This famous story began with Captain Cook when he and Sir Joseph Banks discovered the breadfruit on Tahiti. After some time the British government decided that breadfruit would provide a plentiful supply of food for its colonies in the West Indies and decided to send another expedition to gather and transport the breadfruit to the waiting masses. In a fateful move William Bligh was made Captain of the ship Bounty with Fletcher Christian as his main offsider.

It is historic fact that Bligh was a strong believer in the need for discipline to keep the motley group brought together as his crew under control. He was a very stern disciplinarian and was not afraid of putting the cat-o-nine-tails to work to keep the crew in line. Some would say he was enlightened in that he believed in many of the things that Cook tried, such as limes to keep scurvy from the ship; others see him as a maniacal sadist and it is obvious that the filmmakers fall into the latter category.

The Bounty left England in December 1787 for a trip to Tahiti via Cape Horn, one that very few sailors would have undertaken willingly in a 90-foot ship. With the winds against it the Bounty was forced to take a longer route via the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa with a stop along the way in Van Dieman?s Land and New Zealand. They arrived in relatively good time but the harsh discipline on the ship has raised the hackles of most of the men. When they landed in a paradise where food was plentiful, the sun shone most of the time and the women were very friendly they chances of them submitting to Bligh?s way of doing things for the return journey shrank. And so it turned out as the crew were yanked back into the Bligh reality when they set sail for the West Indies. It didn?t take long for the mutinous talk to escalate into action by Christian and others to take over the ship. Bligh and some others were set adrift in a small launch. They persisted through enormous hardship and one of the greatest acts of seamanship under Bligh?s command to arrive in Timor, some 3500 nautical miles away from where they were set adrift.

Meanwhile the mutineers had returned to their Tahitian paradise to live a life of freedom but when an unannounced ship appeared on the horizon they took their chance to flee. Little did they know that it was Bligh returning in the ship Pandora and he pursued them across the Pacific until he wrecked the Pandora on a reef. He and the rest of the crew, along with some of the Bounty?s crew who had been left on Tahiti made it back to England where a Court Martial ended in the death penalty for most. The followers of Fletcher Christian ended their days marooned on the then uncharted Pitcairn Island where they and their descendants lived for many generations.

This film is notable for many things and it is a little difficult to remember that it was made in 1935, albeit at the staggering cost of $2 million dollars US. It won Best Production, the equivalent of Best Picture, and we can see in the extras the acceptance speech by Frank Lloyd, the producer. How Charles Laughton never won Best Actor for his sensational performance as the manic Captain Bligh is beyond me. If ever an actor personified evil throughout a whole performance this was it. His performance is as strong now as it was back then and I can think of very few who have put so much into a character and wrung so much out of it. History does not necessarily agree with the interpretation of the character that the screenwriters allowed Laughton to so professionally play but his acting has got to be right up there in the top handful of performances ever given. It is worth seeing the film for Laughton alone.

Gable does an admirable job as Christian but he pales beside the stronger lead character. Tone gives a good performance too (he and Gable and Laughton were all nominated for Best Actor). I have seen different versions of this tale and there is no doubt in my mind that this is the most compelling, in an acting sense, of all of them.

THE EXTRAS

There is a short film on Pitcairn Island Today, which was made at about the time of the movie?s release so it looks a little dated. It is fascinating (well for me anyway) to contemplate that the descendants of the original mutineers were not found for so long although there were some less than savoury moments along the way. We are also given the Lloyd speech although not quite in the fancy surrounds we have become used to lately in the Academy Awards presentations. The original screen trailer is there too.

CONCLUSION

In 1787 the British Government sent an expedition to the South Seas to harvest breadfruit and take the plants to the colonies ion the West Indies. While an extraordinary seaman, Captain William Bligh had a reputation for strict, if not harsh, discipline on his ships. The film follows the decline in relationships between Bligh, his loyal offsider Fletcher Christian and the rest of the crew especially after the Bounty reaches the tropical paradise of Tahiti. The relationship strains to the point where a mutiny casts Bligh adrift 3500 miles from a safe port and the mutineers head for an uncharted rock in the South Pacific. Powerful acting to a powerful script makes this 1935 version the one to see.