Moby Dick (1956)

Richard Basehart: Ishmael

Photos 

Quotes 

• [last lines] 

  Ishmael : [voiceover]  The coffin. Drowned Queequeg's coffin was my life buoy. For one whole day and night , it sustained me on that soft and dirge-like main. Then, a sail appeared; It was the Rachel. The Rachel who in her long melancholy search for her missing children found... another orphan. The drama's done. All are departed away. The great shroud of the sea rolls over the Pequod, her crew, and Moby Dick. I only am escaped... alone, to tell thee.

• Ishmael : Ehhhh, you can't fool us; it's the easiest thing in the world for a man to look as if he's got a great secret in him.

  Elijah : I have, lad, I have. At sea one day, you'll smell land where there'll be no land, and on that day Ahab will go to his grave, but he'll rise again within the hour. He will rise and beckon. Then all - all save one shall follow. (Slinking away with a smile on his face) Mornin', lads... mornin'. May the heavens bless you.

• [first lines] 

  Ishmael : [voiceover]  Call me Ishmael.

• Ishmael : [in voice-over narration]  He did not feel the wind, or smell the salt air. He only stood, staring at the horizon, with the marks of some inner crucifixion and woe deep in his face.

• Ishmael : [seeing Moby Dick for the first time]  Is it real? Do you see it, too?

  The Manxman, a sailor : We all see it. That don't make it real.

• Ishmael : [in voiceover, about Starbuck]  His courage was one of the great staples of the ship, like beef or flour. There, when required, and not to be foolishly wasted.

• Ishmael : Queequeg, such behavior isn't Christian. In fact, it's downright pagan and heathenish.

• Ishmael : [in voice-over narration]  Long days and nights we strained at the oars while a white whale swam freely on, widening the waters between himself and Ahab's vengeance.