MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1935)

Country: U.S.A.

Genre(s): Adventure / Drama

Director: Frank Lloyd

Cast: Charles Laughton / Clark Gable / Franchot Tone

Plot

Sent on a two-year voyage to Tahiti, the crew of the British ship Bounty suffers under the sadistic Captain Bligh.  When the torments become too much for officer Fletcher Christian, he leads a mutiny for control of the vessel.

What I Liked

It’s very easy to see why “Mutiny on the Bounty” set the standard for the many high-seas adventures that would follow through the next several years.  It preceded “Captain Blood” (a similarly themed classic which I have already reviewed) by just over a month and, while it doesn’t boast as much escapist action as the aforementioned picture, it outdoes the Errol Flynn vehicle for both production values and effective melodrama.  While “Captain Blood” did have some impressive sets, many of its battle scenes clearly relied upon miniatures.  If miniatures are used in “Mutiny on the Bounty,” they aren’t easy to pick out.  Much of the film is shot truly at sea, aboard a real ship patterned off of true nineteenth century vessels.  Though the storm scenes were shot on a set, the effects and camera work combine to convey the truly terrifying power of the ocean.  Much of the island scenes were shot on location, in the South Pacific.  While “Captain Blood” may display more swashbucklery, “Mutiny on the Bounty” has the riveting look and feel of authenticity.

While the dramatic episodes of “Captain Blood” are mere throwaway interludes, “Mutiny on the Bounty” boasts a moving human drama backed by historic events.  Those events are of course distorted and simplified, as is the Hollywood custom, but that doesn’t stop the clash of personalities between Captain Bligh and Officer Christian from generating as much gale-force energy as the waves that wash over the Bounty’s deck.  Like a lot of terrific movies, this film makes excellent use of having a variety of characters confined into a small area with the necessities of survival at a premium and the dangers of the outside world always looming.  The tension mounts until the people are a greater danger to each other than any outside threat.  Cut off from civilization, family, and law, the people are left only with the inescapable fact of desperation, making for a wonderful set of moral and personal conflicts.

What I Didn’t Like

The generally accepted word on this version of “Mutiny on the Bounty” is that Charles Laughton makes the movie, bringing all the requisite fire and brimstone to disciplinarian Captain Bligh.  While the character is indeed the center of the drama and the catalyst for all that happens in the movie, I personally think Laughton’s performance is overrated.  He merely waddles about the ship with a ridiculous frown always upon his face, mostly speaking in short, monotone sentences with a few bellowing rants thrown in.  The role of Bligh has been played by some of the most respected actors of all time; Marlon Brando, and Anthony Hopkins, to name a couple.  Laughton is also a highly-regarded actor, and rightly so.  It’s not that he does a poor job as Bligh; it’s just that I expected more from him, considering the praise that has been given to him for this performance.

Unfortunately, most of the acting in the film is too over-the-top to be taken seriously by modern filmgoers.  Clark Gable in particular is unbearably hammy in his puff-chested performance of Fletcher Christian.

As is the case with virtually all action and adventure films from the heyday of the Hollywood studio system, this movie is filled with stock characters that do bring some colorful energy to the film while watching, but are ultimately forgettable.  There’s the young, green, and idealistic officer; the wealthy snob; the lovable drunk;  the burly ruffian; the list goes on.  The problem is, I just finished watching this movie and I couldn’t tell you a single one of their names.

Most Memorable Scene

*spoiler alert!*

Bligh’s insistence on constantly proving his dominance over his men has tragic consequences on multiple occasions throughout the film.  The most compelling of these moments comes when the Captain orders the ship’s surgeon on deck, despite all of the officers telling him that the man is too stick to walk.  Rather than have one of the officers punished for his failure to show, the ailing surgeon makes his way to the deck just in time to keel over in front of Bligh and the entire crew.  Here Laughton indeed lives up to his reputation, conveying Bligh’s embarrassment and fear without a word as his eyes cast about for safe harbor in an ocean of murderous looks from his own crew.

My Rating: 4 out of 5