Excellent, smart action film.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

If was to sum up Mutiny on the Bounty it would be 'immensely satisfying'. The actual build up to the mutiny itself is just so immense. Charles Laughton is an absolute beast as Captain William Bligh, a cruel sadist with no reverence for his crew, even more so due to his prejudice against convicts. I can't stress just how much I love this performance. Shivers go down my back at any of his many outbursts ("Chriiiiiistian!"). For me this is the ultimate love to hate character that when he finally gets his comeuppance after subjecting his crew to overworking, lashings and other mistreatments, it's one of the most satisfying movie moments ever. Just like the crew, you grow to hate this character with a passion. On a personal level I can see many of my old school teachers in Bligh. OK they weren't that sadist but his harsh nature gives me déjà vu of my school days. Bligh is shown however to have a human side though. He does have a friendship with the King of Thatti, the only person who can convince Bligh to be less harsh. Their interactions are the only time in the film Bligh is shown to have a softer side. There's just something about angry ship captains which make for such memorable characters (Captain Ahab, Captain Queeg, James Cagney in Mister Roberts).Of course there is also The King himself: Clark Gable as Fletcher Christian - A figure you would be glad to have as a captain, stern but fair and a man you would happily salute and shout "yes sir!" at. He's the humanitarian saving grace for a crew ravaged at the hand of Captain Bligh. Like Laughton, the hairs on my back rise at any of his outbursts throughout the film ("I call ship's company to bare witness, you killed him!"). Supposedly the two intensely disliked each other possibly due in part to Gable winning the Oscar for Best Actor the year before for It Happened One Night over Laughton's performance in The Barretts of Wimpole Street. This makes the seething hatred between the two characters feels more real making Mutiny on the Bounty a movie of two powerhouse performances. This was Gable's first role in a period film and he fits well into the historical period. Likewise I've never thought much or Franchot Tone as an actor but he's very good as Rodger Byam, an idealist seaman who has to make difficult decisions between his loyalty to the navy and tyranny of Captain Bligh.Then there are the scenes on the Island Tahati. These where filmed on location and are as romantic as it gets. Tahati seems like a world too good to be true; a tropical drug shop of feast, song and sleep. A seemingly care free society in which the inhabitants don't even know about the concept of money. It's such a release after the tyranny experienced on board The Bounty, well until we have to return to the ship that is - no wonder a mutiny takes place. Even with the production code in effect, the scenes on the island are still very exotic and it's defiantly implied Christian and native girl played by Mamo Clark had sex. Shirtless Clark Gable, beautiful exotic women, tropical island paradise, what more do you want? Although I do have to ask; were there really natives who had relations this good with the British Empire?The life size recreation of The Bounty pushes the boundaries of set design at the time. From a visual standpoint the movie excels in the realism department. Likewise the rousing musical score unleashes the imagination of your inner schoolboy. Oh and did I mention James Cagney is in this film; yep he's in there for a brief second. Just when I thought this movie couldn't get any better.In defence of the film for being historical inaccurate; this is a movie, a work of fiction, not a documentary (although I highly recommend 1984's The Bounty, which tells the story with Bligh being the hero and Christian as the villain). Besides how can we ever truly be sure what happened aboard that ship 200 years ago? Regardless of what really happened, I find the tale of The Bounty is a story of great fascination and one which really sparks the imagination. Mutiny on the Bounty is the seafaring movie all seafaring movies are measured against.

Mutiny on the bounty is one of the finest films I have ever seen, and a rare beast of a film at that. It succeeds in everything a film should, with an interesting story, idyllic and realistic acting, and a wonderful feeling. The leading performances of Charles Laughton, Clarke Gable and Franchot Tone are the ones of legend. The fact that the 3 of them canceled each other both in the film and in the Oscar for Best Actor is a common fact. Laughton's scenes as the ruthless Captain Bligh succeed not only in making me believe he was a British Naval Officer of the late 18th century, but also made me loather him. Rarely do we see actors throwing themselves into their roles like this. Gable's Fletcher Christian is perhaps some of the more daring characters I have seen on the screen, with Gable wisely not trying his hand at a British accent and shaving that iconic mustache. Gable's performance is among his career's best, and he seemed to fit naturally within the plot and his talented co-stars. The scenes when he finally loses his temper and lets go of his bottled emotions are awe-striking. Franchot Tone, in one of his first film roles, steals the show with his earnest, wise and passionate turn as Roger Byam. His speech in the final moments of the film is the greatest monologue I have heard in a film, especially due to his criticism of brutality at the seas, and that of Captain Bligh. If the Academy even saw that scene, they should have given the thing to him. One of the best movies Ever.

I had seen a few clips of this original film, I knew there was a version with Marlon Brando, I found out about another with Mel Gibson, and I was keen to see the original because of the leading villain character, and this was in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die. Basically, set in 1787, the HMS Bounty is on a two year voyage from Great Britain, sailing the Pacific Ocean, to Tahiti to collect a supply of breadfruit plants to be transported to Jamaica. The ship is under the command of greedy and brutal tyrant Captain William Bligh (Oscar nominated Charles Laughton), second in command is first mate Fletcher Christian (Oscar nominated Clark Gable) who along with the men is finding his harsh leadership unpleasant and questionable. Arriving in Tahiti the men all take leave for a short time while the plants are placed in cargo, Christian is initially refused to take leave by Bligh, but he persuades him, and there, with midshipman friend Roger Byam (Oscar nominated Franchot Tone) they form close bonds with island women Tehanni (Movita) and Maimiti (Mamo Clark), before being forced to leave. Following the departure from paradise Christian and the crew have had too much of the harsh treatment from the Captain, and they band together in mutiny to overthrow Bligh, and set him and his supporters adrift in a boat, while the Bounty returns to Tahiti. The men in the boat assume that with the little food and drink they have that they will not last very long, but Bligh urges them to keep going, and they do manage to find land and salvation, and meanwhile Christian has married Maimiti and all of the mutineers are living the tropical life to the fullest. They are surprised when the ship Pandora from Britain comes into view, and being taken aboard they are even more surprised to see Bligh alive and well, he is taking them back to England to face the charges of mutiny, and despite the court hearings and imprisonments, everything seems to settle in the end, Christian returns to another tropical island, and the Bounty is burned down. Also starring Herbert Mundin as Smith, Eddie Quillan as Ellison, Dudley Digges as Bacchus, Donald Crisp as Burkitt, Henry Stephenson as Sir Joseph Banks, Francis Lister as Captain Nelson, Spring Byington as Mrs. Byam, and apparently James Cagney and David Niven are extras somewhere. Laughton is a great character actor and plays villain Bligh very well, and Gable as the good looking hero is likable, and he was apparently uncomfortable in his first costume movie, the story has some great scenes on the high seas and in tropical palm tree and beach paradise, and the sweeping swashbuckler sequences with cutlasses and costume are worthwhile, a terrific classic historical adventure. It won the Oscar for Best Picture, and it was nominated for Best Director for Frank Lloyd, Best Writing, Screenplay, Best Film Editing and Best Music for Nat W. Finston (head of department) and Herbert Stothart. Captain Bligh was number 19 on 100 Years, 100 Heroes & Villains, Charles Laughton was number 45 on The 50 Greatest British Actors, and he was number 37 on The World's Greatest Actor, and the film was number 86 on 100 Years, 100 Movies. Very good!

We follow the crew of the HMS Bounty on its mission to collect Bread Fruit from Tahiti to plant in the West Indies. Commencing with the formation of the crew through to the mutiny itself and the subsequent events, we see it mainly from the point of view of the crew.We're introduced to the film the way it ends, with a rousing patriotic rendition of Rule Britannia. Under the regime of Captain Bligh (Laughton), the crew sustain abuse and cruel unprovoked punishment until enough of them stand up to him under the leadership of Fletcher Christian (Gable) and send him on his merry way. The film shows (with all my experience of life aboard 18th-century sailing ships) a genuine portrayal of life at sea at that time, and the ocean scenes were very convincingly shot. They chose to shoot the Tahitian scenes in Tahiti rather than a set so we got to see real scenery and experience some local flavour as well. This is based on a book that was based on a true story so naturally some facts were lost along the way in the name of entertainment rendering it quite inaccurate historically. This period was a turning point of "a new understanding between officers and men" no small thanks to Byam (Tone) for his courageous speech at the trial. The tagline "A Thousand Hours of Hell For One Moment of Love" was a confusing choice since the romantic aspect was such a small part of the storyline! It took longer than I expected for the mutiny to commence, perhaps to really hammer home the reason for the mutiny without the audience labelling them as anarchists...but how much convincing did a 1930s crowd really need? Still, the film was engaging throughout and gave us a chance to really get to know the characters and sympathise with most of them. We did not get a chance to get inside the head of Captain Bligh, which made the film one-sided and most audiences would side with the oppressed on their own without being forced towards one point of view. It was a very enjoyable film, though it would have been nice to add what became of Christian and the other settlers after they began life on their new home. Despite winning the Best Picture Oscar® of 1936, someone thought they could do it better come 1962 with a remake starring Marlon Brando...they did come close with a nomination, which is not a bad result for a remake so I might have to check it out!