Mutiny on the Bounty

Clark Gable was at his most virile and Charles Laughton at almost his most vicious and sneering in director Frank Lloyd's vigorous adaptation, the first and best screen version of the Bounty story. [22 March 1998, p.52]

The weird and wonderful history of H. M. S. Bounty is magnificently transferred to the screen in Mutiny on the Bounty, which opened at the Capitol Theatre yesterday. Grim, brutal, sturdily romantic, made out of horror and desperate courage, it is as savagely exciting and rousingly dramatic a photoplay as has come out of Hollywood in recent years.

A stirring 18-centry sea adventure...For the kind of big budget, studio controlled romantic adventure that this is, it's very well done.

The story is spellbinding, the acting lusty and the spectacle everything you could expect from a Golden Age MGM production--though sometimes it's a bit too much on the monumental side.

The production values, like the acting, are of the highest standard and the movie stands up well even by 21st century standards.

For Lloyd, Thalberg, and the writers, the point of the film was to tell a compelling story and, like the Bounty’s inebriated physician creating various tall tales to explain his wooden leg, facts and meanings ultimately just got in their way of crafting a great entertainment.

Despite the efforts of Producer Irving Thalberg, Director Frank Lloyd, three scenarists and $2,000,000 to give it balance, polish and direction, the picture lacks all three. There are intervals when the two hours which it lasts seem as interminable as Bligh's voyage in the open boat must have seemed to its occupants. The narrative, which skips the saga of Pitcairn's Island entirely for Tahiti love interest, still contains enough material for at least three films. These faults are indigenous to the historic material used. The picture has few others.

Even though it's pushing 100 years old, "Mutiny On The Bounty" still packs an anti-authoritarian punch, man. Thanks in no small part to Clark Gable's valiant portrayal of Fletcher Christian and Charles Laughton's equivalently impactful turn as all-time bastard Captain Bligh, the tensions are clear, the stakes are enthralling and the thematic throughlines are palpable. Even though some of this is decidedly embellished (for real, look into the historicity of what's depicted here and you'll quickly come away with a completely different perspective on things lol) the spirit of the film is clear and I can get behind the overall message. Also, on a side note, I know this is certainly not the *best* depiction of indigenous peoples, but I was honestly expecting a lot worse? Like, honestly, some of this is actually borderline progressive — undoubtedly so for the era of filmmaking in question here.

Кларк Гейбл не дотягивает по колориту и красоте до Эррола Флинна из Капитана Блада, но сценарий здесь определённо лучше, хотя 2ая половина фильма смотрится намного скучнее первой. Капитана Блая, с его надутыми пухлыми губками, я бы выкинул за борт в первые дни плавания =)