Review: Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)

Beginning in 1787, this is the story of the captain and crew of the HMS Bounty from Portsmouth to Tahiti. It’s particularly centred around the increasing frustration and displeasure of the crew towards hard taskmaster Captain Bligh (Charles Laughton), who is unbending and extremely harsh. Chief among the dissenters is first officer Fletcher Christian (Clark Gable), whom the majority of the crew look to for a more sensible, fair-minded leader. Eventually tensions reach to such a boil that Christian leads the title mutiny, with Franchot Tone’s idealistic, aristocratic midshipman Roger Byum (a composite character) disapproving of Christian’s taking action against the Captain, no matter how much of a tyrant Bligh is (and boy is he ever a giant prick). Dudley Digges plays the ship’s alcoholic doctor Bacchus, whilst Donald Crisp plays a disgruntled crew member, and Herbert Mundin the mess cook.

A lot of what happens in this 1935 seafaring flick has since become seafaring flick cliché, and coupled with overlength makes this an OK film that could’ve been even better. Directed by Frank Lloyd (“Wells Fargo”, “The Last Command”), there’s still a lot to like here, but a regrettable midway excursion ashore with way too much focus on topless Clark Gable and Franchot Tone (eeewwwww!) really does bog things down. Gable’s performance is overall OK but a bit wooden at times (and he looks like an idiot in his Capt. Cook hat), whilst Tone for some reason just annoyed the shit out of me, something about him struck me as too contemporary (as in 1930s). He’s not terrible, just annoying in a thankless role. The real acting standouts are the inimitable Charles Laughton (unsurprisingly) and a fine hammy bit of character acting from Dudley Digges. I don’t think Charles Laughton knew the meaning of the word subtle, but I must say this was far from the hammiest performance I’ve seen him give. People might debate the historical accuracy of the rather unlikeable portrayal of Capt. Bligh given in this film from screenwriters Talbot Jennings (“The Good Earth”, “Knights of the Round Table”), Jules Furthman (“The Outlaw”, “The Big Sleep”, “Rio Bravo”) and Carey Wilson (producer of “The Postman Always Rings Twice” and “Scaramouche”), and I for one think the character has been overwritten to be completely over-the-top. However, no one can dispute the fine work Laughton does here in said role. 36 minutes in and you’d think the crew would’ve mutinied already based on how much of a dickhead hard taskmaster Bligh is, but that’s through no fault of Laughton himself, who is ideally cast. He’s a big part of why this thing still gets a recommendation from me. Digges doesn’t get as much screen time as Laughton, but playing the drunken ship’s doctor he’s pathetic and sympathetic at the same time. His entrance in and of itself is brilliant scenery-chewing. In an even smaller turn, Herbert Mundin manages to out ham both Laughton and Digges, as the ship’s mess cook. If his role were any bigger, his pantomiming probably would’ve been excruciating, but in his brief moments he steals scenes without choking the life out of them.

The film is pretty convincing on a technical level as well, it was probably a big production for its time. The occasional American accent, however, proved far less convincing for something with supposedly British characters. A soft recommendation from me, as this is perfectly acceptable (despite some seriously skewed playing with the facts to make Christian the white knight and Bligh the black hat) but wholly unsurprising. Some of the acting is good, some not quite so good, with Franchot Tone in particular being a bit obnoxious.

Slow moving, and with so many films of its ilk in subsequent years surpassing it, this one didn’t really wow me. Winner of the Best Picture award at that year’s Oscars, with Laughton, Gable, and Tone’s Best Actor nominations resulting in a split vote in that category, I suppose (Best Supporting Actor hadn’t become a category yet, soon to be rectified). It’s apparently the last Best Picture winner to not pick up any other awards. I guess they hadn’t gotten this whole Oscars thing sorted out by 1935.

Rating: B-