Response Journal Week 12 - Kalil

Watching the movie adaptation was strange, but very impressive. I had expected a 3 hour epic, though the movie was actually just under 2 hours. This was achieved by removing several scenes, and all of the documentary chapters. I personally thought that it lost a lot of meaning because of this, but it was still interesting.
My main criticism of the movie was that it was so unmistakably from the fifties. The music was overly dramatic to the point of absurdity, and made serious scenes almost comical. The adaptation of The Candles lost meaning because of the cheesy special effects (it looked like the ship was radioactive, while they could have just used white light or fire). Finally, the comedic interludes from the book were a product of humorous exchanges, but these were often garbled in the movie (Queequeg selling his head). Instead, they are replaced with jerky, fast-moving, physical comedies, such as when Queequeg gets into bed with Ishmael, or when the sailors grab at the grog after being excited by Ahab.
On the other hand, Gregory Peck’s Ahab was extremely compelling. He was dark and mad, yet clearly charismatic. Unfortunately, it was sometimes hard to take him seriously, because he was far too young. Personally, my favorite scene was the sermon, partly because of the set (boat-church), and partly because of the powerful delivery. Aside from that, the whale chases did a good job of capturing the thrilling nature of whaling, as did the final confrontation with Moby Dick, although it was clear that the Pequod sinking was just a model. Finally, the first scene was very strong, and they did a great job of incorporating the non-dialogue passages without overusing voiceover.