The historical incident of the mutiny aboard the H.M.S. Bounty has been chronicled in a number of films, including THE MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (Australia, 1915), IN THE WAKE OF THE BOUNTY (Australia, 1933), MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (MGM, 1935), MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (MGM, 1962), and THE BOUNTY (Orion, 1984). A number of other adventure films are directly imitative, from relatively obvious cases such as TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST (Paramount, 1946) to less probable derivations, such as ADVENTURE IN SAHARA (Columbia, 1938).
The 1935 version is by far the best remembered of all of these, although the 1962 and 1984 remakes benefited from south seas locations, and the early Australian productions had a regional proximity, with one of them starring Errol Flynn. While none of the versions are historically accurate, the 1935 film most closely follows the original bestselling trilogy of novels by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall, which also formed the basis for the 1962 version. The 1935 film was produced and directed by Frank Lloyd, who had spent some of his early years at sea himself and also directed such other notable historical sea adventures as THE SEA HAWK (1924), THE EAGLE OF THE SEA (1926), THE DIVINE LADY (1929), and RULERS OF THE SEA (1939).
MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY has an extraordinary cast in Charles Laughton as Captain William Bligh and Clark Gable as Fletcher Christian, with Franchot Tone in the pivotal role of Roger Byam, a fictional addition to a story whose other primary characters are all actual historical figures. At the beginning the voyage is without a hero, becoming an odyssey that takes the protagonists far from their usual existence. MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY opens as Christian raids a tavern to "impress" a crew, including a young man who must leave behind a pregnant wife, while on board Bligh has a man flogged who is already dead from punishment. Bligh has lost all grasp of humanity, treating his men so barbarically so as to ultimately obviate any loyalty due his position. Christian is cynical but considerate, initially unquestioning of the status quo and obeying the captain, although never sharing his malevolent streak. However, tormented by his duties, Christian transforms as the voyage progresses, with Bligh's excesses forcing Christian to discover the need for ideals. The narrative seeks to unify these sides of Fletcher Christian's character and live up to his surname, which finally causes the need for radical action--mutiny--although this alternative will make the crew permanent outlaws and exiles. When Christian has Bligh and his followers set adrift in a small boat, Bligh's subsequent achievement in steering his loyal men to safety is negated by his motivation, to avenge himself on the mutineers. Roger Byam became a victim of Bligh's vindictiveness, but unlike Bligh, the navy as an institution is redeemed when a royal pardon is forthcoming for him. Christian had been an avuncular, mentoring figure for the inexperienced Byam, a junior officer whose ultimate conversion to the rightness of the mutineer's cause symbolizes a change in attitudes toward life at sea.
In the sea adventure, the ocean-going vessel is the kingdom in which the captain reigns, where a small-scale allegory of revolution occurs, espousing the right of a people to free themselves from oppression. I would suggest that this is the key element that has made this film so memorable, and which is lacking in the other versions. The emphasis on the struggle for human dignity against a despot has a resonance beyond its direct context as the reenactment of an episode in naval history. MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY celebrates a myth central to the American experience, of a downtrodden people who rebel against a cruel "king" and replace him with a leader of their own choosing. In the process, their heritage as Englishmen and their ties to the mother country are left behind in favor of a new land and a fresh identity (in the film, on the mutineer's refuge on Pitcairn's Island). In celebrating the self-determination of a necessary revolution, MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY, by analogy, parallels the reasons, methods, and outcome of the creation of the United States.
5 out of 6 found this helpful