Mutiny on the Bounty

In 1935, Mutiny on the Bounty beat out Les Miserables, David Copperfield, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream for best picture. Featuring the talents of Charles Laughton, Clark Gable, Franchot Tone, Movita, and Mamo, the film was directed by Frank Lloyd and based off the Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall novel based off the historical event. Laughton, Gable and Tone were also nominated for Best Actor and this film is responsible for the creation of Best Supporting Actor.

The film starts as the HMS Bounty leaves England for a two-year voyage over the Pacific Ocean. The captain, William Bligh (Laughton) is a brutal tyrant who loves administering harsh punishment to his officers and crew. Fletcher Christian (Gable) is the ships lieutenant and disapproves of Bligh’s captaincy. At the same time, midshipman Roger Byam (Tone) is divided between his loyalty to his family’s naval tradition and friendship with Christian.

During the voyage, Christian and Bligh’s animosity towards each other grows when Christian challenges Bligh’s unjust practices. Upon arrival in Tahiti, where the crew acquires breadfruit plants to take back to England, Bligh refuses to let Christian leave the ship. Meanwhile, Byam sets up shop and lives with the island Chief, Hitihiti, and his daughter, Tehanni (Movita) while translating an English-Tahitian dictionary. Hitihiti persuades Bligh to allow Christian a day pass, but Bligh soon repeals it out of spite. He disregards the order and romances a Miamiti (Mamo), a local girl. When they leave, Christian promises her he will be back someday.

After leaving, the crew talks of mutiny after Bligh’s discipline kills the ship’s well-loved surgeon and cuts water rationing for the crew in favor of providing water for the cargo. While initially disapproving of mutiny, he changes his mind after seeing crew members in iron chains. The crew overthrows the ship and cast Bligh and those loyal to him adrift. Bligh is able to lead them back to a safe harbor.

Christian orders the Bounty return to Tahiti, but Byam, who was in his cabin during the mutiny, disapproves of the mutiny and decide he and Christian can no longer be friends. When back on Tahiti, Byam marries Tehanni and Christian marries and has a child with Miamiti. They soon reconcile their friendship. But the HMS Pandora is spotted off shore and the two decide to part ways. Byam and some of the crew remain on the island for the ship to take them back to England while Christian, the rest of the crew, Miamiti and other Tahitians board the Bounty to search for a new island refuge.

On the Pandora, Byam finds out that Bligh is the captain and suspects him in the mutiny. He therefore has Byam imprisoned. Upon return to England, Byam is court-martialed and found guilty but still speaks of Bligh’s tyrannical captaincy aboard the bounty. Byam’s friends Sir Joseph Backs and Lord Hood intervene for him, leading to a pardon by King George III.

As for Christian, he finds Pitcairn, an uninhabited, sustainable island that he sees as adequate refuge from the Royal Navy. He orders the Bounty be crashed and burned while those on the ship settle on the island.

A film based off a book based off of true events. As the synopsis says, the entire first half of the film sets up the titular mutiny and it does a decent job it of it. Bligh’s punishments are incredibly disproportionate to the infractions, giving you a great reason to hate him. Christian and Byam are also relatable characters, the former who constantly tries to be the level headed voice of reason and the latter who is conflicted in loyalties.

With locations of the film including French Polynesia and Catalina, the visuals are really good. They also used the Sailing Ship Restaurant in San Francisco. The music was good too, having traditional soundtrack music as well as sea shanties.

However, the film is a good example of Hollywood’s penchant of over-dramatization. As stated above, the film is pretty inaccurate. In real life, Bligh wasn’t the monster he’s made out to be. Pitcairn was also a catastrophic failure as self-government. But despite the inaccuracies, the film is pretty good.

I’m not sure why this got best picture. Probably for its depiction of a crew overthrowing a tyrant and setting up their own government.

Final Call: Historically inaccurate, but still has a good plot with great acting and impressive visuals. It’s replacing All Quiet on the Western Front as my #3.