The Sea Beast is a silent film adaptation of the novel Moby Dick by Herman Melville, a story about a monomaniacal hunt for a great white whale. However, the film alters the novel's plotline by establishing prequel and sequel elements that are not in the original story and substitutes a happy ending for Melville's original tragic one in which the entire crew of the ship Pequod, save for crew member Ishmael, is killed by Moby Dick. Some of the characters in the film do not appear in Melville's original novel. At the beginning of the story, Ahab and his half brother Derek compete for the... affections of a winsome minister's daughter, Esther Wiscasset . Meanwhile, the albino whale has been eluding harpooners, and bears the scars of many failed attacks against him. His fame has reached epic proportions. One day, Ahab and Derek are on the same whaler as the whale heaves into view. With the visual drama enhanced by the water and pitching boat, Ahab raises his harpoon to kill the beast. At that moment, Derek pushes him overboard and Ahab loses a right leg to the whale.
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