I have never read Melville’s novel of Moby-Dick, although I did read excerpts in 11th-grade English class. I found the writing style surprisingly readable, but was put off by the length. Never mind that I’ve read books that are longer by now; it never seemed important enough for me to sit down and actually read it. I am not even certain that I have watched all of a screen adaptation of Moby Dick; I know I’ve seen at least parts. In any case, I doubt Ray Bradbury needs much of an introduction; Moby Dick probably doesn’t need one, either.

Subterranean Press, of the lovely book-objects, will shortly be releasing a copy of Ray Bradbury’s screenplay for the John Huston-directed movie of Moby Dick. It starred Gregory Peck and was released in 1956; Bradbury wrote the screenplay in 1953 and 1954. The Sub Press release contains the full text of Bradbury’s definitive script, an introduction, and an essay at the end, both written by eminent Bradbury scholars.

Obviously, to get a 500-page novel down to a two- or three-hour movie requires some judicious cutting. Screenplays generally run a page per minute; clocking in at about 160 pages, this would (and was) be an awfully long movie. Bradbury apparently reduced the novel down to five or six events: Ishmael meeting Queequeg; the two of them getting hired onto the Pequod; a scene where Captain Ahab informs them that they aren’t so much whaling in general as searching for a great white whale, and offering a Spanish doubloon to the first man who sees the whale; a meeting with a ship called the Rachel, searching for a lost child; the becalming of the Pequod; and the final fight with the white whale. Being that I haven’t read the novel, I can’t say much about his choice of material to cut, but it works just fine as a work of literature in its own right.

The introduction and the essay at the end are not terrifically long; perhaps three pages for the intro, and five or so for the end. Neither is trying to steal away the primary focus of the book, which is a screenplay. I am not an expert on screenplays, which the introduction takes care to distinguish from stage-plays. Stage-plays are intended to be read; people can, while watching a performance, follow along with the script. Although I haven’t seen the movie recently or in entirety, I understand that one can’t do that with this screenplay; Huston apparently changed it quite a bit. It would be interesting to try, though, and see where the changes were made.

If you are a fan of Ray Bradbury, and a collector of his rarities, then this volume is for you. For a casual Ray Bradbury reader, or a general fan of speculative fiction, perhaps owning his screenplay for Moby Dick would be overkill. It would most likely be a good volume to study for those who want to adapt novels to screenplays, especially of classics. I’m sure some elements of screenwriting have changed in the last fifty-five years, but not all of them, and a great writer is a great writer. I’m loath to give this a numeric score, but I did quite enjoy it and it would go well in many collections.