Mutiny on the Bounty [Blu-ray]

Overview

The 1932 publication of Charles Nordhoff and James Norton Hall's Mutiny on the Bounty sparked a revival of interest in the titular 1789 ship mutiny, and this 1935 MGM movie version won the Oscar for Best Picture. Clark Gable stars as Fletcher Christian, first mate of the infamous HMS Bounty, skippered by Captain William Bligh (Charles Laughton), the cruelest taskmaster on the Seven Seas. Bligh's villainy knows no bounds: he is even willing to flog a dead man if it will strengthen his hold over the crew. Christian despises Bligh and is sailing on the Bounty under protest. During the journey back to England, Bligh's cruelties become more than Christian can bear; and after the captain indirectly causes the death of the ship's doctor, the crew stages a mutiny, with Christian in charge. Bligh and a handful of officers loyal to him are set adrift in an open boat. Through sheer force of will, he guides the tiny vessel on a 49-day, 4000-mile journey to the Dutch East Indies without losing a man. Historians differ on whether Captain Bligh was truly such a monster or Christian such a paragon of virtue (some believe that the mutiny was largely inspired by Christian's lust for the Tahitian girls). The movie struck gold at the box office, and, in addition to the Best Picture Oscar, Gable, Laughton, and Franchot Tone as one of the Bounty's crew were all nominated for Best Actor (they all lost to Victor McLaglan in The Informer). The film was remade (badly) in 1962 and adapted into the "revisionist" 1984 feature The Bounty with Mel Gibson as Fletcher Christian and Anthony Hopkins as Captain Bligh.

Product Details

Release Date:	04/20/2021
UPC:	0883929765812
Original Release:	1935
Rating:	NR
Source:	Warner Archives
Language:	English
Time:	2:12:00
Sales rank:	5,441

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Charles Laughton	Bligh
Clark Gable	Christian
Franchot Tone	Byam
Herbert Mundin	Smith
Eddie Quillan	Ellison
Dudley Digges	Bacchus
Donald Crisp	Burkitt
Henry Stephenson	Sir Joseph Banks
Francis Lister	Kapitan Nelson
Spring Byington	Pani Byam
Mamo Clark	Maimiti,Morrison
Ian Wolfe	Maggs
Ivan Simpson	Morgan,Actor
DeWitt Jennings	Fryer
Stanley Fields	Muspratt
Vernon Downing	Hayward
Dick Winslow	Tinkler
Byron Russell	Quintal
Percy Waram	Coleman
David Torrence	Lord Hood
John Harrington	Pan Purcell
Robert Livingston	Actor
Douglas Walton	Actor
Alec Craig	Actor
Doris Lloyd	Actor
Eric Wilton	Actor
Lionel Belmore	Actor
Nadine Beresford	Actor
Marion Clayton	Actor
Mary Gordon	Actor
Winter Hall	Actor
James Cagney	Actor
David Niven	Actor
Charles Nauu	Actor
Sam Wallace Driscoll	Actor
Hal Le Sueur	Actor
William Bambridge	Actor
David Thursby	Actor
Crauford Kent	Actor
Pat Flaherty	Actor
Charles Irwin	Actor
John Powers	Actor
King Mojave	Actor
William Stack	Actor
Harold Entwistle	Actor
Will Stanton	Actor
Harry Cording	Actor
Movita	Tehanni
Marion Clayton Anderson	Mary Ellison
Herbert Stothart	Composer

Technical Credits

Jules Furthman

Talbot Jennings

Carey Wilson

Charles Nordhoff

James Norman Hall

Margaret Booth

John Farrow

Frank Lloyd	Director
Jules Furthman	Screenwriter
Talbot Jennings	Screenwriter
Carey Wilson	Screenwriter
Irving Thalberg	Producer
Charles Nordhoff	Screenwriter
James Norman Hall	Screenwriter
Margaret Booth	Screenwriter
John Farrow	Screenwriter
Douglas Shearer	Sound Effects
William Steinkamp	Sound Effects

Editorial Reviews

The winner of 1935's Best Picture Oscar, this sumptuously produced adaptation of the Charles Nordhoff-James Norman Hall bestseller has weathered the intervening decades extremely well. It's just as powerful and exciting today and remains the best of several big-screen versions. Based on real-life events, Mutiny dramatizes a momentous voyage of HMS Bounty, an 18th-century cargo ship sent to Tahiti to gather supplies of breadfruit that will be sold to West Indian colonies. The ship's new first mate, Fletcher Christian (Clark Gable), discovers early on that Captain Bligh (Charles Laughton), the Bounty's commanding officer, is a ruthless tyrant. A series of outrages gradually turns Christian against Bligh, and the mate leads his rebellious crew in a mutiny that culminates in the captain's expulsion from the ship. But that's only part of this unusually complex story line, beautifully developed by top screenwriters Talbot Jennings, Jules Furthman, and Carey Wilson. Legendary MGM executive Irving Thalberg personally supervised the production, insisting on period accuracy down to the most minute details: Although the film's Tahitian maidens were garbed somewhat more modestly than their real-life counterparts, the sets and costumes were flawlessly re-created and shipboard routine was realistically pictured. In actual fact, Bligh was not quite the heartless villain he's made out to be here, nor was Christian the altruistic humanist of Gable portrayal. But that doesn't matter, really. As a rousing historical drama, Mutiny on the Bounty is expertly constructed. It's one of several superb motion pictures directed by that underappreciated journeyman, Frank Lloyd, whose masterly touches made the film an instant classic -- and one that has withstood the test of time.

Barnes & Noble - Ed Hulse

Mutiny on the Bounty represents the height of MGM filmmaking during the Irving Thalberg era. Filming on location in Tahiti, the studio spent $2 million in production costs, an astounding sum for 1935. Thalberg's boss, Louis B. Mayer, opposed the film, but the production chief prevailed, insisting that the public was fascinated by cruelty. Indeed, Charles Laughton's Captain Bligh is among the screen's most despicable villains, never mind that the historic Captain Bligh was a substantially more complex person, and the heroic Fletcher Christian (Clark Gable) of the film is hardly the Fletcher Christian of history who kidnapped Tahitian natives and forced them to work as slaves for his mutineers. Mutiny on the Bounty holds up well as a grand tale of adventure, beautifully filmed, with charismatic lead performances and the quality of production that made Thalberg's work legendary. It is a rarity in Academy Awards history: a Best Picture winner that won only that one Oscar. The bigger winner for the night was John Ford's The Informer, which took four Oscars, all at Bounty's expense. Yet, as is common in Academy history, Bounty, a bigger box-office blockbuster, won the top award.

All Movie Guide - Richard Gilliam