Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
| DIRECTOR | Frank Lloyd |
| RUNNING TIME | 132 Minutes |
| COLOR OR B & W? | Black & White |
| YAHOO RATING | A- |
| IMDb RATING | 7.8 out of 10 |
| FLETCHER CHRISTIAN | Clark Gable |
| LT. WILLIAM BLIGH | Charles Laughton |
| JOHN FRYER | DeWitt Jennings |
| ROGER BYAM | Franchot Tone |
| COMMENT | Bligh is depicted, at least on the Bounty, as a raving sadist, although he was in fact far from that. A wonderful movie, although the simplistic in its good vs. evil story line. The historical inaccuracies in this movie are too numerous to mention. |
| TRIVIA | James Cagney, vacationing near the location of filming on Catalina Island and looking for a few extra dollars, played a sailor for one day....Gable, Laughton, and Tone all received Oscar nominations for best actor--a movie industry first. |
Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)
| DIRECTOR | Lewis Milestone |
| RUNNING TIME | 178 Minutes |
| COLOR OR B & W? | Color |
| YAHOO RATING | B+ |
| IMDb RATING | 6.8 out of 10 |
| FLETCHER CHRISTIAN | Marlon Brando |
| LT. WILLIAM BLIGH | Trevor Howard |
| JOHN MILLS | Richard Harris |
| ALEXANDER SMITH | Hugh Griffith |
| COMMENT | More historically accurate than the 1935 film, but Bligh is still presented unfairly. The movie concludes with scenes from the court-martial of William Bligh for the loss of his ship. (Bligh was acquitted.)...There are lots of beautiful sunsets and lush island scenes, where great efforts are made to hide the frontal nudity of natives. |
| TRIVIA | Brando was at his most outrageous in Tahiti, ordering changes to the script (e.g., he wanted the final scenes on Pitcairn Island reshot to include his ideas about man's inhumanity to man), demanding that film crew members prepare for a friend's wedding, and insisting that planeloads of champagne and other goodies be flown in for his consumption. He married a Tahitian actress in the film (his third wife) and bought an atoll on which he created a posh resort and an environmental reserve. |
The Bounty (1984)
| DIRECTOR | Roger Donaldson |
| RUNNING TIME | 125 Minutes |
| COLOR OR B & W? | Color |
| YAHOO RATING | B+ |
| IMDb RATING | 6.7 out of 10 |
| FLETCHER CHRISTIAN | Mel Gibson |
| LT. WILLIAM BLIGH | Anthony Hopkins |
| ADMIRAL HOOD | Laurence Olivier |
| JOHN FRYER | Daniel Day Lewis |
| COMMENT | The movie opens with scenes from Bligh's court-martial for losing the Bounty....This is the most historically accurate of the three Bounty movies (Bligh is more sympathetically portrayed than in earlier versions), although the pre-voyage relationship depicted between Christian and Bligh is largely fiction...The movie's main focus is on the relationship between Bligh and Christian...Fryer becomes the Bounty's tyrant in this film. |
| TRIVIA | One of the last film appearances of Laurence Olivier and one of the first of Daniel Day Lewis....Liam Neeson plays Master-at-Arms Charles Churchill. |