TODAY AT AFI FESTIVAL

Following are The Times’ recommendations for today’s schedule of the American Film Institute International Film Festival, with commentary by the film reviewing staff. All screenings , unless otherwise noted, are at Laemmle’s Sunset 5, 8000 Sunset. Information: (213) 466-1767. Highly Recommended:

“MOBY DICK”(U.S., 1956; director John Huston; 1:25 & 6:30 p.m.). John Huston’s adaptation of the Herman Melville classic has great moments, though it goes wrong in places: Gregory Peck, taking a stretch as mad Captain Ahab, has rightly said that he should have been cast as steady first mate Starbuck. But Huston never credited the critics. He always cited “Moby Dick,” like the equally maligned “Reflections in a Golden Eye,” as one of his career favorites. An unusual, nerve-rattling epic full of stately beauty, queasy grandeur and chilly intelligence, a fable of death, obsession and men apart, it’s done with cool, contained fury. It haunts you. Part of the Ray Bradbury Tribute.

Recommended:

“THE INHERITANCE”(Czech Republic; Vera Chytilova; 4:15 & 9:15 p.m.). Vera Chytilova, a major figure of the ‘60s Czech New Wave, has been barely visible for years. So this comedy gem, beautifully cast and done with bright blazes of whimsy, is almost a surprise. At the film’s center is a wonderful, ribald comic portrait: Bolek Polivka as the drunken long-hair slob and village scrounger Bohus, who, after the fall of communism, suddenly finds himself the richest man around. (Michael Wilmington). “RAY BRADBURY TALKS ABOUT MOVIES”(8:45 p.m.). In the 1950s, Ray Bradbury’s gentle or terrifying, touching and lyrical fables of life on Mars, in the future or in the shadowy areas of small towns and big cities, made science fiction literarily respectable. His most abiding trait as writer: a true sense of wonder. On stage tonight, he will discuss the long love affair with the movies of his youth and young manhood, a passion that led, ultimately, to Huston and “Moby Dick.” (Michael Wilmington)

Others: “Don Gio” (Czech Republic; Caban; 1:30 & 6:45 p.m.). (Peter Rainer). “Beck” (The Netherlands; Jacob Bijl; 1:40, 4:05, 6:50 & 9:05 p.m.). (Michael Wilmington).