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Mutiny on the Bounty
Meuterei auf der Bounty
USA 1935
produced by Frank Lloyd, Irving Thalberg (uncredited) for MGM
directed by Frank Lloyd
starring Charles Laughton, Clark Gable, Franchot Tone, Herbert Mundin, Eddie Quillan, Dudley Digges, Donald Crisp, Henry Stephenson, Francis Lister, Spring Byington, Movita, Mamo Clark, Byron Russell, Percy Warren, David Torrence, John Harrington, Douglas Walton, Ian Wolfe, DeWitt Jennings, Ivan F. Simpson, Vernon Downing, Bill Bambridge, Marion Clayton Anderson, Stanley Fields, Wallis Clark, Crauford Kent, Pat Flaherty, Alec Craig, Charles Irwin, Dick Winslow
screenplay by Talbot Jennings, Jules Furthman, Carey Wilson, based on the book by Charles Nordhoff, James Norman Hall, music by Herbert Stothart
Mutiny on the Bounty
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Captain Bligh (Charles Laughton) is to sail the Bounty from England
halfway round the world to Tahiti to collect breadfruit plants, to ship
them on to the West Indies. His crew soon has to realize Bligh is a
sadistic tyrant who abuses his position to enrichen at the expense of his
crew, and he shows no hesitation to use corporeal punishment to keep his
men in line, iven if it costs the occasional crewman's life. Bligh's
first mate Fletcher Christian (Clark Gable) is at first loyal to his
captain, even if he feels sympathetic towards his crew, but the longer the
journey lasts and the more sadistic Bligh gets, the more he starts to
detest his superior, a feeling that is mutual ... and when the Bounty
finally arrives at the island paradise of Tahiti, Bligh tries to keep
Christian from going on land during the whole stay. Somehow though,
Christian manages to make it onto the island anyhow, and even find love in
Maimiti (Mamo Clark), daughter of the local chieftain (Bill Bambridge). On
the return trip, Captain Bligh's behaviour gets even worse, and the
conflict between and Christian finally openly errupts, culminating in
Fletcher and a good part of the crew bringing the Bounty under its power
and abandoning Bligh and most of those loyal to him in a lifeboat to fend
for themselves on the open sea. Against all odds, and thanks to Bligh's
superior seamanship, Bligh and company make it to Timor, while the Bounty
heads back to Tahiti to spend a life in paradise ... Years have passed,
but eventually, a British battleship shows up off the coast of Tahiti,
prompting Christian and company to make a hasty escape on the Bounty with
their wives and families, leaving behind only those who were never part of
the mutiny. Eventually, the Bounty lands at Pitcairn, an island that's
almost inaccessible from the sea - which means the mutineers would be safe
from British ships ... Those whom Christian has left behind on Tahiti
board the British battleship in hopes of being taken home - but they find
Bligh commandeering the ship, a man so full of hate that he has all of
them, including innocent and naive aristocrat Bryan (Franchot Tone) put
into chains. In London, Bligh's prisoners are court-martialed and
condemned to death for the mutiny they didn't even take part in. but an
emotional speech by Bryan and the intervention by his father free them
after all, and in the end, Bryan even goes to sea again ... An
impressive production with lavish production values, Mutiny on the
Bounty is not without its flaws: Basically, Bligh is portrayed as auch
a one-dimensional villain that it borders caricature, while Fletcher
Christian as the tough guy with a heart of gold does not fare much
better, while Bryan as the catalyst of the story remains pale almost
throughout, while his emotional speech in the courtyard towards the end of
the movie is so cheesy it borders the ridiculous. That all said though,
the film is shot rather amazingly, and the performances by both Laughton
and Gable, despite their clichéd roles, are first rate. Plus, the film is
carried by this sense of adventure that seems to be by and large lost in
similar productions from nowadays. Not a masterpiece perhaps, but a film
that's definitely worth a look.
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