Thrice Told Tales: Mutiny on the Bounty

(This is another in the series of Thrice Told Tales, a series in which I watch three films based on the same source material and write about the strengths and weaknesses of each, as well as their similarities and differences.)

This time, though, I’m really having difficulties writing about the three major films based on the events surrounding the mutiny on the Royal Navy merchant HMS Bounty on April 28th, 1789.

More than three films have been made about this iconic episode of naval history. In 1916, a silent film (now lost) was made in Australia. In 1933, also in Australia, Errol Flynn made his debut in a film titled In the Wake of the Bounty, playing Fletcher Christian. I have yet to see Flynn's performance—the movie was largely forgotten because of the film that came out two years later: MGM’s Mutiny on the Bounty, winner of the 1935 Oscar for Best Picture. Two other major productions about the Bounty have been made over the years: 1962’s Mutiny on the Bounty and 1984’s The Bounty.

Here’s my problem: there’s an essay by historian Greg Dening about the production and lasting political impact of 1935’s Mutiny on the Bounty. I read it in Past Imperfect: History According to the Movies, a collection of essays by historians and other experts in their fields (such as paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould) about the historical accuracy of films from Jurassic Park through All the President’s Men.

It’s one of my favorite books about film, and even one of my favorite history books.

While reading Dening’s essay, full of historical tidbits and wise insights, I’m thinking, “I really don’t have anything to add to what he has to say. I should really just tell people to read the book.” Honestly, I’d like to scan the chapter and submit it to Ricochet, but that’s not how things are done from what I understand.

So, I urge you to track that book down. For now, here are my brief reviews of these three films.

Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)

Producer Irving Thalberg had a challenge in convincing MGM studio owner Louis B. Mayer to make this film, because Mayer was a good American who didn’t want to make heroes of mutineers. They were too much like the Bolsheviks in Russia. Their enemy, Captain Bligh, couldn’t be the hero either (though his amazing journey back to England after being exiled from his ship is the stuff of legend). Thalberg sold Mayer on the idea of the British Navy being the hero of the film.

The film (directed by Frank Lloyd) was a major hit, the biggest box office draw of the year, and understandably so. Charles Laughton makes a marvelous villain with his callous disregard for human suffering in his greedy quest to retrieve breadfruit plants in support of the slave trade in the West Indies. Whether he was meant to be a hero or not, Clark Gable as Fletcher Christian certainly comes across as a defender of his abused crewmates.

What unfolds is a marvelous adventure story. Actually, it’s three stories of adventure, based on the trilogy of historical novels by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. The first novel, Mutiny on the Bounty, details the events that led to the takeover of the ship and the mutiny itself. Men Against the Sea tells of Captain Bligh and 18 crewmen being set adrift on a launch after the mutiny and their amazing journey back to civilization. Pitcairn’s Island records the fate of the mutineers. The film concentrates on the events of the first novel, but the story is told in full.

The movie was a sensation. Laughton’s Bligh was widely referenced as the epitome of cruelty. Looney Tunes used the character many times, but the depiction would be a fixture in popular culture from The Flintstones to The Simpsons. (An interesting fact—noted by Dening in his essay—is that the real Bligh wasn’t quite as bloodthirsty as he was depicted in the film. Though Bligh flogged 10 percent of his crew. Captain James Cook flogged 25 percent of his crew on the Resolution, and George Vancouver flogged 52 percent of his crew on the Discovery, all in the same era.)

Dening suggests that the floggings were not what made Bligh so reviled but rather how he spoke to his men. He used vulgar language. He was dismissive and sarcastic. He was always needling his crew. It could be that his physical sadism wasn’t the fundamental problem, but that he was too much like Bill Lumbergh from Mike Judge's 1999 comedy Office Space. Quite interesting that two other crews mutinied against Bligh after the Bounty incident.

The film was well marketed for its historical accuracy, though this wasn't without some irony. For instance, extensive research went into making an authentic artificial leg for the ship’s surgeon (while the actual surgeon on the Bounty had two good legs). High schools in 1935 were directed in ways to use the film to teach history (though many characters and incidents in the film were completely made up). The film’s afterword informs the audience that the Bounty incident led to the reformation of the British Navy’s disciplinary policies. That did really happen—fifty years later.

It’s interesting that though the film was nominated for eight Oscars (including Best Actor nominations for Laughton and Gable), it claimed only one for Best Picture. This film is one of the classic films of the Golden Age of Hollywood and still very much worth seeking out.

Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)

This is a dull and tedious adaptation, with blame fairly placed on the film’s star, Marlon Brando, who played Fletcher Christian.

It was the most expensive film ever made when it was produced (though soon surpassed by Cleopatra in 1963).

The studio hired the great director Carol Reed, known for The Third Man and Oliver!, but Brando fought with him and drove him from the production. Lewis Milestone, the legendary director of All’s Quiet on the Western Front, was hired next, and Brando clashed with him as well. When Brando wasn’t happy with a scene, he would simply stand in front of the camera and not speak a word.

The script was constantly reworked as production went on, bringing about an unsettled ending. It’s been said Billy Wilder suggested that the film end with the burning of the Bounty and Christian’s death. Milestone refused to direct the scene, and reportedly Brando directed it himself.

My biggest problem with the film is Brando’s performance. The real Fletcher Christian came from wealth and position, while William Bligh was self-made. Brando wanted to play up that conflict by playing Christian as a fop, but with Bligh played by co-star Trevor Howard, a man who always seems like the ideal of a British gentleman, the contrast doesn’t work. Also, the movie is nearly three hours long, compared to the little over two needed for the 1935 version. The film did do well at the box office in a year of epics.

If you feel a craving to watch a 1962 epic, I'd advise you go with The Longest Day or Lawrence of Arabia, not this bore.

The Bounty (1984)

The first two reviewed here were based on the Nordhoff and Hall novels. This time around, screenwriter Robert Bolt (Lawrence of Arabia, A Man for All Seasons) returned to primary sources. The story opens with Commanding Lieutenant William Bligh facing a board of inquiry investigating his loss of the Bounty to mutineers.

Much of what takes place is familiar to anyone who’s seen the other two films. They all get right to the story of a journey to retrieve breadfruit that goes awry and leads to mutiny.

The Bounty was directed by Roger Donaldson and has a score by Vangelis (Chariots of Fire). As in the other adaptations, this one has an excellent cast: Anthony Hopkins plays Bligh, and Mel Gibson plays Christian (when it came out, I was excited to see Mad Max on the big screen again). Esteemed legends Laurence Olivier and Edward Fox play members of the board of inquiry. The crew included members played by now-familiar newcomers – Liam Neeson as a thug and Daniel Day-Lewis as a prig.

The film was rated PG, but includes a great deal of nudity in the scenes on Tahiti. I’ve read that local women were upset when they learned after filming that appearing topless – as they did in most scenes – would be viewed as licentious in the West.

The film concludes with Bligh exonerated of all blame for the loss of the Bounty, receiving a commendation for his courage and seamanship. Christian, on the other hand, is stranded on Pitcairn and forced to burn the Bounty.

If you’re trying to decide which version of the tale to watch, I’d go with the classic 1935 version. But The Bounty is also worth a watch. If you want to watch a third version, join me in the search for Errol Flynn’s big-screen debut.