MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY: Blu-ray (MGM, 1935) Warner Home Video
BEST PICTURE - 1935
The Oscar-winning
sea epic that cost MGM a whopping $2 million and forever set the standard for all
those to follow it, Frank Lloyd’s Mutiny
on the Bounty (1935) is a sprawling, yet intelligently written and
character-driven melodrama about the most infamous revolt in Maritime law. One
of the many brain children of MGM producer, Irving Thalberg, Mutiny on the Bounty is an exceptional
example of Metro’s spellbinding supremacy in Hollywood. In reality, Metro’s ‘Bounty’ shares very
little historical accuracy with her real-life counterpart. The real Fletcher
Christian, as example, was not a bare-chested crusader for the righteous, as was
Clark Gable’s métier as an actor, but a lanky, enterprising and ruthless scion,
full of cotton-headed daydreams about becoming his own master without actually
putting in the effort to lay the groundwork first. Conversely, the real Capt.
Bligh was hardly the tyrannical incarnate of the devil, as depicted herein by
portly Charles Laughton. Poor Laughton – desperately prone to sea-sickness and
utterly terrified of drowning. What a hell it must have been for him to endure
this lengthy shoot on the high seas. Still, the best Hollywood films,
particularly those from this vintage, excel when there is a clear cut ‘good vs.
evil’ battle for supremacy over the freedom of the human spirit. And Mutiny on the Bounty is no exception to
this time-honored Hollywood cliché.
While Capt.
William Bligh was undoubtedly a disciplinarian (as any good captain must be to
instill confidence in his men) two of Bligh's 'tortures' depicted in this movie
(keelhauling and flogging) never actually happened. In fact, the only two
deaths aboard ship had absolutely nothing to do with the stringency imposed
upon the Bounty’s crew by its captain. One seaman died of scurvy (a common
disease in those days), while another succumbed of alcoholism. Sailors are not
exactly strangers to the bottle. Alas, neither truth makes for very engaging
copy. Most certainly, it does not afford Fletcher Christian the opportunity to
rise up as the heroic figure in billowy white pirate’s shirt, the embodiment of
everybody's movie Hercules - Clark Gable. Gable’s Fletcher Christian is an ever-devoted
lieutenant to the tyrannical William Bligh until his personal sense of
integrity and justice are pushed to the brink of tolerance. Christian
eventually grows weary, then highly suspect of Bligh’s motives. Indeed, these
appear less altruistic and far more self-serving as the plot wears on. The
first half of the picture plays fast and loose with the question of whether or
not Bligh is merely asserting his authority to maintain control or has become
unhinged, taking out his mental implosion on the crew as a brutal sadist, who
relishes discovering new ways of demoralizing his men.
By the second
half, the screenplay by Talbot Jennings, Jules Furthman and Carey Wilson has
veered about as far off the truth to deliver a typical ‘Gable’ vehicle, pumped
full of machismo with style, panache and rousing adventure to boot. As pure
fiction, MGM’s revisions, along with the studio’s attention to surface sheen
and gloss above all else, serves this story well enough, even if it does the
real Captain Bligh’s reputation a grave injustice. Despite more recent retellings that have
attempted to rectify this slander, even the name Capt. Bligh remains code for a
sort of grotesque in lieu of the truth. As the perpetually scowling fictional
Bligh, portly Charles Laughton represents a formidable ‘baddie’ to Gable’s Teflon-coated
‘bright young man’ with much to offer. Interestingly, Laughton was not the
studio’s first choice for the role – Bligh going to Laughton after resident
brute, Wallace Beery declined to partake of any project that starred Clark
Gable. Beery’s loss/Bounty’s gain. Indeed, in his over-sized mariner’s garb,
Adrian’s costuming deliberately ‘wearing’ the actor instead of the other way
around, Charles Laughton takes on the very contents of a Napoleonic demigod. And,
stripped of his cap and trappings, lowered into a rowboat with his cohorts,
Laughton lets loose with a belligerent declaration with richly expounded venom
as Gable, clenched fists firmly planted against his slender waistline, looks on
with glowering satisfaction. The physical differences between Laughton and
Gable are quite enough to infer where our loyalties ought to remain on this
voyage; Gable’s towering male edifice casting a considerable shadow on Laughton’s
diminutive and plump frame. Gable is, in fact, nearing the pinnacle of his
pre-WWII powers as the roguishly handsome and misguidedly virtuous central
mutineer, however far removed from the actuality of the real Fletcher
Christian. Gable’s one concession for the role was he shave his trademark
pencil moustache as the British fleet had outlawed facial hair. Even without
it, a clean-shaven Gable is worth ten Errol Flynns.
Popular second-string
leading man, Franchot Tone is afforded the plum part of Midshipman Roger Byam; wronged
by Bligh, who does wrong against him, then reforms to carry on another day. Like
Laughton, Tone had not been MGM’s first choice either. Indeed, Mayer had tried
everything to pry Cary Grant lose from his Paramount contract, at least for a
single picture loan out, but to no avail. Gable was bitterly disappointed at
Tone’s casting; the actors, having shared an envious rivalry for the affections
of Joan Crawford. Frequently, Crawford and Gable were lovers on screen – a pairing
that moved from the sound stage to the bedroom once cameras stopped rolling…that
is, until Tone came into the picture – and eventually became Crawford’s second
husband – an open marriage that permitted both parties their peccadillos. Gable
was married. So, MGM’s publicity madman,
Howard Strickling kept everything private.
Nevertheless, Crawford was first to blink, divorcing first hubby,
Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in 1933 to pursue Tone on her own terms; Gable, hanging
on to his much older spouse and agent, ‘Ria’ Franklin until 1939.
As such, the
rivalry between Tone and Gable for Crawford was likely more of an open wound to
Gable’s pride and studio-hyped ego as every lady’s first choice. Interestingly, Gable and Tone were to patch up
their mutual animosity on the set of Mutiny
on the Bounty, indulging their buddy-buddy whims in Avalon, Catalina’s
famous pleasure town. But this would inadvertently backfire on Gable when he endeavored
to include Charles Laughton on their trip to a local brothel, quite unaware of
Laughton’s homosexuality. Flattered by this gesture, Laughton laid his cards on
the table. Gable, rumored to be something of a notorious homophobe, was not
impressed. Still, the triumvirate of Gable, Laughton and Tone in Mutiny on the Bounty proved a magic
elixir at 1935’s Oscar ceremony. All three actors received a Best Actor
nomination (there was no Best Supporting Actor category back then) – all,
losing out to Victor McLaglen’s star-turn in The Informer.
Making Mutiny on the Bounty was no picnic for
Frank Lloyd. Indeed, it resulted in at least one unfortunate tragedy when a
barge carrying 55 crewmen capsized, killing 2nd unit assistant
cameraman, Glenn Strong. In another incident, 2 crewmen were cast adrift on an
eighteen-foot replica of the Bounty – a search party mercifully dispatched to
their rescue, though only after two full days adrift at sea without food or
water. On Catalina Island, associate art director, Arnold Gillespie built a
full-scale authentic mock-up of a Tahitian village, complete with coconut trees
and grass huts; this, in addition to constructing several large-sized models of
the Bounty, and, in fact, a full-scale replica too. To keep production costs
down – also, for logistical reasons – the storm at sea was actually photographed
on a sound stage at MGM with Laughton’s Bligh lashed to the ship’s wheel on a gimbal-mounted
platform. This lurched so violently during the shoot, Laughton suffered back
injuries as a result. Behind the scenes, Lloyd also had to play ringmaster
between Gable and Laughton; the former, abhorring the latter’s blatantly
homosexual lifestyle. The mood was to sour further after Laughton brought his
buff boyfriend on location, under the guise as his masseur. The acrimony
continued, but served their scenes together well. It also made for a mostly
unpleasant working experience, compounded by the fact Gable felt Laughton
outclassed him as a professionally-trained Shakespearean actor. Perhaps to
quell his anxieties, or merely to pass the time, Gable buddied up with Tone;
the two, rumored to be romantically involved with Mamo Clark and Movita, the
Tahitian beauties cast as their girlfriends in the movie.
Mutiny on the Bounty is based on a trilogy of novels
penned by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall: the first, Mutiny on the Bounty, followed by Men Against the Sea, and finally, Pitcairn's Island. While the Jennings/Furthman/Wilson
screenplay borrows liberally from the first two books, the events depicted in
the final volume are all but excluded from their storytelling. Given Mutiny on the Bounty’s overwhelming outlay
(at $1,950,000,
it was MGM’s costliest endeavor since 1925’s Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ), and it’s as impressive success (it
grossed $4,460,000), Lloyd heavily petitioned L.B. Mayer to make a sequel. This
would have focused on the exploits of Captain Bligh and charted his career as
governor of an Australian penal colony. Interestingly, nothing came of Lloyd’s
verve for this project, perhaps because his wrangles with MGM’s V.P. in Charge
of Production, Irving G. Thalberg, had resulted in Thalberg taking an
unprecedented ‘personal’ interest in seeing the original movie completed to his
specifications. Unable to finagle a deal at Metro, Lloyd tried to drum up a
little business for his passion project at Universal – again, to no avail. In
the end, nothing ever came of it. To promote Mutiny on the Bounty, MGM coaxed Gable on a whirlwind publicity
junket with the promise of 2-weeks’ furlough in South America – without his
wife. Gable, who was not especially attached to the much older ‘Ria’, used this
opportunity to have a casual tryst with the sassy Lupe Vélez – putting a strain
on her marriage to Metro’s resident Tarzan - Johnny Weissmuller.
After an
ebullient main title sequence, magnificently underscored by Metro’s resident
composer, Herbert Stothart, our story begins on a moonlit eve in Portsmouth,
England. The year is 1787. A press gang charges a local tavern and ushers all
of its surly revelers into naval service. Learning their ship is the HMS Bounty
captained by William Bligh, several of the men attempt escape. Bligh’s
reputation as a brutal disciplinarian has preceded the voyage, casting a pall
on the planned two-year excursion across the Pacific Ocean. The ship’s first
lieutenant, Fletcher Christian, is an intimidating, though considerate man who
disapproves of Bligh's tyrannical tactics. But Roger Byam, a principled
midshipman, is divided in his loyalties - duty to Bligh or amity toward
Christian. The mood between Bligh and Christian grows dark and murky after the
latter challenges Bligh's sense of justice as cruel and unusual. Hence, after
the Bounty arrives in Tahiti, Bligh refuses to give Christian his leave. Meanwhile,
Byam, moves in with Tahitian Chief, Hitihiti (William Bambridge), and his
daughter, Tehani (Movita Castaneda). Hitihiti sways Bligh to permit Christian a
day pass. Bligh cordially agrees, then repeals the order out of spite.
Christian disregards this, spending his fleeting respite with the beautiful,
Maimiti (Mamo Clark) to whom he vows to return.
Departing their
island paradise, rumblings of mutiny stir among the crew as Bligh's severe punishment
results in the death of the ship’s cherished surgeon, Mr. Bacchus (Dudley Digges).
Worse for the men, Bligh has cut their ration of fresh water by half to
preserve the breadfruit plants they have harvested for transport. Although resisting
mutiny at first, Christian changes his stance after being appalled by Bligh's
brutalities, crewmen shackled in iron chains for minor infractions. Christian
leads the mutineers on a raid of the weapons’ cabinet. Together, they seize the
ship. Bligh and his loyalists are cast adrift, but given a map and rations to
ensure their survival. Due to Bligh's superior seamanship, he and these
outcasts find their way back to land. Meanwhile, Christian sails the Bounty to
Tahiti. Although Byam disapproves of the mutiny, distancing himself from
Christian, both he and Christian are wed to their Tahitian sweethearts. Time passes. Byam and Christian settle their comradeship.
However, as Bligh’s expert navigation has revealed the likely hideout of his
mutineers, the British ship HMS Pandora is spotted approaching the island. While Byam and several of the men remain behind,
determined to meet their fate as gentlemen, Christian loads the rest and his
wife, along with other Tahitian sweethearts, aboard the Bounty, making sail for
a new perfect refuge. Byam is shocked to find the Pandora is captained by
Bligh. Suspecting Byam’s motives for surrender, Bligh has him imprisoned for
the remainder of their voyage. Back home, Byam is court-martialed and found
guilty of mutiny. Determined to set the record straight, he openly testifies against
Bligh’s dehumanizing conduct aboard the Bounty. Thanks to an intervention from
his friend, Sir Joseph Banks (Henry Stephenson) and Lord Hood (David Torrence),
Byam is afforded a full pardon by King George III and reinstated to his former
naval career. We briefly shift focus to Christian’s pursuit of a Shangri-La –
or, in this case, Pitcairn Island, an uninhabited utopia, providing them ample
refuge from the Royal Navy. After accidentally scuttling the Bounty on the
rocks, Christian reluctantly orders her burned to conceal their whereabouts.
Setting aside
history, it is possible to enjoy this Mutiny
on the Bounty for its superb production values and exquisitely entertaining
performances, even if the picture clearly delineates Laughton's Bligh as a
figure afforded ‘zero’ redemption – a miscalculation, awkwardly disproportionate
to Bligh’s reinstatement after the British inquest. Given the prevailing production code of
censorship in 1935, the Jennings/Furthman/Wilson screenplay is rather unique,
as it blatantly favors the mutineers, herein depicted favorably as men yearning
to be free, with Gable’s reincarnated Fletcher Christian delivering an
impassioned speech about beginning anew in a foreign land of immeasurable
opportunities. In reality, the mutineers became an unmanageable rabble who destroyed
themselves and the serenity of this tropical oasis in a matter of months. But
who needs a history lesson? Arthur Edeson's cinematography evokes the
resplendent escapism of the tropics, and some skillful rear projection, to establish
a truly surreal exoticism. And Gable is at his masculine best here - a dashing
figure in flouncy shirt undone to the navel, hair slicked into a tight pony
tail. He looks every bit the part of a guy’s/guy who can either kiss or kill
the competition at any given moment as propriety demands. Despite its total
obliteration of the facts, and, numerous remakes in Technicolor, widescreen,
etc. attempting to draw us nearer to the truth, it is this 1935 screen
spectacle that can still hoist the Jolly Roger to swimmingly grand heights of
cinematic pleasure.
So, prepare to
set sail once more - this time in grander style still on Blu-ray. Although
original film elements suffer from age-related artefacts, dirt and scratches -
particularly during the storm sequence - the image quality herein easily bests
all previous home video releases of this classy classic. The B&W image
positively shimmers. Contrast greatly improves; blacks, deeper, whites, crisper
still. Fine detail also takes a quantum leap ahead, and, grain appears indigenous
to its source. The mono audio is adequate. The one shortcoming, especially for
a picture as noteworthy as this: bare-bones extras – a tired vintage featurette
on Pitcarn Island, and, two theatrical trailers. How disappointing! Warner Home Video pads this one with 32 pages
of superficial swag and factoid info. Boring! Bottom line: Mutiny on the Bounty is a must have. But seriously: we need MORE Gable on Blu-ray, starting with Red Dust, China Seas, San Francisco,
Honky Tonk, Idiot’s Delight and Boom
Town.
FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)
4
VIDEO/AUDIO
4
EXTRAS
1
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