Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)

Director:

Lewis Milestone
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Writers:

Charles Lederer (screenplay)
Charles Nordhoff (novel) ...
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Release Date:

8 November 1962 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | History | Romance

Tagline:

The mightiest excitement that ever swept across the sea or the screen!

Plot:

The Bounty leaves Portsmouth in 1787. Its destination: to sail to Tahiti and load bread-fruit. Captain...

Plot Keywords:

Tahiti | Crew | Discipline | Paradise | Mutiny

Awards:

Nominated for 7 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Marlon Brando	...	1st Lt. Fletcher Christian
Trevor Howard	...	Captain William Bligh
Richard Harris	...	Seaman John Mills
Hugh Griffith	...	Alexander Smith
Richard Haydn	...	William Brown
Tarita	...	Maimiti
Percy Herbert	...	Captain Matthew Quintal
Duncan Lamont	...	John Williams
Gordon Jackson	...	Seaman Edward Birkett
Chips Rafferty	...	Michael Byrne
Noel Purcell	...	Seaman William McCoy
Ashley Cowan	...	Samuel Mack
Eddie Byrne	...	John Fryer (Sailing Master)
Frank Silvera	...	Minarii
Tim Seely	...	Midshipman Edward 'Ned' Young
Keith McConnell	...	James Morrison
Rahera Tuia	...	Tahitian
Ruita Salmon	...	Tahitian
Nathalie Tehahe	...	Tahitian
Tematai Tevaearai	...	Tahitian
Odile Hinano Paofai	...	Tahitian
Teretiaiti Teyahineheipua Maifano	...	Tahitian
Virau Tepii	...	Tahitian
Maeva Maitihe	...	Tahitian
Louise Tefaafana	...	Tahitian
Tinorua Vaitahe	...	Tahitian
Adrien Vaatete Mahitete	...	Tahitian
Tufariu Tumatana Haamoeura	...	Tahitian
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Antoinette Bower	...	Lady Gwendenare (uncredited)
Henry Daniell	...	Court-martial judge (uncredited)
Larry Duran	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Anna Lee	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Gilchrist Stuart	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Matahiarii Tama	...	Chief Hitihiti (uncredited)
Torin Thatcher	...	Staines (uncredited)
Roger Ward	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Ben Wright	...	Graves (uncredited)

Directed by
Lewis Milestone
Carol Reed		(uncredited) (some scenes)

Writing credits
Charles Lederer		(screenplay)
Charles Nordhoff		(novel) and
James Norman Hall		(novel)
Eric Ambler		uncredited
Borden Chase		uncredited
William L. Driscoll		uncredited
John Gay		uncredited
Ben Hecht		uncredited

Produced by
Aaron Rosenberg	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Bronislau Kaper

Cinematography by
Robert Surtees		(as Robert L. Surtees)

Film Editing by
John McSweeney Jr.

Casting by
Irene Howard		(uncredited)

Art Direction by
George W. Davis
J. McMillan Johnson

Set Decoration by
Henry Grace
Hugh Hunt

Costume Design by
Moss Mabry

Makeup Department
Mary Keats	....	hair stylist
William Tuttle	....	makeup designer

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ridgeway Callow	....	assistant director
James Curtis Havens	....	second unit director (as James C. Havens)
Lynn Guthrie	....	second assistant director (uncredited)
Robert H. Justman	....	additional assistant director (uncredited)
Paul Rapp	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Carl 'Major' Roup	....	second assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Franklin Milton	....	recording supervisor
Van Allen James	....	sound editor (uncredited)
Milo B. Lory	....	special sound effects (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
A. Arnold Gillespie	....	special visual effects
Robert R. Hoag	....	special visual effects
Lee LeBlanc	....	special visual effects
Cliff Shirpser	....	matte camera operator (uncredited)
Matthew Yuricich	....	visual effects artist (uncredited)

Stunts
Paul Baxley	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Harold E. Wellman	....	additional photographer
Conrad L. Hall	....	camera operator (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Robert Fuca	....	assistant set costumer (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Charles K. Hagedon	....	color consultant

Music Department
Robert Armbruster	....	conductor

Other crew
Bengt Danielsson	....	technical advisor
Leo Langomazino	....	technical advisor
Donald MacIntyre	....	technical advisor (as Captain Donald Macintyre R.N.)
Aurora Natua	....	technical advisor
Hamil Petroff	....	choreographer

Production Companies

• Arcola Pictures (as An Arcola Picture) (for)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1962) (USA) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1962) (UK) (theatrical)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1967) (USA) (TV) (original airing) (pan/scan)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1997) (USA) (VHS) (pan/scan)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1997) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Fox Films (1963) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Esselte Video (1989) (Finland) (VHS)
• Mainostelevisio (MTV3) (1984) (Finland) (TV)
• Warner Bros. Entertainment Finland Oy (2007) (Finland) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (1993) (Finland) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Chapman/Leonard Studio Equipment  cranes and dollies
• Turner Entertainment  package design

Runtime:

178 min | UK:185 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Polynesian | French

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.76 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) (Westrex Recording System) | 4-Track Stereo (35mm release) (some prints) | Stereo (DVD Release) | Mono (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Finland:K-14 (uncut) (1993) | Finland:K-16 (cut) (1962) | Norway:12 (video rating) | Norway:16 | Iceland:12 | UK:15 (TV rating) | UK:15 (video rating) | USA:Approved (certificate #19794) | UK:12 (video re-rating) (2006) | Finland:K-11 (uncut) (2007) | Sweden:15 | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Bora-Bora, Tahiti, French Polynesia

Company:

Arcola Pictures

Trivia:

The reconstructed ship that was built for the filming was put on display at the 1964 World's Fair in New York.

Goofs:

Factual errors: In the movie, Christian dies on the beach as the Bounty burns. In reality, there are no beaches on Pitcairn, and Christian died much later at the hands of the Tahitian men during subsequent conflicts on the island.

Quotes:

Fletcher Christian: There'll be no more killing aboard this ship, not even Captain Bligh.
Captain Bligh: If that's an attempt to earn clemency,I spit on it.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Brando (2007) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Follow Me

A quality production, and one of the great epic movies of the 1960s.

MGM's 1962 remake of their own 1935 Mutiny on the Bounty, makes the older film look hokey at best, and like an outright joke at worst. The newer version takes a far more realistic and honest look at every facet of the legendary mutiny. The movie potrays the two key characters in the story, Captain Bligh (Trevor Howard), and Fletcher Christian (Marlon Brando), as real men, and not like the cardboard cutouts as was the case in the 1935 version.

Howard's Bligh is brilliant, and not at all like the prancing cartoonish Charles Laughton version in '35. And when it comes to Christian, the protaganist of the mutiny, Brando makes an admirable effort to capture the essence of the the fopish and aristocratic character as portrayed in the Nordhoff and Hall book upon which both MGM "Bountys" are based. Brando becomes Christian, in the 1935 movie Clark Gable as Christian is just Gable as Gable, and that's that. Richard Harris as crew member Mills, is another solid portrayal in the 1962 movie.

Don't get me wrong, the 1935 movie's fun, but the 1962 movie is infinitely more impressive in all respects, especially its use of a real ship made just for the film, the awesome "shots" of life at see in the late 1700s, and of course the spectacular location filming in Tahiti.

1935's Mutiny on the Bounty, was a fine film in its day, but it doesn't stand the test of time, 1962's film stands that test. Is it a great movie, probably not, but it is a very good one. Considering that MGM did not deliver the ship on time for filming before the bad weather set in in Tahiti, MGM's firing of legendary director Carol Reed, and other miscalculations mainly attributable to producer Aaron Rosenberg, the film is a remarkable achievement.

The studio used an off-form Lewis Milestone as a replacement for director Reed. Once they decided that Reed wasn't their cup of tea, they just tried to slide by with Milestone, instead of securing the services of one of the many still vital directing greats working in the early 1960s. A movie of epic proportions like 1962's Mutiny on the Bounty, cried out for a William Wyler, a David Lean, or a Fred Zinneman, to take over the helm once Reed was canned.

When the movie didn't hit like gangbusters, MGM's publicity machine moved quickly to "sandbag" their star, and the lemmings of the early 60s entertainment press corps swallowed the studio's propaganda whole. It was open-season on Brando, and it was shameful, but anybody who has seen the movie and also read the book, knows that Brando's Christian is a very solid performance. I'm sure Brando was peevish and nettlesome at times during production, Trevor Howard says as much in his biography, but to blame Brando for the film's bloated final cost and its lack of epic earnings is ludicrous.

I love 1962's Mutiny on the Bounty, it should have been better, but its still one beautiful movie. It is an under-appreciated and highly underrated movie. I strongly recommend it, to me calling Brando and Howard's Mutiny on the Bounty of 1962, a minor film, as one IMDb movie fan recently did, is blasphemous. The truth is MGM, just fumbled the ball on Mutiny on the Bounty in 1962, despite all of their ineptitude during production, they still had what should have been a major hit. But they opened it as a road-show movie in just a few theatres nation wide instead of in as many theatres as possible like the studios do with all major movies today. Despite MGM's poor efforts 41-years ago, movie fans today can scoop up the old lion's fumble and enjoy this exciting high seas adventure/love story.

It took a better book, Richard Hough's "Mr. Bligh and Mr. Christian," to produce a better movie rendition of the true life Mutiny on the Bounty. That book was the basis for the magnificent, "The Bounty," starring Anthony Hopkins as Bligh, and Mel Gibson as Christian. Also adding lustre to that movie were Liam Neeson, and Daniel Day-Lewis.