The Secret Melville Series

Many young men head to the sea for the freedom it offers. A well-off nineteen-year-old takes his first voyage and is christened Redburn. From there, a second quest lands him and his beloved Toby in a Polynesian paradise. However, things take a turn, and further adventures in Polynesia leave Redburn, now in his mid-twenties, unable to achieve his goals. He goes home on a naval vessel and nearly loses the last shreds of his humanity. At home in New York again, he decides to write about his sea adventures and winds up having his personal life influence "Pierre," his first land book. These screenplays present the first seven of Herman Melville's novels in a unified, no-holds-barred narrative. The "Secret" is, these movies reveal the possible real-life scenes and loves that inspired the great writer to fictionalize his adventures in the first place.