THE BOUNTY: deluxe Blu-ray set (Thorn/EMI, 1984) ViaVision Imprint
The third, and least successful adaptation
devoted to its maritime folly, director, Roger Donaldson’s The Bounty
(1984) makes its valiant attempt to actually ‘tell’ the tale as it occurred, but
ends up forfeiting character development to a cavalcade of visually-arresting
set pieces, some more efficacious than others. Despite its veering hard of
right to the truth, the best version of this timeless and fascinating story
remains the Oscar-winning MGM classic from 1935 – Mutiny on the Bounty –
to costar a dashing Clark Gable as mutineer, Fletcher Christian and a memorably
menacing Charles Laughton as Capt. Bligh. That the real Bligh was nothing of
the sort, but a stout-hearted seaman, slavishly devoted to the rule of maritime
law, and, nearer the age as his nemesis is a moot historical fact, as
far as the movies have been concerned, especially with Laughton’s bulbous figure pitted
against Gable’s irrefutable sex appeal. For better or worse, such character
stereotyping has long-since stuck like day-old gruel to every version in its wake, including Metro’s costly landmark from 1962,
costarring an utterly stoic Trevor Howard and curiously effete Marlon Brando as
master and mate of the ill-fated ship.
Precisely how Roger Donaldson came to
direct this thrice-removed retelling (actually 5th in line, if one
chooses to regard a lost 1916 silent version and 1933’s In The Wake of the
Bounty – an Aussie entry, starring Errol Flynn, but preceding the Charles Nordhoff
and James Norman Hall’s novel on which all other versions of the story have been
based) is a tale in and of itself. In 1977, producer Dino De Laurentiis and
legendary filmmaker, David Lean began to lay the groundwork for a 2-picture
epic that would have explored the legend from various crewmen’s viewpoints, then followed what became of Christian and Bligh after their fitful flourish on the
high seas. Lean was enthusiastic for it, hiring his good luck charm, Robert
Bolt, to adapt the screenplays. And, De Laurentiis gave the go-ahead on a faithful
replica of the actual ship to be built to exact specifications in New Zealand. Tragically, this Bounty would languish
thereafter – first, in drydock, then as a failed tourist attraction while the
desperate legal haranguing continued with various companies, including United
Artists, to finance their fiasco. Nothing came of it, and the bounty, in all
its accuracy, began to rot in port.
Ultimately, a decade would pass
before the project gained new ground. But even then, on this costly ($20
million) remake, De Laurentiis would damn-near lose the shirt, and, more importantly, his clout as an indie heavy-hitter and hit maker.
Despite some sumptuous cinematography and a finely-nuanced powerhouse
performance by Sir Anthony Hopkins as Capt. Bligh (the only actor originally
attached to project to see it through) The Bounty grossed a measly
$8,613,462 domestically and barely $18 million worldwide. Chiefly, the fault
lay in Bolt’s screenplay, or rather, its bastardization by Melvyn Bragg after
Bolt suffered a debilitating stroke and heart attack, forcing him to drop out.
Bolt, is should be acknowledged, was a brilliant constructionist. What The Bounty might have been had he
not fallen ill, we will never know. But valiant strides were made to depict Lt.
William Bligh as an infinitely more complex and not altogether tyrannical
disciplinarian. Bligh (superbly rendered by Hopkins) emerges as a remarkably
sympathetic administrator, edgy but genuine. Bligh, however, is not about to
suffer fools - or mutineers.
His counterpoint, Fletcher
Christian, previously depicted as the noblest of men by Gable and Brando, in
reality, was an opportunist, and, by some accounts, not a very nice man. Lean
had pursued Christopher Reeve for this role, and a deal was practically struck
when the project began to unravel. The decision to condense Lean and Bolt’s
ambitious plans for a 2-movie spectacle soured Reeve on partaking. Meanwhile, De
Laurentiis was reeling from the fiscal implosion of his remake of Hurricane
(1979), ironically, also to be based on a book by Charles Nordhoff and James
Norman Hall, and, also, to have a memorable and never-to-be-rivaled 1938 screen
adaptation. Paramount’s investment – and losses on Hurricane caused them to
pull out of financing another De Laurentiis pic in Tahiti. So, The Bounty
– again – would have to wait. With big-screen plans seemingly scuttled indefinitely,
De Laurentiis attempted to float the idea of turning Bolt’s half completed opus
magnum into a 7-part TV miniseries. This
too, was not to be. At this juncture, Lean implored his old-time friend and
producer, Sam Spiegel to have a go at things. Spiegel, however, was
disinterested. By 1981, De Laurentiis had had enough of The Bounty –
both, as a film and the ship, attempting to sell off the replica to various
interested parties. Lean, who had invested body and soul to will his vision to
the screen was left deeply wounded and emotionally depleted by the experience.
He would not make another movie until 1984’s A Passage to India (his
last).
In the meantime, things began to
look up for The Bounty, with De Laurentiis turning to Donaldson, an
Aussie director with breakout hits in New Zealand. Initially wooed to partake
of a sequel to 1982’s Conan The Barbarian, De Laurentiis instead offered
Donaldson a million-dollar budget to make The Bounty. At first
apprehensive, Donaldson agreed to partake, on terms outlined to allow him
complete creative control of the material. At this juncture Reeve quit the
movie and was replaced by a relatively unknown Mel Gibson whose performance in
1979’s Mad Max was thus far his only international calling card. Gibson,
then at the veritable height of his sex appeal – easily fell into line with all
the previous incarnations of Fletcher Christian as a dashing rogue. If only to
judge by his physical contents, Gibson parallels the masculine grace and
charisma of Clark Gable. Had he played Fletcher Christian as Brando, then this
‘Bounty’ might have sailed under more auspicious tailwinds. Alas, behind the scenes, Gibson was a bit of
a diva exorcising his demons with acute alcoholism. This caused him to clash
with co-star, Anthony Hopkins, no stranger to addiction. All this backstage
tension bode well for the scenes in which Christian gradually turns on Bligh
whom he once revered as both seaman and a close friend.
The Bounty’s accuracy is
well noted; the depiction of the natives in all manner of naked undress, their
lost innocence and manipulation by these western travelers, come to exploit and
take advantage of their island hospitality, is most frankly photographed to
perfection by cinematographer extraordinaire, Arthur Ibbetson. Yet, despite its
many virtues, this Bounty (both ship and the movie) remains a wan
ghost flower to the ‘62 MGM version, ambitiously photographed aboard a slightly
bigger, full-scale replica of the ship, sailing cast and crew through a truly
horrendous gale at sea off Cape Horn. There is nothing to compare Mother
Nature’s ferocity in either the ‘35 or ’84 versions. On this occasion, a 25 ft.
replica of the Bounty’s decks was built under controlled conditions in a tank
on a gimbal with SFX added to recreate the perils at sea. As in the ’62
version, Donaldson and company did make their pilgrimage to various tropical
locales, for authenticity: Moorea, French Polynesia, Port of Gisborne, New
Zealand and at Greenwich Palace, and, the Reform Club, Pall Mall, London. But virtually
all the establishing shots of the Bounty at sea are photographed against
sunrises and/or sunsets in Opunohu Bay, where Captain James Cook first laid
anchor in 1777.
To suggest filming in these far-off
places put a strain on everyone is an understatement; particularly, Mel Gibson
who, after a binge, wound up with a bashed in face during a formidable skirmish.
Gibson – then a raging alcoholic, and Anthony Hopkins – long since a reformed
one, settled their differences and went on to develop a mutual understanding as
shooting progressed. Perhaps, Hopkins empathized with Gibson’s affliction. Whatever
the case, in the end, each was conciliatory in his praise of the other, with
Gibson acknowledging Hopkins as a highly “moral man” and Hopkins
attesting to Gibson as “a wonderful fellow with a marvelous future.” In
character, Bligh and Christian have oft been depicted as villainous and
virtuous respectively. It makes sense, as drama – particularly of the
action/adventure ilk – functions better with a clear-cut hero at the helm.
However, as real men aboard ship, the truth was far less clear-cut and perhaps
even a little disconcerting.
The real Fletcher Christian was
barely 22 at the time of the mutiny, but acted more like a teenager than a man.
By contrast, the real William Bligh was barely 35 when he took command, but
behaved as the sage of the seas. Bligh, not Christian, was the actual hero of
the real Bounty’s ordeal, successfully to navigate a small dinghy on a
contingency crew with barely enough food or water to survive, sailing all the
way back to England. At the movies, Bligh’s reputation has suffered
egregiously, remade into the maniacal villain of the piece. Modern speculation surmises
Christian perhaps fell ill with ‘island fever’ – a mania that, given his
already inflated ego, propelled him onto his delusions to take over the ship. Whatever
the case, for The Bounty, Donaldson endeavors to rectify the slight on
Bligh’s good name. The miscalculation, alas, is he never does as much for Fletcher
Christian. Tony Hopkins, though well beyond Bligh’s actual years, presents us
with a William Bligh as valiant – even compassionate – captain, firm, but
considerate of his men’s’ need for diversion from the monotony of the sea, and
yet unwilling to let things get entirely out of hand. Previous incarnations of
Capt. Bligh have made the unflattering – and untrue - assertion Bligh was not
only a bad captain, but also a wicked lot, wholly – or at least, mostly – to be
blamed for his own downfall. This, quite simply is not the case.
It really is too bad Donaldson’s
correction of the historical record is hampered by our built-in expectations to
accept Bligh as wicked and Christian, as the crew’s liberator from his tyranny.
The casting of Mel Gibson does not help Donaldson’s effort, excluding
Shakespeare’s footnote about he that smiles may also harbor less than inward
perfection. Nevertheless, it’s Gibson’s matinee idol/drop dead good looks that
denote his Fletcher Christian as the obvious victor of this seafaring piece.
Donaldson and Gibson do attempt to portray Christian’s mania, teetering on
teary-eyed foolishness as he orders Bligh and his officers into a longboat at
the point of a sword. But the net result is still that of a ‘basically good’
man, sacrificing tolerance to a terrible influencer; Bligh, deviously
inflicting needless pain to force Christian’s common sense to its breaking
point. Having it ‘both ways’ does not work – either dramatically or as a
chronicle devoted to the historical truth. So, we are left with yet another bent
on faux history, massaged with a tad too much artistic license to feed the
audience on a clear-cut tale of heroism. Life is all about the grey areas. Alas,
the movies have always functioned more succinctly, and successfully on clearly
delineated polarities of black and white/good versus evil.
After a series of moodily lit
tropical landscapes, set to an inappropriately brooding synthesizer score by
Vangelis (whose Oscar-winning contempo-soundtrack for Chariots of Fire
instantly made him numero uno hot stuff in the picture biz), The Bounty
begins with the arrival of Commanding Lieutenant William Bligh at the admiralty
inquest to determine his responsibility in the mutiny that caused him to lose
control of his ship. The presiding judge, Admiral Hood (Laurence Olivier in his
final screen appearance) is strong-minded, yet willing to listen to Bligh’s
account, cribbing from his own log book. We digress, in flashback, to the hour
when Bligh approached his good friend, Fletcher Christian with the prospect of
sailing to Tahiti to collect ‘breadfruit’ pods to plant and grow for Britain’s
slave colony in Jamaica. In brief, we are privy to Bligh’s family, his wife
(Sharon Bower) and their two daughters, and Christian’s warm regard for all of
them. Bligh has already accepted John Fryer (Daniel Day-Lewis) as his second in
command. But Christian will be valued among the lesser-ranking officers. And
so, Bligh and the Bounty set sail from Great Britain in 1787, on an expedition
to circumnavigate the globe and bring back this prized potted plant. At first,
all goes according to plan, despite some below decks’ badinage involving the
crude and violent seaman, Charles Churchill (Liam Neeson) who, among his many
other short-fused bouts of conflict, does not take kindly to anyone sitting in
his seat at dinner time.
One of the most frustrating aspects
about Donaldson’s faux epic is that he repeatedly takes us out of the central
narrative with digressions to Bligh’s inquest – relatively pointless insertions
that stall and delay the next chapter in our story. We return to the Bounty as
she prepares to travel around Cape Horn; an ambition of Bligh’s, despite the
Cape’s well-documented unpredictable weather conditions. At first, entering a
brief period of latency, a bank of low-lying clouds ominously backlit by the
sun, this calm before the proverbial storm is short-lived erupting into a
hellish gale that threatens life and limb aboard the Bounty. Tossed like a
cork, the ship narrowly escapes total destruction, forcing Bligh to take the
longer eastern route. Already, certain crew members have begun to question
Bligh’s ability to command in lieu of his ego and objectives which seem more
personally than professionally motivated. Arriving in late October on the isle
of Tahiti, the Bounty is afforded a warm welcome by the native inhabitants who
sail out to meet her. The reception by King Tynah (Wi Kuki Kaa) is even more
encouraging, Tynah presenting Bligh with a portrait of Capt. James Cook, given
to him by Cook some years before. Inquiring about Cook, Bligh lies to Tynah,
telling him Cook is in excellent health and sends his warmest regards, when, in
fact, Cook was murdered in Hawaii. Having heard this too, Tynah questions Bligh
again. But Bligh persists in his lie, uneasily accepted by Tynah before the
official ceremony.
That evening, as the islanders
indulge in a fertility dance, Christian meets Mauatua (Tevaite Vernette) the
King’s daughter. Unlike the rest of the crew, who regard the natives as mere
savages to be exploited for their own sexual pleasure, Christian is legitimately
smitten with Mauatua and vice versa. The two fast become lovers. As the
cultivation of the breadfruit will take many months, Bligh’s mission is delayed
longer still by wind conditions. Bligh, a pious man, is fairly disgusted by his
crew’s slacking discipline. They have become soft and unruly in their taste for
these easy pleasures. Inflicting his own judgement and morality, Bligh is
increasingly resented by his men, particularly Churchill and Christian. Shortly
before departing Tahiti, Christian learns Mauatua is carrying his child. She justly fears never to see him again.
Ordered by Bligh aboard the Bounty, Christian complies with grave reluctance.
Meanwhile, Churchill – having made the effort to escape with two cohorts – is
recaptured and taken aboard ship as she pulls out of harbor. Mercilessly
whipped for his insubordination, the steadfastness of Bligh’s cruelty causes
several of the crew to grumble that the vessel would best be served if
Christian took over from Bligh’s command. Motivated more by his eagerness to be
reunited with Mauatua, Christian incites mutiny. The crew is with him. Bligh
and his officers are corralled into a longboat and lowered into the sea, given
but a few days’ rations and a compass – seemingly a death sentence. And yet, Bligh
adamantly vows to avenge this indignation.
Christian and the crew sail back to
Tahiti. While King Tynah is deeply disgusted by the mutineers’ actions, he
bitterly gives up his daughter to Christian after she expresses her desire to
accompany him on the next length of their journey to Pitcairn Island, as-yet
uncharted by the British and likely to remain so for some time, thus making it
the perfect spot to remain autonomous and begin anew. Against all odds, Bligh
and the small contingent that have survived on such scant rations, lumber into
port in the Dutch East Indies. Bligh’s exceptional tenacity is noted. Indeed,
in the present, the tribunal at the inquest salute Bligh for his courage,
excellent seamanship in the face of death and leadership, taken only by force
and unjustly. And although Admiral Hood
infers that Bligh’s sense of discipline may have exceeded the limits of the
ship's company, he cannot fault his exceptional survivalist tactics. Bligh is
exonerated of any wrong doing and reinstated to his rank. Meanwhile, after some
consternation, even the threat of another mutiny against their newly appointed
captain, Christian and his mutineers arrive safely at Pitcairn Island. In the
penultimate moments, the crew elect to set the Bounty ablaze and sink her into
silence. As Christian and his men look on with bittersweet regret, the movie’s
epilogue, writ boldly across the screen, explains how, some years later, a
British vessel did venture onto the island, only to discover but one of the
Bounty’s original crew having survived, with many of their descendants long
since dwelling in harmony. However, whatever became of Fletcher Christian
remains a mystery to this day.
Even setting aside its historical
inaccuracies, made chiefly to indulge artistic license (as virtually every
version of this iconic story has preferred fiction to fact), The Bounty remains
the flimsiest of its cinematic reincarnations. Anthony Hopkins and Mel Gibson’s
portrayals of Bligh and Christian respectively are as incomplete as they are
unsatisfying. The elemental ‘chest-thumping’ confrontation between two
roughhewn martyrs is repeatedly insulated by director, Donaldson’s ‘friendship’
backstory – also, the director’s empathy for Bligh. However justly deserved,
denying audiences an iniquitous Bligh and intrepid Christian flops. While
Donaldson’s disquieting depiction of Bligh is likely much closer to the truth
of the man, it fails to gel as pure entertainment because it straddles an
impossible chasm, or rather, real grey area, trapped between treachery and
altruism. It should also be noted Mel Gibson’s Christian is given precious
little to do, apart from one or two moments of testosterone-injected rage, he
more oft than not translates into simpering petulance. The picture belongs to
Hopkins, leaving Gibson to a series of silent reactions. At intervals, Fletcher
Christian seems to disappear into the background, even, to become
inconsequential to our story. Finally, Daniel Day-Lewis and Liam Neeson are
wasted as Fryer and Churchill, nothing beyond cardboard cutouts.
Undeniably, The Bounty is
elegantly produced and exquisitely photographed. Arthur Ibbetson’s
cinematography is gorgeous. But the picture lacks the narrative impetus and
characterizations to translate to a truly remarkable piece of biographical/celluloid
fiction. Upon repeat viewings, The
Bounty just seems like a slimmed down account or Coles’ Notes version of
director, Lewis Milestone’s '62 road show extravaganza; albeit, with far more
nudity (accurate, I suppose, but unnecessary) and far less backstory. Brando’s
Fletcher Christian in the ’62 version was a very queer duck - a real dandy,
prone to deliciously flawed ego trips. Nevertheless, this interpretation of the
character worked – partly, because it is Marlon Brando, and partly because his
Fletcher Christian, after a rocky start, nevertheless appealed to a higher
ideal and his better angels. The Christian we encounter on this voyage is
hardly motivated by the good in him. And
sadly, there are no other characters aboard this Bounty to take his place as
our champion. Instead, we have an assortment of the spurious and the ruthlessly
drawn truer to life - perhaps, but ever-more ineffectual crewmen.
The Bounty gets an utterly
lavish Blu-ray reissue from Aussie indie label, ViaVision. This box set is
impeccable, and what I sincerely wish all hi-def releases made available under
their ‘Imprint’ brand were. For starters, there have been two previous Blu’s of
The Bounty – the first, from Twilight Time, the second from Kino Lorber.
Neither was particularly worthy of the format. But now, we get ViaVision’s wow-ser,
mastered from a new 4K scan struck from an original negative. While light
speckling persists (and should have been corrected), the overall improvements
in image clarity, color density and film-like texturing and grain, easily make
this the best hi-def version on the market. The picture’s current rights fall
to MGM, a holding company today whose assets include the old Orion catalog
under whose banner The Bounty was originally released. MGM has done the
heavy lifting here, spending some coin to remaster the surviving elements. Some
basic clean-up would have made this a perfect release. But overall, their not
too far off the mark.
The 5.1 DTS audio is engaging,
particularly during the storm sequence, though nothing beats the 70mm 6-track
magnetic stereo from the ’62 version. Now, prepare yourselves for a boat-load
of extras. Because ViaVision has set sail on a course of deluxe-ness unseen in
home video special editions, even a la Criterion. In addition to the two
previously issued audio commentaries, carried over from the previous TT release,
the first, featuring Roger Donaldson, producer, Bernard Williams, and
production designer, John Graysmark, the second, from historical consultant,
Stephen Walters, the first disc in this 2-disc offering also includes the 1984
featurette on the making of the movie, and a visual essay by Walters from 2004,
plus a theatrical trailer. Housed on a separate disc, we get the hour-long A
Fated Ship (1981) which details the failed David Lean project, In Bligh’s
Wake (1984) repurposing some of the footage from the ’81 doc, but adding a
whole new spin to things in preparation for this movie’s reboot, and several feature-length
docs exclusively made for this 2023 reissue, to chart the making of this movie,
the creation of its score, the behind-the-scenes tumult, and extra interviews
with cameraman, Doug Milsome, dubbers, John Hayward and Robin O’Donoghue, and,
a ‘making of’ slideshow presentation. There is well over 4-hours of bonus
content here to wade through, all of it, utterly fascinating. Last, but certainly NOT least, ViaVision has
produced a handsomely bound mini-book with expertly written essays and full-color
stills, worth the price of admission on their own. We doff our caps to ViaVision
for producing one of the most comprehensive box sets for any movie in recent
history. The one unforgiveable sin, not visible in this cover art posting, is that the actual box opens with its gash across the faces of Hopkins and Gibson. Otherwise, more companies need to take notice of how to do justice to movie art.
This set gets VERY high marks.
FILM RATING (out
of 5 – 5 being the best)
3.5
VIDEO/AUDIO
4.5
EXTRAS
5+++
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