MovieChat Forums > Moby Dick (1956) Discussion > Building the whale (photos)

Building the whale (photos)

posted 11 years ago by wrfarley
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For fans of this film, this is fascinating. Photos of the "White Whale" being constructed in the harbor of Las Palmas. And what do you know? They did build a sixty foot version of the whale (even though in the film, it's only seen in three or four shots. Although in Portuguese, this article can be translated to English. Still, it's the pictures of cast, crew and whale that make it special.

As many fans of this film know the whale hunt was started in the Irish Seas; however, as the cold December of 1954 turned into the freezing January of 1955, the MOBY DICK production had to move to the warmth of the Canary Islands to film most of the climactic battle with the White Whale. There they built the replacement whale model after the first one had been lost.

You'll note, too, that the tail section of the whale was built separate from the body, as you can see it on its own pontoon.

http://observatorioaudiovisualdecanarias.com/2012/07/14/recuperar-divu lgar-salvar-6-moby-dick-en-las-canteras-beach-i-encuentro-de-patrimoni o-audiovisual-de-gran-canaria/

[–] Blitzerg 10 years ago

that is amazing! just watched it again for the first time in almost 10 years and it was incredible still! i was wondering if they did build a giant whale because one particular scene shows Gregory Peck moving around stabbing the whale while riding it and it blew me away really. this is a fantastic film and it should be studied by the "film makers" of this generation.

"Long live the new flesh."

[–] wrfarley 10 years ago

Blitzerg, looking at the finished film, it looks like they used the full-length model in the shots that the longboats are pursuing the white whale ("Don't look. I'll look for ye"). There are two other shots of the 60 foot model in the water: the first is a passing shot where Peck has just mounted the beast and is holding onto the line for dear life (it lasts about a second and a half); the second shot is after Ahab is dead, and Moby Dick re-surfaces. Starbuck darts his harpoon at the life-size model (again about a half second of screen time). Of course, most of the whale shots in the final film were shot in miniature.

Peck actually delivered his "From hell's heart" speech twice for the production. First, on the open sea (you can find photos of this on-line). For some reason, these takes were deemed unusable. Peck did the scene again in the studio; this is the shot that is used.

Ahab rising dead from the sea was also shot twice. The remarkable first shot of Ahab emerging dead from the water, was shot in the open sea in Portugal. The second shot with Ahab beckoning, however, was completed in the studio. In both cases, Peck was riding a large rotating cylinder of the middle section of the whale (you can see a photo of the cylinder on the link in the first post). Clearly, it took tremendous effort, and trial and error, to get this scene to play as well as it does.

And, yes, you're absolutely right. Today's filmmakers could learn a lot from the smart action filmmaking in this film.