Mutiny on the Bounty

UPC: 883929116157

Studio: Warner Home Video

MPAA Rating: NR   Contains:[Mild Violence]

Summary: The 1932 publication of Charles Nordhoff and James Norton Hall's Mutiny on the Bounty sparked a revival of interest in the titular 1789 ship mutiny, and this 1935 MGM movie version won the Oscar for Best Picture. Clark Gable stars as Fletcher Christian, first mate of the infamous HMS Bounty, skippered by Captain William Bligh (Charles Laughton), the cruelest taskmaster on the Seven Seas. Bligh's villainy knows no bounds: he is even willing to flog a dead man if it will strengthen his hold over the crew. Christian despises Bligh and is sailing on the Bounty under protest. During the journey back to England, Bligh's cruelties become more than Christian can bear; and after the captain indirectly causes the death of the ship's doctor, the crew stages a mutiny, with Christian in charge. Bligh and a handful of officers loyal to him are set adrift in an open boat. Through sheer force of will, he guides the tiny vessel on a 49-day, 4000-mile journey to the Dutch East Indies without losing a man. Historians differ on whether Captain Bligh was truly such a monster or Christian such a paragon of virtue (some believe that the mutiny was largely inspired by Christian's lust for the Tahitian girls). The movie struck gold at the box office, and, in addition to the Best Picture Oscar, Gable, Laughton, and Franchot Tone as one of the Bounty's crew were all nominated for Best Actor (they all lost to Victor McLaglan in The Informer). The film was remade in 1962 and adapted into the "revisionist" 1984 feature The Bounty with Mel Gibson as Fletcher Christian and Anthony Hopkins as Captain Bligh. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Category: Adventure

Awards: 100 Greatest American Movies – American Film Institute Best Actor – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Actor – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Actor – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Director – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Editing – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Score – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Score – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture – National Board of Review Best Actor – New York Film Critics Circle 10 Best Films – Film Daily

Features: 1935 short Pitcairn Island Today
Academy Awards newsreel
Theatrical trailers of this and the 1962 version

Mutiny on the Bounty

Format: Blu-ray

Release Date: 11/16/2010

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Pre-1954 Standard

Audio: DD1 Dolby Digital Mono

Runtime: 132 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French,Spanish

Subtitles: French,Spanish

Richard Gilliam

Mutiny on the Bounty represents the height of MGM filmmaking during the Irving Thalberg era. Filming on location in Tahiti, the studio spent $2 million in production costs, an astounding sum for 1935. Thalberg's boss, Louis B. Mayer, opposed the film, but the production chief prevailed, insisting that the public was fascinated by cruelty. Indeed, Charles Laughton's Captain Bligh is among the screen's most despicable villains, never mind that the historic Captain Bligh was a substantially more complex person, and the heroic Fletcher Christian (Clark Gable) of the film is hardly the Fletcher Christian of history who kidnapped Tahitian natives and forced them to work as slaves for his mutineers. Mutiny on the Bounty holds up well as a grand tale of adventure, beautifully filmed, with charismatic lead performances and the quality of production that made Thalberg's work legendary. It is a rarity in Academy Awards history: a Best Picture winner that won only that one Oscar. The bigger winner for the night was John Ford's The Informer, which took four Oscars, all at Bounty's expense. Yet, as is common in Academy history, Bounty, a bigger box-office blockbuster, won the top award. ~ Richard Gilliam, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Douglas Walton  Actor 
Harold Entwistle  Actor 
Lionel Belmore  Actor 
Harry Cording  Actor 
John Harrington  Actor 
Maria [Movita] Castaneda  Actor 
William Stack  Actor 
Eric Wilton  Actor 
Nadine Beresford  Actor 
Mary Gordon  Actor 
Doris Lloyd  Actor 
John Powers  Actor 
James Cagney  Actor 
Crauford Kent  Actor 
Percy Waram  Actor 
King Mojave  Actor 
Mamo Clark  Actor 
Pat Flaherty  Actor 
Robert Livingston  Actor 
Will Stanton  Actor 
Hal LeSueur  Actor 
Marion Clayton  Actor 
Winter Hall  Actor 
David Thursby  Actor 
Alec Craig  Actor 
Charles Irwin  Actor 
David Niven  Actor 
David Torrence  Actor 
Byron Russell  Actor 
Jules Furthman  Screenwriter 
Talbot Jennings  Screenwriter 
Herbert Stothart  Composer (Music Score) 
Irving G. Thalberg  Producer 
Carey Wilson  Screenwriter 
Frank Lloyd  Director 
Clark Gable  Actor 
Charles Laughton  Actor 
Franchot Tone  Actor 
Dudley Digges  Actor 
Herbert Mundin  Actor 
Donald Crisp  Actor 
Eddie Quillan  Actor 
Movita  Actor 
Francis Lister  Actor 
Henry Stephenson  Actor 
Spring Byington  Actor 
Ian Wolfe  Actor 
Ivan Simpson  Actor 
DeWitt Jennings  Actor 
Stanley Fields  Actor 
Wallis Clark  Actor 
Vernon P. Downing  Actor 
Dick Winslow  Actor 

Country: USA