''Moby Dick'' is an unfinished film by

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

, filmed in 1971. It is not to be confused with the incomplete (and now lost) 1955 film Welles made of his meta-play ''

Moby Dick—Rehearsed ''Moby Dick'' (sometimes referred to as ''Moby Dick—Rehearsed'') is a two-act drama by Orson Welles. The play was staged June 16–July 9, 1955, at the Duke of York's Theatre in London, in a production directed by Welles. The original cast inc ...

'', or with the 1956 film ''

Moby Dick ''Moby-Dick; or, The Whale'' is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is the sailor Ishmael's narrative of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship ''Pequod'', for revenge against Moby Dick, the giant whi ...

'', in which Welles played a supporting role. The film consists of readings by Welles from

Herman Melville Herman Melville ( born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are ''Moby-Dick'' (1851); ''Typee'' (1846), a rom ...

's 1851 novel ''

Moby-Dick ''Moby-Dick; or, The Whale'' is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is the sailor Ishmael's narrative of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship ''Pequod'', for revenge against Moby Dick, the giant whi ...

'', shot against a blue background with various optical illusions to give the impression of being at sea. It was made during a break in the filming of ''

The Other Side of the Wind ''The Other Side of the Wind'' is a 2018 satirical drama film, directed, co-written, co-produced and co-edited by Orson Welles, and posthumously released in 2018 after forty-eight years in development. The film stars John Huston, Bob Random, Pe ...

''. There is some ambiguity about what Welles intended to do with the footage, and how he was going to compile it. It remained unedited in his lifetime.IMDB entry for 'Moby Dick'
/ref> After Welles' death in 1985, all of his unfinished films were bequeathed to his long-term companion and mistress

Oja Kodar Oja Kodar ( ; born Olga Palinkaš; 1941) is a Croatian actress, screenwriter and director known as Orson Welles's romantic partner during the later years of his life. Personal life Olga Palinkaš was born in Zagreb to a Hungarian father and a ...

, and she in turn donated many of them (including ''Moby Dick'') to the

Munich Film Museum The Munich Film Archive, in the Munich Stadtmuseum, is one of eight film museums in Germany. It has no showrooms and is limited to screening the films in a single cinema with 165 seats, as well as collecting, archiving, and restoring film copies. ...

for preservation and restoration. In 1999 the Munich Film Museum then edited together the rushes into a 22-minute cut, which has subsequently been screened at numerous film festivals. The restored footage has never been released on video or DVD, although some unrestored clips can be seen in Vassili Slovic's 1995 documentary ''Orson Welles: the One Man Band''.

References

External links

* {{Moby-Dick 1970s unfinished films Films based on Moby-Dick Films directed by Orson Welles 1970s English-language films