Mutiny On The Bounty

Mutiny On the Bounty, 1935
Directed by Frank Lloyd
Nominated for 8 Oscars, Won 1
Win Includes: Best Picture (yep, that's it!)

HMS The Bounty is headed off on a two year voyage to Tahiti to collect bread fruit trees (for cheap food for slaves). But the captain of the ship, Captain Bligh, is an extremely brutal tyrant, having workers flogged, rations cut to the extreme, and dangling workers off the ship. The voyage is gone for two years, and the trip to Tahiti is unbearable for the crew. But Fletcher Christian, his first mate, won't stand for the inhumanity that Bligh is showing his crew, and makes a stand. And after a blissful 6 months in Tahiti, Fletcher leads a mutiny against Bligh. But don't think Bligh won't wreak his revenge.

Mutiny On The Bounty was definitely much more interesting than I expected it to be. Clark Gable is just generally great and I find I very much enjoy most movies he's been in (even though all I've seen is his Best Picture Winners!) but the movie was not as boring as it definitely could've been, but it definitely suffers a little bit of 1930's caricature acting and censorship that's expected of the time period. While the suggestions of sex is definitely there, it definitely could've been a lot more explicit. However, the story was interesting and while it painted Captain Bligh particularly badly, in the end it didn't exactly paint Fletcher Christian in the best light either, but it was definitely a little biased in it's views.

The film definitely leaned more towards a condemning side for Captain Bligh. He's a vile and cruel man and we aren't often showed any humanity that he has. On the other side, first mate Fletcher Christian is quite different. He's caring and protective of the crew, and while understands the need for punishment for misbehavior, he understand that Bligh crosses the line way too far when it comes to punishment. Christian is painted quite the saint for most of the film, but the film even starts to turn on him a little bit in the end, which I think made the film more interesting, for sure. It's always a little boring when the movies are as one-sided as this one almost was. Then again, the film doesn't turn on him that much and still paints him as quite a glorious guy.

Most of the film takes place at sea (with an awesome fake pre-filmed background), so there's not entirely too much to say for visuals there, but the Tahiti scenes were quite pretty.

The acting was quite good, though there was definitely a lot of people guilty of over-acting or just being downright caricature. Clark Gable was quite good and never too extreme in his role, but Charles Laughton as Captain Bligh was quite the dramatic guy. There were also your staple stupid guy, drunk but lovable guy, the whiny guy, the "i won't take it!" guy, etc, all on this boat. It was a little over the top, but I was kind of thankful Gable was around to just sort of calm things down and actually act like a real person.

However, I still did enjoy the movie was what it was. I can forgive over-acting in early films, and when the film has an interesting story, it can be forgiven all the more. While the film wasn't terrible, it wasn't quite amazing either. However, it was a nice change and was quite different from other films on the winners list and was a bit lighter of a movie, despite it's subject matter.

Acting- 8/10 

Directing- 8/10 
Screenplay- 7/10 

Visuals- 7/10 

Music- 7/10 

Emotional Connection- 7/10 

Entertainment- 7.5/10 

Rewatchability- 7/10 

Overall Enjoyment- 7.5/10 

Overall Package- 7.5/10       

Total: 74/100