Herman Melville's mad Capt. Ahab (John Barrymore) spends years hunting the white whale that got his leg.
Acting
Barrymore's Ahab: unhinged, theatrical, genuinely unsettling.
Production
Miniature whale chaos that somehow still works.
Director
Lloyd Bacon
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Barrymore filmed this during his 'Grand Guignol' period, reportedly drinking heavily between takes and improvising wild physical business.
The 1930 version invents Ahab's pre-whalebackstory and romance entirely—Melville's Ahab had no lost love, making this a fascinating case of Depression-era Hollywood insisting every monster needs a woman to blame.
US
