Year of Release: 1935Country of Origin: USA
Director: Frank Lloyd
Cast: Charles Laughton, Clark Gable, Franchot Tone
Plot outline: On the HMS Bounty, Fletcher Christian leads a revolt against the ruthless Captain Bligh (IMDb).
Based on the true story of HMS Bounty in 1788, Mutiny on the Bounty has been remade twice, in 1962 and 1984, and neither can hold a candle to the original production. Director Frank Lloyd had a hard time getting MGM to back the story, getting a resounding “no” from Louis B. Mayer but finally getting producer Irving Thalberg to convince Mayer the story was marketable. The movie cost $2,000,000 depression-era dollars so you can imagine what it would cost today. Two full scale ships were built and sailed to Tahiti and back. Two of the biggest stars of the day were given the leading roles, Charles Laughton as Captain Bligh and Clark Gable as Fletcher Christian, first officer on the Bounty. Both stars had to be persuaded to take their roles: Laughton because he feared the implacable character of Bligh would typecast him; it did - and Gable because he felt the knee breeches and pigtail would make his millions of fans think he was a pansy; it didn’t. Adding to the cast, Franchot Tone played the idealistic young officer, Mr. Byam, and the crew was handpicked from the legendary MGM stable of supporting actors. Laughton as the tyrannical Captain Bligh makes one of the greatest screen villains of all time. He is competent and wicked and there is hardly a shred of weakness in him. He is the type of monster you have nightmares about. Of course, Gable is manly and his scenes with Tehani are heart throbbing. Both Laughton and costars Clark Gable and Franchot Tone were nominated for Best Actor, the only time that three actors from a single movie were nominated. Mutiny on the Bounty is a bona fide masterpiece; it contains the right mix of action, character development, and humor and makes the 132 minute running time see short. (GC)
My judgement: ***1/2 out of 4 stars
No comments:
Post a Comment