Moby Dick (1956 film) Moby Dick (1956 film) Moby Dick is a 1956 film adaptation of Herman Melville's novel "Moby-Dick". It was directed by John Huston with a screenplay by Huston and Ray Bradbury. The film starred Gregory Peck, Richard Basehart, and Leo Genn. The music score was written by Philip Sainton. Set in 19th-century New England, the story follows the whaling ship "Pequod" and its crew. Leading them is Captain Ahab, who was almost killed in an encounter with the "great white whale", Moby Dick, which bit off much of his left leg. Now he is out for revenge. With the crew that
Moby Dick (1956 film) 1972. The schooners used were "Harvest King" and "James Postlethwaite", both from Arklow, Ireland. The film went overbudget, from $2 million to around $4.4 million, which crippled Moulin Productions; "Moby Dick" was ultimately sold to United Artists (The rights would later revert to MGM starting in 1981) in order to recoup some of the Mirisch brothers' debt (Warner Bros. still distributed the film, corresponding to their original licensing agreement; When the agreement ended, United Artists took over the film's distribution rights). "Moby Dick" did not recoup its budget upon its initial release. Peck and Huston intended to shoot Herman Melville's