The Many Screen Lives of 'Moby-Dick'

On Monday, April 28, at 6 p.m. Sag Harbor Cinema will celebrate one of Sag Harbor’s most cherished traditions with “The Many Screen Lives of Moby-Dick,” a film presentation, leading to Canio’s Book’s bi-annual Moby-Dick Marathon to be held from Friday, May 30, through Sunday, June 1, at locations throughout Sag Harbor.

The program will kick off with a brief presentation by the cinema’s founding artistic director Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan of various “Moby-Dick” iterations on film, from silent to cartoon to live action, followed by a screening of John Huston’s 1956 Technicolor epic starring Gregory Peck.

“We were thrilled to be asked to offer a cinematic component to the marathon, a beloved art ritual in Sag Harbor, and one that touches the entire village,” says D’Agnolo Vallan. “To this day, John Huston’s film, scripted by Ray Bradbury, remains the best film adaptation of Melville’s magnificent novel. But I thought it would be interesting to touch on some of the many other incarnations of ‘Moby-Dick’ — from early Hollywood, to Orson Welles, to Tom & Jerry.”

“Canio’s is grateful to have Sag Harbor Cinema participate in our beloved Moby-Dick Marathon this year,” adds Kathryn Szoka, co-owner of Canio’s Books. “The cinema’s idea to offer excerpts from other adaptations is genius. It will add a special spark to this year’s Marathon, and broaden the understanding of this great American novel’s place in our culture.”

Written by Herman Melville in 1851, the first adaptation of “Moby-Dick” for the screen was a 1926 silent film “The Sea Beast” directed by Millard Webb and starring John Barrymore. A huge commercial success for Warner Bros., the studio remade the film with sound as “Moby Dick” in 1930 directed by Lloyd Bacon and, again, starring John Barrymore.

In 1956, John Huston and Ray Bradbury penned their own adaptation of “Moby Dick” starring Gregory Peck as Captain Ahab, Richard Basehart as Ishmael, Leo Genn as Starbuck and Orson Welles as Father Mapple. Welles himself was also preoccupied with the big white whale, having made numerous attempts to adapt the story for stage and screen throughout his life. A portion of Welles’s 1971 unfinished “Moby Dick” film was reportedly made during breaks on the set of “The Other Side of the Wind.”

The lure of “Moby-Dick” has permeated the animated world since the 1950s as well — beloved animated characters like Woody Woodpecker, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Tom & Jerry, The Flintstones and even contemporaries like the Futurama gang and Spongebob Squarepants have all found themselves on similar pathological pursuits of vengeance against leviathans like Whaling Whale, Dicky Moe, Adobe Dick, Dopey Dick and Möbius Dick.

The legend of “Moby-Dick” also endures with recent films like Ron Howard’s 2015 film “In the Heart of the Sea.” The film chronicles the sinking of the American whaleship Essex in 1820 after a devastating encounter with a mammoth whale, the real life event serving as inspiration for Melville’s novel.

Tickets to “The Many Screen Lives of Moby-Dick” are available at sagharborcinema.org or the box office. To register to read during Canio’s 2025 Moby-Dick Marathon, visit caniosbooks.com. Sag Harbor Cinema is at 90 Main Street in Sag Harbor.