`Moby Dick' Gets A Whale Of A Retelling

------------------------------- "Moby Dick," 8 p.m. Sunday and Monday, USA Network. ------------------------------- Cable's USA Network, which has varied its made-for-TV movie menu in the past by filming works by Carson McCullers and Willa Cather, takes on Herman Melville's 19th-century classic, "Moby Dick," resulting in an action-filled, two-part, four-hour dramatization.

This is the fourth time the tale of Captain Ahab's obsession with killing the Great White Whale that took his leg has been filmed. John Barrymore starred in a silent version in 1925 and again in a sound version in 1930. (The latter came in at 75 minutes - and they even added a love story featuring Joan Bennett!)

The best-known version is the 1956 film, starring Gregory Peck as Captain Ahab, with direction by John Huston, from a script by Huston and Ray Bradbury. (That was 116 minutes long, compared to this new one which, without commercials, is approximately three hours in length.) At the heart of the new "Moby Dick" is a richly textured performance by Patrick Stewart as Captain Ahab. Stewart makes the most of the juicy role, by turns autocratic, domineering, raging and finally completely mad when he attempts to kill his nemesis.

Stewart's performance is nicely balanced, under Franc Roddam's direction, by Ted Levine's performance as Starbuck, the Pequod's first mate, and the man attempting to keep the ship on an even keel, physically and mentally. The two actors are well-matched.

Henry Thomas plays Ishmael, the young man getting his first taste of the sea on the ill-fated voyage of the Pequod, and the rest of the scruffy sailors are well-chosen, many of them accomplished Australian actors. (The film was shot in Australia.) Special mention must go to Piripi Waretini a Maori actor who is a standout as the larger-than-life harpoonist, Queequeg. Gregory Peck, who played Ahab in 1956, this time plays the stern Father Mapple who delivers a prophetic sermon in the early scenes of the film.

Melville was adapted this time by Roddam and Anton Diether, who do a reasonable job of making Melville's 19th-century language seem contemporary. In all truth, however, the dialogue is often eclipsed by the violent sounds of the angry ocean and winds, the cacophony of voices aboard the ship and the emotional rantings of Captain Ahab.

While most of the sea action is realistic enough to be scary, the same cannot always be said for Moby himself. A short film about the making of "Moby Dick" notes that he was constructed in three separate parts for various scenes and it's Moby's tail that is most convincing and effective. But Ahab's reaction to Moby Dick, as portrayed by Stewart, convinces you Moby Dick is indeed real and carries you along on this energetic, boisterous retelling of the American classic.

`THE INFORMANT' IS POWERFUL PORTRAIT ------------------------------- "The Informant," 8 p.m. Sunday, Showtime ------------------------------- Showtime has an outstanding drama in this film, based on Gerald Seymour's book, "Field of Blood," that personalizes the tragic conflict in Ireland. Although "The Informant" is set in the 1980s, the daily news reports of violence show some things haven't changed.

Three excellent actors star in "The Informant" - Anthony Brophy plays a retired IRA terrorist who gets pressured into doing one more assassination and is captured when he's identified by a British military officer, played by Cary Elwes, who in turn is being used by a hardened Ulster policeman, played by Timothy Dalton, who is prosecuting Brophy's character.

Although on opposite sides, the terrorist and the military man bond together in the hopes of ending "the troubles." In their bonding lies the seed for their eventual destruction.

Nicholas Meyer's taut script, Jim McBride's tense direction and several outstanding performances, besides the leads, especially Maria Lennon as the terrorist's wife, turn "The Informant" into a powerful portrait of lives caught in a seemingly insoluble situation.

`MR. HEADMISTRESS' IS SILLY, ENGAGING ------------------------------- "Mr. Headmistress," 7 p.m. Sunday, KOMO-TV ------------------------------- "Mr. Headmistress" is a silly movie that tends to grow on you as it progresses, thanks to an engaging performance by Harland Williams who plays a small-time crook who, upon release from prison, becomes, through plot machinations too intricate to be revealed here, the headmistress of a posh girls' school.

The film's sentiments are those of a typical Disney family movie but Williams is so amusing in drag - he's somewhere between Mrs. Doubtfire and those ladies played by the Monty Python troupe, with just a touch of Dame Edna - that while you don't really believe what's happening in "Mr. Headmistress," Williams makes it painless fun to watch. Veteran director / actor James Frawley knows just the right pace to keep this sort of nonsense entertaining.