Thursday, August 23, 2018

Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)


As the cruel captain of the HMS Bounty, a ship bound for Tahiti, William Bligh wins few friends. When the crew members finally tire of his abuse, Fletcher Christian leads a mutiny, resulting in Bligh's unceremonious removal from the ship. While Christian and the remaining crew sail on to Tahiti, Bligh becomes intent on exacting revenge, and he targets Roger Byam, a sailor who had actually tried to stop the mutiny.

An adaptation of the book of the same name, the 1935 version of Mutiny on the Bounty is great for the most part, with the personality of screen legend Clark Gable's calm and collected character of Fletcher Christian perfectly balanced in contrast to the ruthless, brash personality of Charles Laughton's Captain William Bligh.

The only thing that keeps me from saying "I loved it" is how much the story drags in the middle once the actual mutiny occurs and the mutinous crew head to Tahiti to live among the natives. Some of the scenes - though they were important in order to convey some growing animosity between Fletcher Christian and one or two crew members who didn't take part in the mutiny yet stayed on the ship as pseudo "captives" - in my eyes didn't quite get that feeling across very well, and as such they felt forced. Thankfully, it was only a couple of scenes, so by the time the story came close to the end where (MILD SPOILERS) a handful of the mutinous crew were caught and put on trial for their crime, everything feels more natural and effective overall in creating a good story.

It's been a long time since I've read the book version of the Mutiny on the Bounty, but from what I can remember this film adaptation is a quite good adaptation. I would definitely recommend people seek it out if you get the chance.

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