Moby Dick (1956 Film) - Changes From The Original Novel

Changes From The Original Novel

Although the film was quite faithful to the original novel, even down to the retention of Melville's original poetic dialogue, there were several slight changes:

• In the film, Elijah's prophecy: "A day will come at sea when you'll smell land and there'll be no land, and on that day, Ahab will go to his grave, but he'll rise again, and beckon, and all save one shall follow", foretells exactly what will happen to the Pequod and her crew in the film. In the novel, Elijah does not make a prophecy, but subtly hints that something will happen.

• In the film Ishmael and Queequeg meet in and sail out of New Bedford while in the novel they meet in New Bedford but sail out of Nantucket.

• The demonic harpooneer Fedallah is totally omitted from the film. In the novel, it is the dead Fedallah who ends up lashed to the back of Moby Dick, but in the film, this happens to Ahab. In the novel, Ahab is merely dragged into the water by the harpoon rope and is never seen again.

• In the film, when the dead Ahab "beckons" to the crew (an incident caused by the whale rolling back and forth while Ahab is tied to its back), Starbuck, who had previously bitterly opposed Ahab's quest for vengeance, is so moved by the sight that he becomes like a man possessed, and orders the crew to attack Moby Dick. This leads to the death of all except Ishmael, as the whale leaps on them in a fury. In the novel, Starbuck does not participate in the final hunt and the ship and her crew are lost after the Pequod is rammed by Moby Dick. In the movie, the Pequod is also rammed by the whale, but only after Moby Dick has killed the whole crew except Ishmael.