rest of the time he is the shell of the legendary actor that we have come to know. The love story is ridiculous, Noble Johnson is at least an interesting Queequeg and when at sea the film is undoubtedly salty. Just forget the source material and it's an enjoyable bit of early sound film making.
