Rating: 
Summary: Classic performances by Laughton & Gable
Review: This true story, with, admittedly, plenty of liberties taken with that truth, has gone down in popular consciousness as a true folk tale that everyone is familiar with. It has even been filmed three times. Captain Bligh has gone down in history as the epitome of tyranny and Fletcher Christian has become a symbol of man's struggle against tyranny. Good against evil. Tyranny against freedom. A David verses Goliath story, if you will, or a George Washington verses George III. If you want to know why this myth has become so enduring - and it is a myth as the true story is no-where near as black and white, as the 1980s remake hints at - then watch this film. Clark Gable is utterly convincing as the hero who can take no more of Captain Bligh's tyrannical leadership and leads the men to mutiny against him. His performance knocks both Marlon Brando and Mel Gibson's later feeble efforts into a three-cornered hat. Best of all is Charles Laughton's portrayal of Captain Bligh. Bligh is tyranny personified. His very presence on screen oozes menace. His eyes glare malevolently at his crew. Every word that comes out of his mouth drips with contempt. Never has an actor portrayed evil so convincingly and so thoroughly. Most actors would overplay it. Laughton, the master that he is, gets it exactly right. Loathsome though Bligh is, he never becomes a caricature. He is a man as well as a monster. (Tim Roth and Alan Rickman should eat their hearts out.) It is one of the best performances in 20th Century cinema. This film works at every level: the brisk pacing, the characterisation of the ships crew, the sets scenes on board ship and on the Island of Tahiti, and the cinematography. It is a wonderful film to watch and one that has ingrained itself into our collective memories thanks, mainly, to Charles Laughton.
Rating: 
Summary: Second best of three
Review: This version of the Mutiny on the Bounty is OK, but the 1962 version with Marlon Brando is better. This, the original cinematic version, does a decent job of portraying the events on HMS Bounty during its voyage to obtain breadfruit plants in the Pacific ocean. However, this version makes Fletcher Christian (played by Clark Gable) to be a raving lunatic driven mad by the Captain's behavior. The 1962 version does a great job of setting up the tension between Christian and Bligh in such a way that Christian's mutinous actions are more justified than this version's tendentious depiction of Fletcher Christian going out-of-control. However, this version includes footage of Captain Bligh's journey in the lifeboats with his cohorts. For some reason the 1962 version doesn't depict this at all. For this reason alone I think this version has some merit. Stay away from the 1984 version with Mel Gibson at all costs.
Rating:
Summary: Another MGM Masterpeice!
Review: This video is a video that will have audiences on the edge of there seat. As you watch it you'll find yourself rooting for Fletcher Christian and mutiny, and booing at Captain Bligh and his fiendish ways. He was asking for a mutiny, that Bligh! I defanetly give this video five stars.
Rating:
Summary: BEST PICTURE 1935 awesomely restored classic on DVD!
Review: Warner Brothers Entertainment Inc and Turner Entertainment Co. have cooperatively restored and remastered Hollywood's Golden Age Movie Classics and released them under Warner Home Video Inc DVD label. These classics are meticulously restored both picture and sound. The results are an amazing Home Theatre experience. The quality is even better than the original 1935 theatrical presentation. "Mutiny On The Bounty" was 1935 BEST PICTURE Oscar Winner. (Also voted into AFI's (American Film Institutes) Top 100 Movies in 100 Years (circa 1998)) Starring Charles Laughton as the infamous Captain Bligh and Clark Gable as 1st Officer Fletcher Christian. This Standard Format Black/White feature was quite a lengthy picture for the 1930's ( 132 minutes ). But the story moved by very quickly covering several years ar sea. From Portsmouth England to Tahiti / Pitcairn Island & back twice for Bligh. The year was 1787 when English seaman were shanghied and made to serve on his magesty's ships for years. Average common men drafted and taken from their families unwillingly. This story "Mutiny on the Bounty" is based on true incident which changed the Rules of Seamanship forever. Due to Captain Bligh's blatant disregard of human rights and cruel inhuman punishment for any questioning of his unreasonable orders. He was a common man who through pain & suffering climbed to the rank of Lieutantant. Hating Christian for his being a refined gentleman and well educated officer. This story vividly shows us the world of the seaman via 1787 and how an unspeakable "MUTINY" results. An outstanding movie and the players are well casted for their roles!! Extra features include; Vintage documentary - "Pitcairn Island Today" (circa 1935), Academy Award Newsreel and Theartical Trailers (1935 & remake with Marlon Brando 1962). This is a must have DVD for your Home Theatre library. Enjoy
Rating: 
Summary: Witches can float, and so could Bligh
Review: You know, one of the old wives' tales that they used to use to determine if someone were a witch was to toss them into a lake. If they floated, Bingo! a witch, at which time they were promptly hauled out and hanged. Well, the famous mutineers of the HMS Bounty did what amounted to the same thing with overthrown Captain Bligh and his supporters, setting them afloat in a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean over a thousand miles from land, with only a compass. That should've been the end of him, they figured. Imagine what they felt when, all that time later, an English ship came looking for them at Tahiti, captained by none other than Bligh himself. He might have been a reprehensible man, but he sure was one heck of a navigator, successfully directing that rowboat to port. Truth is stranger than fiction, and probably that real-life fact about Bligh's rounding up his own mutineers is what has given such juice to this story for two hundred years, at one point inspiring this MGM movie. Here, we have Charles Laughton doing the role of his career, causing him even to be immortalized in a Bugs Bunny cartoon--how more recognizable can you get? His Bligh is nasty alright, even ordering that a dead guy be flogged, to finish out his punishment. Clark Gable is first mate/mutineer ringleader Fletcher Christian. He starts out impressing men into service, but after being afloat with Bligh for a couple of months, even he can't take it anymore and goes over to the men's side in the argument over why breadfruit trees are more entitled to water than thirsty seamen. I had long looked forward to renting this movie, as it has such a legendary status among films. However, sorry to say that I thought it a bit draggy here and there, which impeded my being able to enjoy it to the fullest, and hence the four star rating.
That being said, though, I suppose words cannot convey how great Laughton is, and how interesting to see Gable do a morph from gray hat to white hat. Grab your canteen and clamber on board to check out this classic.
Rating:
Summary: We Came To See The Sea
Review: You'll noticed most of the early Oscar winners were films that were heavy-handed. They appeared as if they wanted to be seen as important. Watch "Wings", "All Quite On The Western Front", "Cimarron", "The Life of Emile Zola", and director Frank Lloyd's other Oscar winner "Cavalcade". All of these films seem as if they are shoving an important message down our throats, mind you, not that they are bad films, well, maybe except for "Cimarron". But, "Mutiny on the Bounty" is actually one of the few films to have won the Oscar that didn't appear as "important" as the others. It appears as if it merely wants to entertain. Other films that belong on that list are "The Broadway Melody of 1929", and two Frank Capra films "It Happened One Night" & "You Can't Take It With You". And that's it.
"Mutiny on the Bounty" when released was one of the most expensive films ever made, I believe somewhere between 2-4 million. But watch the wonderful detail given to the film. There are lavish production and costume designs. So, if you like that sort of thing, keep your eyes open. Now, I've noticed that some people bash the movie because they feel it doesn't create an accurate description of what really happened. My answer to this is, who cares? Lets judge the movie on cinematic terms not historical. As a movie does it entertain? Yes. Is there good acting? Yes. You have three Oscar nominated performances here, Charles Laughton, to me comes out looking the best. Clark Gable gives one of his best, though, I admit I never really thought of him as a "great" actor. He was fine for certain roles but I never felt he had a wide range. Though to be fair I must admit he did have a lot of charisma, which is undoubtedly why he made in it the movies. And finally you have Franchot Tone who gives a warm performance as Roger Byam. Another important question to ask is how is the directing? Lloyd who had just won the Oscar for "Cavalcade" I think does a better job here. So, please don't judge the movie based on historical facts. We should all know the movies embellish the truth. Judge the film on the own merits. So is it a good movie? Yes. It proves to entertain it's audiences, it has some wonderful acting, handsome sets and costumes, moments of action and human drama, and is mildly amusing at times. It is worth seeing if your a Laughton or Gable fan. Or if you interested in seeing the early Oscar winners. Here's an interesting fact. Did you know Wallace Berry was the original choice for Capt. Bligh? He turned the role down because he didn't like Gable, and didn't want to be on set with him for a long period of time. What makes this so interesting is if anyone out there is 500 years old like myself you'll recall the two made some films togther. In 1935, the same year as this picture they made "China Seas" (Jean Harlow co-starred), and "Hell Divers" (A movie about two rival pilots) which I think was made in 1931 maybe 1930, I'm not sure. *** 1\2 out of ***** Bottom-line: One of the more entertaing early Oscar winners. Not as heavy-handed. Very good acting, strong directing, and lots of action and more human scenes.
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