Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)

Director:

Frank Lloyd

Writers:

Talbot Jennings (screenplay) &
Jules Furthman (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

1936 (Germany)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | History

Tagline:

A Thousand Hours of Hell For One Moment of Love!

Plot:

Fletcher Christian successfully leads a revolt against the ruthless Captain Bligh on the HMS Bounty. However, Bligh returns one year later, hell bent on avenging his captors.

Plot Keywords:

Tahiti | Bounty | Mutiny | Voyage | Ship

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 1 win & 7 nominations

Cast

Charles Laughton	...	Bligh
Clark Gable	...	Christian
Franchot Tone	...	Byam
Herbert Mundin	...	Smith
Eddie Quillan	...	Ellison
Dudley Digges	...	Bacchus
Donald Crisp	...	Burkitt
Henry Stephenson	...	Sir Joseph Banks
Francis Lister	...	Captain Nelson
Spring Byington	...	Mrs. Byam
Movita	...	Tehani
Mamo Clark	...	Maimiti (as Mamo)
Byron Russell	...	Quintal
Percy Waram	...	Coleman
David Torrence	...	Lord Hood
John Harrington	...	Mr. Purcell
Douglas Walton	...	Stewart
Ian Wolfe	...	Maggs
DeWitt Jennings	...	Fryer
Ivan F. Simpson	...	Morgan (as Ivan Simpson)
Vernon Downing	...	Hayward
Bill Bambridge	...	Hitihiti (as William Bambridge)
Marion Clayton Anderson	...	Mary Ellison (as Marion Clayton)
Stanley Fields	...	Muspratt
Wallis Clark	...	Morrison
Crauford Kent	...	Lieutenant Edwards (as Craufurd Kent)
Pat Flaherty	...	Churchill
Alec Craig	...	McCoy
Charles Irwin	...	Thompson
Dick Winslow	...	Tinkler
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Robert Adair	...	Warden (uncredited)
Harry Allen	...	Wherryman (uncredited)
Lionel Belmore	...	Innkeeper (uncredited)
Nadine Beresford	...	Ellison's Mother (uncredited)
Julie Bescos	...	Able Bodied Seaman (uncredited)
James Cagney	...	Extra (uncredited)
Lucy Chavarria	...	Hina (uncredited)
Harry Cording	...	Soldier (uncredited)
Ray Corrigan	...	Able Bodied Seaman (uncredited)
Sam Wallace Driscoll	...	Michael Byrne - Fiddler (uncredited)
Charles Dunbar	...	Able Bodied Seaman (uncredited)
Harold Entwistle	...	Captain Colpoys (uncredited)
Sig Frohlich	...	Mutineer (uncredited)
Mary Gordon	...	Peddler (uncredited)
Fred Graham	...	Able Bodied Seaman (uncredited)
Winter Hall	...	Chaplain (uncredited)
Dick Haymes	...	Extra (uncredited)
Lilyan Irene	...	Moll (uncredited)
Clarke Jennings	...	Able Bodied Seaman (uncredited)
Tiny Jones	...	Ship's Visitor at Portsmouth (uncredited)
Stubby Kruger	...	Able Bodied Seaman (uncredited)
Hal Le Sueur	...	Millard (uncredited)
Robert Livingston	...	Lieutenant Young (uncredited)
Doris Lloyd	...	Cockney Moll (uncredited)
King Mojave	...	Richard Skinner (uncredited)
Charles Nauu	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
David Niven	...	Extra (uncredited)
Vivien Oakland	...	Moll (uncredited)
Gil Perkins	...	Able Bodied Seaman (uncredited)
John Power	...	Hillebrandt (uncredited)
Satini Pualoa	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
William Stack	...	Judge Advocate (uncredited)
Will Stanton	...	Portsmouth Joe (uncredited)
Jack Sterling	...	Able Bodied Seaman (uncredited)
Lotus Thompson	...	Moll (uncredited)
David Thursby	...	McIntosh (uncredited)
Harry Warren	...	Able Bodied Seaman (uncredited)
Eric Wilton	...	Captain of the Board (uncredited)

Directed by
Frank Lloyd

Writing credits
Talbot Jennings		(screenplay) &
Jules Furthman		(screenplay) and
Carey Wilson		(screenplay)
Charles Nordhoff		(book) and
James Norman Hall		(book)
Margaret Booth		writer

Produced by
Albert Lewin	....	associate producer
Frank Lloyd	....	producer (as A Frank Lloyd Production)
Irving Thalberg	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Herbert Stothart		(music score by)

Cinematography by
Arthur Edeson
Charles G. Clarke		(photographed by) (uncredited)
Sidney Wagner		(photographed by) (uncredited)

Film Editing by
Margaret Booth

Art Direction by
Cedric Gibbons

Makeup Department
Robert J. Schiffer	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Production Management
Ulric Busch	....	unit manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
J. Walter Ruben	....	second unit director (uncredited)

Art Department
A. Arnold Gillespie	....	associate art director (as Arnold Gillespie)

Sound Department
Douglas Shearer	....	recording director
William Steinkamp	....	sound (uncredited)

Stunts
Gene Coogan	....	stunt double: Franchot Tone (uncredited)
Harvey Parry	....	stunts (uncredited)
Gil Perkins	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Cliff Shirpser	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Glenn Strong	....	camera operator: second unit (uncredited)

Music Department
Charles Maxwell	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Leonid Raab	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
James Curtis Havens	....	marine director (as James Havens)
Alfred Alexander	....	technical advisor (uncredited)
G.O.T. Bagley	....	technical advisor: English background (uncredited)
Howard Dietz	....	press agent (uncredited)
Hertzel Effensachs	....	marine coordinator (uncredited)
Bob Roberts	....	production assistant (uncredited)
Bill Ryan	....	script clerk (uncredited)
John Waters	....	production assistant (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (presents) (controlled by Loew's Incorporated)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1935) (USA) (theatrical)
• Loew's (1935) (USA) (theatrical) (uncredited)
• Chapel Distribution (1997) (Australia) (theatrical) (16mm print)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1936) (Germany) (theatrical)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1993) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Warner Home Video (2004) (Germany) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Western Costume Company  wardrobe (uncredited)

Runtime:

132 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Polynesian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Canada:PG (video rating) | South Korea:12 (2003) | New Zealand:G | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Sweden:11 (DVD rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:G | Germany:12 | USA:Approved (PCA #1531) | UK:PG (video rating) (2002) | Netherlands:12 | UK:A (original rating)

Filming Locations:

French Polynesia

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Clark Gable had to shave off his trademark mustache for this film for historical accuracy. Mustaches were not allowed in the Royal Navy during the time the story takes place.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: When the Bounty leave port, you see another sailing ship. This is a steel hull tall ship that came into fashion about 100 years after this film takes place.

Quotes:

Lt. Fletcher Christian: When you're back in England with the fleet again, you'll hear the hue and cry against me. From now on they'll spell mutiny with my name.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Maude: Maude's Good Deed (#1.20)" (1973)

Soundtrack:

Love Song of Tahiti

Legendary, Memorable--But Somewhat Problematic

Based on the then-popular novel by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall, the 1935 MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY is among a series of legendary films of the 1930s that have been repeatedly celebrated for cinematic achievement. And small wonder: the film has a host of powerful assets.

The single most obvious among these is the star power involved: led by two Oscar-winning stars, the critically formidable Charles Laughton and the incredibly popular Clark Gable, the cast reads like a Who's Who of mid-1930s male actors ranging from leading man Franchot Tone to the memorable character actor Donald Crisp. In a visual sense, the film is also a knockout: filmed on location in a full-size replica of the Bounty, it set a new standard for capturing the sea on film. And the story itself is powerful, the tale of the battle between the cruel and autocratic Bligh and the humane and populist Fletcher Christian. Taken together, it makes for a powerful ride.

Still, some viewers may not find MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY all it is cracked to be. Then as now, Hollywood was less interested in getting the facts right than in telling a good story--and from a factual point of view the film is perhaps twenty percent accurate and eighty percent nothing more nor less than historical tarradiddle. That is no real hindrance per se; after all, we're not watching a documentary. But seen from a modern standpoint the cast now feels somewhat problematic.

Charles Laughton was so critically well regarded that he received star billing over Clark Gable for the film, and seen today his performance is easily the single most powerful in the entire film. Autocratic, brilliant, and immediately and increasingly unlikable, he drives the film from start to finish--and it is here, really, in which most of the film's historical accuracy resides. The rest of the cast, however, is extremely Hollywood. Clark Gable, Franchot Tone and all the rest give an excellent show, full of power and drive--but you never for a moment forget that they are indeed Hollywood stars and not members of the British Navy.

This is very much a "big" film in the MGM tradition, often brilliant, often memorable, and often setting new standards for the motion picture industry. And when regarded from that point of view it is extremely, extremely entertaining. But it may also be a film whose power has slightly faded with the passing of time.

Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer