| | | Academy Award Winner - Best Picture (1936).
HMS Bounty sails for Tahiti by way of Cape Horn...and into movie lore as an American Film Institute Top-100 American Films selection. Grandly filmed, Mutiny on the Bounty captured the 1935 Best Picture Academy Award and eight nominations total. Charles Laughton portrays Captain Bligh, a seafaring monster ruling with the law of fear.Solidifying his status as Hollywood's #1 male star, Clark Gable is first officer Fletcher Christian, whose will to obey erodes under Bligh's tyranny. And Franchot Tone plays idealistic midshipman Byam, torn by his allegiance to both. That all three portrayals are vividly memorable is accented by the fact that for the only time in Oscar history, three stars from the same film were Best Actor nominees.
"Epic stuff, beautifully cast, handsomely mounted and directed with passionate conviction." Channel 4 Film
"The first, and best, of the three Bounty pictures...Laughton gives a tour de force performance..." Find-A-Video
"Storytelling at its best..." Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide
"...excitement, drama, thrills...Gable, Laughton and Tone are simply outstanding." The Motion Picture Guide
"...one of the best nautical adventures of all time and one of MGM's greatest classics..." Tom Dirks, The Greatest Films
Editor's Note
MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY is the classic tale of one of the most infamous adventures on the high seas. The story is based on the fictional accounts written by Charles Nortdhoff and James Norman Hall. English conscripts sailing for Tahiti buckle under the chastisements of cruel Captain William Bligh, savagely portrayed by Charles Laughton. Bligh's grotesque abuses of power, including a brutal flogging that results in the death of the sick old ship's doctor, finally inspire a mutiny on the return voyage, conducted under the leadership of fair-minded officer Fletcher Christian, played by the dashing and heroic Clark Gable. Following the mutiny, Bligh and a few cronies are set onto a small dinghy after the successful muntiy, at which point the real adventure begins--Bligh's 4,000-mile journey from Tahiti to the Dutch East Indies. A solid seagoing adventure epic with breathtaking location photography, MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY offers an unparalleled nautical authenticity--the ship photographed and the costumes worn were exact replicas of the 18th-century originals.
Plot Summary
This is the classic (and true) tale of the mutiny that took place on the HMS Bounty, led by the courageous and dashing Fletcher Christian. The sailors revolt because of the barbaric and merciless way they had been treated during the voyage by the wicked Captain Bligh.
| Features | Audio: English, French Dolby Digital Mono | | Dubbed: French | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English, French, Spanish |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Warner Home Video |
| Release Date: 1/8/2008 |
| Running Time: 128 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1935 | | Catalog ID: 1000035667 | | UPC: 00883929002528 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Video: B&W |
Aspect Ratio | | Standard 1.33:1 [4:3] |
| Cast & Crew | Charles Laughton | | Clark Gable | | Donald Crisp | | Franchot Tone | | Albert Lewin - Producer | | Arthur Edeson - Cinematographer | | Cedric Gibbons - Art Director | | Charles Nordhoff - Based On Novel By | | Frank Lloyd - Director | | Herbert Stothart - Original Music By | | Irving Thalberg - Producer | | James Norman Hall - Based On Novel By | | Margaret Booth - Editor | | Nat W. Finston - Original Music By | | Talbot Jennings, et. al. - Screenplay |
| Awards |
Winner (1936) | | | Oscar, Mutiny on the Bounty, Best Picture | |
Nominee (1936) | | | Oscar, Clark Gable, Best Actor in a Leading Role | | | Oscar, Charles Laughton, Best Actor in a Leading Role | | | Oscar, Franchot Tone, Best Actor in a Leading Role | | | Oscar, Frank Lloyd, Best Director | | | Oscar, Margaret Booth, Best Film Editing | | | Oscar, Nat W. Finston, Best Music, Score | | | Oscar, Talbot Jennings, et. al., Best Writing, Screenplay |
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| | Professional Reviews | USA Today
"Clark Gable is excellent..." 02/03/2004 p.3DPremiere
"Clark Gable gives a yeomanlike performance....It's Charles Laughton's dead-on portrayal of the ruthless Captain Bligh that lingers on." 05/01/2004 p.101 DVD Verdict 9 of 10
The novel by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall, on which this film is based, paints Bligh as a total monster and Christian as a holy hero...Wallace Beery was approached to play Bligh, but he turned down the role after discovering that his co-star would be Clark Gable. Berry and Gable did not care for one another after making a few MGM films together. Charles Laughton was approached and he accepted. MGM contract player Franchot Tone signed on to play the green Roger Byam. A stellar supporting cast, including Donald Crisp, Spring Byington, Eddie Quillan, and Ian Wolfe, was quickly put together. Production began in late 1934 under the supervision of director Frank Lloyd. The result: a masterpiece of epic proportions...Mutiny on the Bounty is wholly satisfying. There is excitement, with the storm sequences and the actual mutiny. There is humor, during many of the scenes involving the crew cavorting with the native Tahitians. There is great drama, creating doubt and suspense in seemingly simple situations. It is a long film at 132 minutes, but the story does not feel slow or dull at any point. It is exactly the right length, delivered at the right pace. - Bill Treadway
FilmsGraded.com 10 of 10
"Mutiny on the Bounty" is an outstanding film. The cast is excellent, as is the cinematography and the script. The film never flags for a moment. All the scenes work, whether they are dramatic, romantic or comic...It is difficult to say what is more impressive: the cinematography of the big ships, cleverly giving the illusion of their sailing the high seas, or the script, which gives the actors dramatic but natural lines...I liked how events went after the mutiny. Laughton, who was selfish and cruel on the Bounty, is equally just and kindly on the lifeboat..."Mutiny on the Bounty" won the Oscar for Best Picture. It was also nominated for Best Director (Frank Lloyd), Best Screenplay (Jules Furthman, Talbot Jennings, Carey Wilson), Best Film Editing and Best Score. Laughton, Grant, and Franchot Tone (who plays a good-guy officer tried for mutiny) were all nominated for Best Actor, but must have split the votes between them. Victor McLaglen ("The Informer") was the winner that year..."Mutiny on the Bounty" was remade in 1962, with Marlon Brando entertainingly miscast as Fletcher Christian. Mel Gibson also played the role in "The Bounty" (1984), a tedious but more realistic version with excellent cinematography. - Brian Koller
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