Review of Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) by Devon B — 19 Oct 2009

After writing over 200 movie reviews, I've gotten pretty good at taking mental notes. I don't use a notepad (anymore), I just make observations (such as "wow, Scott Bakula gave a pretty bad performance in The Informant") and recall them later as I write the review. However, when I'm watching a great movie, the mental note-taking can go out the window as I'm drawn into the fantastic world of film. Mutiny on the Bounty was so good, I debated whether or not to even bother writing a review of it at all, there's nothing I can write that will contribute to its greatness.

First of all, the performances by Clark Gable, Franchot Tone and Charles Laughton were so amazing, all three were nominated for the "Best Actor" award that year (the only time three leads from the same movie have been nominated). I became a big Charles Laughton fan after his moving performance as the Hunchback of Notre Dame, but Captain Bligh is as disparate from that character as he could possibly be. Laughton gives a performance that is somehow simultaneously broad and subtle. He's a petty, hate-filled little man whose biggest fear is losing control of his ship and the respect of his men, and yet his sadistic nature forces him to push his men to the breaking point. With his jutting lip and odd manner of speech, he seems the very air of pomposity (in fact, it was Laughton's Bligh that 'looney tunes' creators parodied the most when a ship's captain or some form of royalty). Clark Gable plays second-in-command, Fletcher Christian, an inscrutable and intensely just man who is torn between his love of his country and his sense of justice, as he watches the power-mad Bligh abuse his command.

This film could easily work as a stage play, that is to say, it relies almost entirely on the actors' performances (What special effects there are, are blended into the film almost unnoticeably). This goes for the leads on down to the extras, there's an emotional tide that runs through the entire production. As I've said before, I've written just over 200 reviews, which isn't alot in the grand scheme of things, and it's always more difficult to say why I liked a movie than it is to say why I didn't. Sometimes, the best movies have a certain indefinable quality about them that touches something within the viewer. What I can say about Mutiny on The Bounty is that it's an excellent production featuring great performances. It's also a high seas tale of adventure that, as far as high seas tales go, hasn't been equalled.