Despite my issues with Hollywood, Mutiny on the Bounty is my favourite film. I first saw the slightly poor version with Marlon Brando and Trevor Howard and wasn't very impressed. I then bought this on DVD and loved it. The story (based on a true historical incident) is about the tyrannical Capt William Bligh bullying and abusing his crew until he drives them to mutiny, lead by Lt Fletcher Christian. While this version is not historically accurate and has some un-impressive casting, it is very well filmed and has a very good script. The film stared Clark Gable as Fletcher Christian and he is my biggest issue with the film, he was not acting, he was just being Clark Gable. No attempt at an English accent, no real emotions showed, just reading his lines. The only reason he wasn't panned for this film was because the character of Fletcher Christian fitted his on-screen persona. He weakest in this film, there were so many other better actors in Hollywood at the time that would have been better for the role, Ronald Colman could have played him and the one I would have loved to see play him would have been Laurence Olivier . The other star was Franchot Tone as the idealistic Midshipman Roger Byam, again, no attempt at an English accent but he was acting a bit more than Clark Gable and he JUST about fitted the role OK. But the only person who owns the film is the legendary British actor Charles Laughton as the sadistic bullying Capt Bligh. He was absolutely fantastic and acted everyone off the screen, if it wasn't for him, I doubt I would enjoy this film. Other supporting roles are a bit better than the leading American stars. Donald Crisp as Thomas Burkitt, Eddie Quillan as Thomas Ellison, Dudley Digges as the surgeon Dr Bacchus (adding the right amount of humour to the film), Henry Stephenson as Sir Joseph Banks, Ian Wolfe as the slimy Mr Maggs and Bill Bambridge as Hitihiti.
This film is grandly filmed with perfect sets and costumes for the period and the special effects for 1935 are VERY VERY good. It is one of the ultimate high sea adventure stories and I highly recommend it for classical film buffs.
Derek
This film is grandly filmed with perfect sets and costumes for the period and the special effects for 1935 are VERY VERY good. It is one of the ultimate high sea adventure stories and I highly recommend it for classical film buffs.
Derek