So... can't be bothered cooking up a new ID for HYS so we'll talk about it here. Anyone catch the abortive Canadian/Maltese production last night? I mean jeez... folks are always complaining about "American" programs, maybe the US is just too close to Canada.

The screenplay: MD  is hard enough to read as it is. After viewing this painful dross there will be countless scores of potential literarists turning away in droves. I mean, the opening... when did it actually begin? Took forever to get even to the seaside. We were treated initially to a romp through a slave state to pick up young Pip. Funny thing that, New England where the story is supposed to begin was a free state. Funnier thing - when Ischmael effected Pip's escape, his owners didn't give chase. More whips than horses  I suppose.

The actors: John Hurt wasn't it? Anyway, Ahab was supposed to be played by someone significant, I think it was JH. A very dull confused performance thought I. Rather meek. Quig Quig was great though he seemed to grow whiter as the movie progressed. Ishmael  & Starbuck did well enough. Maybe the horror came from the directing.

The music: Nice to hear 'Lowlands Away'. Here's a link to a buddy of mine who sings it - excellent album & he's a sailing ship captain to boot!
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/johnkraus

The ship: Nice little number though missing a few things for a whaler. Started out with two whaleboats. Somehow a third magically appeared. or maybe my vision was impaired. Should have had several more, on davits & over the decks. No sign of tri-works etc for processing the blubber to oil. And the bleeding obvious...  I can almost excuse the pomm yobbo on the SBS Royal Navy show last week for doing it. He was just a presenter after all. But last night we saw a sailor going aloft & in the process he used running rigging (plain rope, untarred, used to move things) as a handheld. If not for safety, then at least for accuracy someone should have instructed him to only use the standing rigging (black, tarred, immovable - used to hold things up).

And while we're talking about lines... Ischmael was instructed to help with the t'gallant. He did. Nice work there on the halyard. But why did we then have a shot if the tops'l setting? They sure do things funny in Malta/Canada.

Okay I'll say something nice: The circling vortex thing was just weird but otherwise the whaleboat scene were pretty good. They cooled down the over-heating line during the chase & also did the 'Nantucket sleighride' thing. Now I'm not positive about this but for the actual harpooning, I think final boat control would have been up to the harpooner, not the Mate.

Well my impressions seem to be the same as yours Earle, up to the point that I fell asleep and I didn't get out of port :-)

Well it's on IView but Part 2 isn't until next sunday so I think i'll wait for now.

Forgive me salty sea dogs for I have sinned... I liked it. I dare not say why for that will show my ignorance of things that go ahoy.

Yeah, I loved it. I missed most of it and found it halfway through.

Amerikan TV is bad? Have you seen Australian TV lately?

Moby Dick is superbly put together. The casting is brilliant. I haven't read the book, but I'd like to now.

One thing they could have learned from Jaws: don't show the fish. I'm not sure why they cut to underwater shots of the whale. Probably better not to show the whale at all.

Well it had a good look about it but I can't agree 100% about the acting  & what they did with the abominably slow opening. I think SBS is doing Eurovision tone so I'll probably watch part 2.

You're right about showing the fish. Should have put that purulent piece of plastic back in the shed. The threat would not have seemed so contrived.

For a story that is an allegory for the bible it deserved a much better screenplay. But who knows, maybe I'll gush over part 2.

I still haven't watched part 1 and I've a hard days work in front of me. Dinner's already cooked, made this fantastic saffron extraordinary fried rice with chorizo, bacon, broccoli, almond, onion, chilli and garlic. So if I time things right it'll be a Moby Dick fest, unless I fall asleep again. ;D

I didn't see this but it sounds like I missed nothing.

Well I just watched pt 1 on Iview and there's jsu a couple of minutes to wait for pt 2. IMO it was GREAT.
Damn fine acting and screenplay.  Sutherland doesn't have a big part but if he'd been my vicar I might still be going to church, that mans voice is beguiling. everybody was well cast. I think Moby Dick worked just fine, a lot, a whole heap better than the phony shark in jaws.

Funny thing. In the empty hour of horror before MB I dug through my dvd's & found... MD! It was the 1998 production with Patrick Stewart as Ahab, Greg peck as the preacher & would you believe Bruce Spence as Elijah! I always felt  uneasy about Peck's Ahab in the original movie - not the most subtle of mad men.

Anyway, comparing to our current offering.... '98 show had a much better opening. Straight from the book, no waffling meander through the countryside resuing slaves & establishing relationships that didn't appear in the book. Spence did a great Elijah, more 'biblical' than the lazy-boy model in the new one. Both movie shad a real good look about them though the overly dramatic digitally washed out style of the current effort gets tiresome.

Bottom line... good/bad points all round in any MD attempt. I'll let you know if they ever make teh perfect one.

You're a hard man to please4 Earle :-) In the desert of TV offerings MD was a winner.

Spoiler alert! The fish wins

Yeah, the fish wins, but that shot of Ahab (Hurt) being carried into Davy Jones Locker was way too much.

I prefer the final shot of Max Cady (De Niro) in Cape Fear speaking in tongues as the water takes him.

Big Donger wrote on May 16^th, 2011 at 10:20am:

Yeah, the fish wins, but that shot of Ahab (Hurt) being carried into Davy Jones Locker was way too much.

I thought all the Ahab underwater scenes were dross. In fact everything filmed beneath the surface detracted from the movie. In such times there was so much mystery about the depths that they generated much superstition. Should have left the great unknown where it belonged. And told the computer generated art folx to stay home.

But Ahab's scene... True to the book & his prophecy that he would meet his end by hanging. The only bit missing was his arm waving as if to beckon his crew on [I think].

Earle Qaeda wrote on May 17^th, 2011 at 8:12am:

Big Donger wrote on May 16th, 2011 at 10:20am: Yeah, the fish wins, but that shot of Ahab (Hurt) being carried into Davy Jones Locker was way too much. I thought all the Ahab underwater scenes were dross. In fact everything filmed beneath the surface detracted from the movie. In such times there was so much mystery about the depths that they generated much superstition. Should have left the great unknown where it belonged. And told the computer generated art folx to stay home. But Ahab's scene... True to the book & his prophecy that he would meet his end by hanging. The only bit missing was his arm waving as if to beckon his crew on [I think].

Excellent points. They're taking CGI way too far these days. They almost spoilt a good telemovie with dumb animation.

Moby Dick is NOT the thinking man's Pirates of the Caribean.