How did 'Moby-Dick' get its title? This filmmaker reimagines the Herman Melville tale

NEW BEDFORD — A local short film on the festival circuit reimagines how Herman Melville's epic "Moby-Dick" might've landed its title.

At first Melville's book was titled "The Whale," then a month later it was published "Moby-Dick; or, The Whale."

No one knows the true story for the change, so filmmaker Mark Keifer decided to take a stab at what might've gone down, with his comedy short "Or, The Whale."

Kiefer said the idea first came to him while visiting Nantucket and observing a restaurant that had renamed itself, or, The Whale.

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"I sort of loved this inside baseball sense of that, and got to thinking that it really is a strange title. And how did that happen?" he said.

Kiefer did some research and discovered that, in fact, "Moby-Dick" was published as "The Whale" in London in 1851; however a month later it was changed to "Moby-Dick: Or, The Whale" by James Harper's publishing house in New York.

"It sounds like something that was decided by committee. And moreover, a committee that couldn't agree on one or the other ... so they just call it both," Keifer said.

The true story seems to be lost in history, according to Keifer. But imagining a fictitious argument between Melville and Harper became the crux of his piece.

"There are some references to an intervention by Melville's brother and so forth, after it was published in London," Keifer added. "But I think the short answer is we don't know what happened. And so it's fun to imagine how it might have come about, and particularly so in a comedic sense."

Going back to his 10-year-old sense of humor, Kiefer said he remembered as a little kid learning there was a very famous book called "Moby-Dick" and getting a laugh out of the fact that a book had the work "Dick" in the title.

"I thought, maybe that's the crux of it. That the publisher is just squeamish about using that word in the title," he said.

Actors Jack Bulger and Eddie Nason were cast as Harper and Melville, respectively.

The film was shot over two days in April 2021, in time to submit for the Woods Hole Film Festival. The short, which has received numerous wins and rave reviews, has been on a festival run having recently screened at SENE Film Festival in Cranston, Rhode Island, winning Best New England Comedy Short.

Growing up around history

"I think there's a lot of appropriate concern right now in the U.S., for our lack of attention to history, and even frankly, our lack of knowledge of our own history," said Keifer.

"Anything that inspires us to revisit our own history, to understand that better, and most importantly, through the human stories that make their history, I think is a good thing."

Growing up in Middle Haddam, Connecticut, located right on the Connecticut River, Keifer lived in a 200-year-old house, near a 17th century shipyard.

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"I was surrounded by sort of an architectural museum," he said. "I was around both the old architecture and this — the remnants anyway — maritime tradition from a very early age," he said.

"So I always had a fascination with the ocean, boats and so forth."

Now living in Boston, Kiefer is an award-winning writer and filmmaker with his short films having screened at the Palm Springs International Comedy Festival, Woods Hole Film Festival, Nantucket Film Festival, Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival and New York City Independent Film Festival, to name a few.

He was a producer of the indie sitcom pilot "M.V. Blues," a buddy comedy set and shot on Martha’s Vineyard in 2011. He has written three feature length screenplays, including a period drama set in 1930s Germany, a thriller set in modern day New York, and a buddy comedy about Native American heritage set on Nantucket.

Inspiring others to reconnect to history

"I've always loved history and I've always loved movies," said Kiefer.

"I think one of the really fun things is when there's a world that's already gone by, then we can sort of live with it to compare it again, vicariously through the movies."

Kiefer is currently working on another Melville-inspired story, featuring the same actor who played the author in "Or, The Whale."

This time set in 1961, Melville is a ghost and has a run-in with the ghost of Ernest Hemingway at a sea captain's house. Hemingway, whom said he was inspired by Melville's work while writing "The Old Man and the Sea," is instead accused of stealing "Moby-Dick" by the late author.

"I would love for people to be inspired to revisit these great stories," he said.

Standard-Times staff writer Seth Chitwood can be reached at schitwood@s-t.com. Follow him on twitter: @ChitwoodReports.Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Standard-Times today.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: 'Moby-Dick' inspired short film 'Or, The Whale' wins in festival run