O Grande Motim

Clark Gable and Franchot Tone received Oscar nominations in this excellent early Best Picture winner. But it is Charles Laughton (also Oscar-nominated) who gives his greatest performance as the captain who is harsh, strict and unforgiving. However, his true skills are shown when he is thrown off the ship, but never gives up and returns to safety in a small boat with limited men and supplies. The primary actors are solid and the shooting locales are breath-taking. Frank Lloyd's direction lifts a somewhat questionable screenplay to safer waters and the film turns into a Hollywood classic by its final act. 5 stars out of 5.

If you've never seen one of the three major film versions of the famous mutiny-and therefore have no knowledge of the plot-the opening credits of the 1935 film will give you a pretty fair warning of what is about to happen. I've seen all three versions, 1935, 1962, and 1984, and this version has quickly become my favorite.

Charles Laughton, the famously strict Captain Bligh, leads a two-year voyage from England to Tahiti to procure breadfruit plants and bring them back. His second-in-command, Fletcher Christian, is played by an un-mustached Clark Gable. At first, Gable supports his captain and tries to get the crew to behave and obey their commanding officer to avoid his horrible punishments. But when Laughton repeatedly brutalizes his men for small or nonexistent infractions, Gable leads a mutiny and takes over the ship.

I know Clark Gable was called "The King", but he really wasn't a good actor. Please, nobody throw anything at me, and hear me out. He was very handsome, made girls swoon by taking his shirt off in most of his movies, and had a powerfully confident presence onscreen. But his acting consisted of shouting or smirking, with exception to The Misfits. When you watch Mutiny on the Bounty, it's as if you're watching Rhett Butler on a boat. He's exactly the same.

My criticisms of Clark Gable aside, the rest of the movie is very good! The character of Captain Bligh has to be so much more than just strict and unreasonable. He's obviously a mass of problems, otherwise he wouldn't act the way he does, and in Charles Laughton's interpretation, those problems are written on his brow. He broods, wants to be better than he is, and craves order and respect for deep reasons, and it's obvious without being melodramatic. But it's Franchot Tone who steals the show in his performance. He's the most likable character, and he delivers so much passion into his lines, whether he's interacting with Tahitians and creating a dictionary, falling in love, or finding a balance between loyalty to his captain and to his friend. I like him anyway, but I've never seen him pour so much of himself into a role as in this film.

All three leads were nominated for Best Actor for 1935, and the only nominee who wasn't in Mutiny on the Bounty took home the gold that year. As for the Hot Toasty Rag Awards of 1935, the film swept Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for Franchot Tone. This epic was remarkably made in 1935, and it still stands the test of time today.

If you can, keep an eye out for James Cagney, David Niven, and Dick Haymes, as one of the dozens of extras in the film. I never found them, but you can give it a shot. This is very much a man's movie, but I enjoyed it immensely. The characters and production values kept me riveted even past the end!

It's fair to say you are a Captain disciplined, and you like to see subordinates lose skin, the cat o' nine tails is a smash, as they're beaten, whipped and slashed, filling your sails with such an overwhelming wind. If all else fails you go the distance and keelhaul, dragging the guilty of just what on a long trawl, prevents the crew from going soft, like rotten food they have to scoff, although you never hear the sounds, of their death squall. Although this time it seems you've pushed the boat too far, Fletcher Christian takes his chance to fight and spar, your ejected and cast-off, mutinous rabble will pay the cost, as you're left to drift for weeks, under the stars.

Charles Laughton is sublime.

When watching this great motion picture keep in mind that it is now over sixty (60)years old! Even through the passage of time it provides for entertaining viewing. Charles Laughtons performance as William Bligh captain of the Bounty basically set the standard as how Bligh is pictured and thought of when his name is mentioned. Other actors have portrayed Bligh but it is Laughtons portrayal that is remembered most. The 1984 version with Anthony Hopkins and Mel Gibson is probably a more historical version of actual events but this 1935 classic will most likely always be the sentimental favorite.

Although the versions with Marlon Brando and Trevor Howard, and with Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins, are fairer in presenting William Bligh than the 1935 version did, it is the 1935 version that remains the best American version of the story of Bligh, Christian, and the "Bounty". It is the most literary version (based on the novels of Nordhoff and Hall - there are actually three novels), and it did give Charles Laughton his most famous ogre (which he repeated later as Captain William Kidd twice), but somehow the story was properly told in this version. Somehow making a case for Bligh weakens the story of men rebelling when they can't stand anymore.

If one wants to see the story from Bligh's side, read his very readable account THE MUTINY ABOARD H.M.S. BOUNTY, but keep in mind that it is his account of his side of the story. Christian never did get a chance to produce his side of it. Peter Heyward, the real life version of Byams (Franchot Tone) had the family connections and money to publish his anti-Bligh account, but Bligh's book became a best seller.

Historically most people feel that Bligh was more bark than bite. Unfortunately for his reputation he would be involved (in later years) in two other mutinies: that of the entire British fleet (the "Great Mutiny of 1797), where his ship "H.M.S. Director" was the last ship to take down it's flag of mutiny); and the New South Wales mutiny of 1805, where he was the Governor of the colony and his measures led to a mutiny of the local New South Wales Corp. But the Great Mutiny was actually caused by government corruption and neglect of it's seamen. As for the 1805 mutiny, Bligh was trying to control the New South Wales Corps which was not only corrupt but bullying the civilians. In the end his reports led to the recall of the corp. to fight against Napoleon on the Iberian Peninsula. But Nordhoff and Hall presented Bligh as the villain there too.

The film also has more to it than the ranting of Bligh at "MR. Christian!" There are moments of comedy. Laughton's temper and anger are punctured a few times when the new cook (Herbert Mundin) keeps bungling things. When Laughton is angrily confronting a dissatisfied sailor, he happens to be staring directly at the sailor and Mundin. He orders the sailor to step forward, but Mundin does, causing Laughton to sputter. Also Mundin manages to toss garbage over the side so that it ends up hitting Laughton in the face. One wishes there had been more than this, or (better than that) an attempt to bring the two actors together in a comedy. Add to this Mr. Bacchus (Dudley Digges) whose leg (depending on when he is talking about it) was lost in a sea battle with the French, by a shark (who six months later turned up dead, with the leg still inside him), and shot off by a pirate off Madagascar (or something like that). His death in the film is a signal for the collapse of the one spot of humanity linking Christian's faction with Bligh's.

It is now generally accepted that Bligh was one of the greatest navigators in history, and the open boat voyage after being thrown off the Bounty remains an incredible achievement (he lost only two men). The film's best moments for Laughton is in this section, as he suddenly becomes far more wiser and humane trying to keep his crew healthy and able to continue to sail to safety. But when in charge of a full ship Bligh could not, or would not control his temper and his tongue. It was sufficient to get him into trouble. However, it was also his ticket to fame. Seaman remember the great navigator and the cartographer - the man who sailed with Captain Cook and who fought (at Copenhagen in 1801) next to Horatio Nelson. But the public will always remember the ill-tempered martinet, fairly or not, whose tongue made nautical history.