Ponte di comando

Despite the fact that this film is not as known as some other sea sagas, it has some spectacular battle scenes, which are quite impressive even today. The movie does contain some historical speculations ( like the prevention of France's invasion of England in 1797 ), but overall it is one of the most detailed and authentic depictions of what seamen's life looked like in the 18th century. It is highly recommended to anyone interested in the military history of the period. The primary reason I wanted to see that movie was the fact that Alec Guinness was in it. Needless to say, his portrayal of Defiant's captain is as strong and convincing as ever. Good captain vs. bad second-in-command ( Bogarte )opposition might not seem very original to a modern viewer, but again, excellent performances by both Guinness and Bogarte and many unpredictable plot turns make us forget about this semi-cliche.

Denis Maternovsky

"Damn the Defiant." a 1962 film directed by Lewis Gilbert, is based on an actual incident, known as the Spithead Mutiny which took place during the 1797 war with France.

The ship is led by Captain Crawford (Alec Guinness), a fair man who is afraid to rattle the cage of his next in command, the sadistic Lieutenant Scott-Padget (Dirk Bogarde), who is well-connected and has ruined the careers of previous captains.

The ambitious Scott-Padget, however, is determined to take over the ship and wants things his way. To this end, he brutalizes Crawford's young son, who is on board as a midshipman, knowing that the principled Crawford will not interfere.

However, there are mutineers on board, led by Vizard (Anthony Quayle) who have written a petition for better food and more money. They hate Scott-Padget, and if they take control, he's in big trouble.

This is a very good film with suspense as well as excitement, dominated by the acting of Guinness and Bogarde. Guinness is brilliant - you can see him making an effort to control his anger, and one also sees his great pain. When he at last asserts himself, he is very noble.

Director Gilbert had to fight for Bogarde, so devalued was he by Hollywood, but Guinness spoke up for the actor as well, and he was cast. He does a great job - handsome, outwardly polite, and mean as dirt. Anthony Quayle is excellent as Vizard, who, in leading his men, demands patience.

Absorbing and entertaining, even if movies on the high seas aren't your thing.

In April 1789 Captain William Bligh was set adrift off the Friendly Islands by Fletcher Christian and the crew of H.M.S. Bounty, tired of Bligh's bad temper and harsh tongue. Bligh and the loyal crew members (except two killed by cannibals on one island they stopped at) managed to sail the open boat 2,100 miles despite lack of supplies and dangerous seas and weather to safety. Bligh returned to England, and eventually made a second trip to Tahiti to complete his original mission. Christian and most of the Bounty mutineers fled on the Bounty and reached Pitcairn Island, where their descendants live to this day.

The mutiny on the Bounty is the one that most people think of whenever they hear the word "mutiny". Otherwise they think of THE CAINE MUTINY. Actually there have been many mutinies. In 1905 a mutiny on the Russian battleship Potemkin occurred at Odessa on the Black Sea. It was immortalized by Serge Eisenstein in his film of the name POTEMKIN.

It surprises many people outside of England that the Bounty was peanuts compared to the Great Mutiny of 1797 at the Nore and Spithead of the entire British fleet (also the 1931 Invergordon Mutiny of the British fleet during the depression, which was a total surprise). The Great Mutiny is supreme because it occurred just when England was facing revolutionary France in the French Revolutionary Wars. A force being planned by Wolfe Tone and the French General Lazare Hoche was to invade Ireland. By sheer chance the French were unable to take advantage of the moment of England's peril to invade.

The 1797 Mutiny at Spithead was actually successful - various gains in pay and food were made by the sailors. Then came the Nore Mutiny, which was led by a seaman of some leadership qualities named Richard Parker. Parker's demands were impossible, and he apparently toyed with leading the fleet to France. Instead the British Admiralty got tough, and crushed the mutiny. Ironically one of the last ships to give up was H.M.S. Director, which was commanded by William Bligh. It was the second mutiny (of three!) that Bligh would face in his career. Parker was tried for mutiny and executed, as were dozens of other sailors.

It would be nice if some enterprising producer would make an accurate film of the 1797 Mutiny - but until that day comes we are left with two films that roughly approximate the story. There is Peter Ustinov's BILLY BUDD, which is set in the period of the Great Mutiny, and this one. BILLY BUDD has much going for it regarding it's source material (Herman Melville's brilliant study of good and evil, and how they are impossible to separate). Then there is DAMN THE DEFIANT / H.M.S. DEFIANT, which tells the story from the point of view of a single vessel and the evils that permeated all the crew from the Captain to the tars.

Alec Guinness is a well meaning but weak leader who is the Captain of Defiant, and has been stuck with Dirk Bogarde as his new second in command, a socially well-connected sadist. Bogarde is determined to be the real commander of the ship, and is willing to do what is needed to bring Guinness and everyone in sight under heal. Guinness's son is a midshipman on the DEFIANT, and Bogarde keeps finding ways of punishing the young man that Guinness (because of fears of favoritism) will not interfere with. On top of this, during one battle, Guinness loses an arm (a salute to Lord Nelson who was similarly was crippled).

However, the men led by Anthony Quayle, decide to join the mutiny. And then it is Bogarde's turn to sweat.

What were the gripes of the mutineers? Low pay (the government spent money on bribes for votes, but not decent pay). Nothing like pensions for the men - frequently kidnapped by press gangs in the major cities - and left cripples after serving in the naval battles. Food was crap - the quartermasters and the people who sold supplies were in cahoots and sold rotten food to the ships. It was a "lovely life". The wonder is that there weren't more bloodbath mutinies. One (in 1798) on board H.M.S. Hermoine led to the murder of a dozen officers, including the Captain (one Hugh Pigott). Reading of it makes one realize how lucky Bligh and the Admirals were that they did not face the real wrath that was just under the surface.

This movie is an excellent exploration of the effect that a divided command structure has on the workings of a ship. The characters are well cast and fully developed. We are taken into the workings of the ship and see more idyllic view of life in the wooden world that we saw in the Gregory Peck, Hornblower.

The plot line is good and for people like me who love wooden ships, the scenes of the ships and the naval battles are supurb. If one likes Hornblower or Maturin this is a movie you need to own. The transfer to DVD came out well (I also owned this one on a beta tape) and it is one of those core movies for the history buff.

Few films have tried to capture the era of Horatio Hornblower, and even fewer do it as well as this one. It's an extremely well-made movie, though a bit difficult to classify. Traditionally, in a sea adventure, the dashing, sexy leader is the hero; in this case, he's the villain (brilliantly played by Dirk Bogarde, who normally plays more sensitive chaps). The good guy turns out to be a very UNdashing and flawed, but compassionate Captain.

I think Alec Guinness is the only actor who can portray a character who is colorless yet also make him sympathetic. Perhaps the World War II era (with its emphasis on teamwork, its glorification of the average G.I., and its near-worship of able, but dull, leaders like Omar Bradley) may have influenced it, because the movie strongly emphasizes the worth of the common man, especially as personified by Anthony Quayle's character.

It's an offbeat movie: part sea adventure, part character drama, part historical epic. Critics might say it's not satisfactory in any of these areas, but those of us who love it recognize how special and even unique it is. Now that Columbia has finally released on DVD a letter-boxed version one can fully appreciate its worth, not only for the sea battle scenes, but also the many two-shots of Guinness and Bogarde interacting (or, more often, snarling) at each other.