Product Details

• Actors: Charles Laughton, Clark Gable, Franchot Tone, Herbert Mundin, Eddie Quillan
• Directors: Frank Lloyd
• Writers: Carey Wilson, Charles Nordhoff, James Norman Hall, Jules Furthman, Margaret Booth
• Producers: Albert Lewin
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Original recording reissued, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• VHS Release Date: March 13, 2001
• Run Time: 132 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (67 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000056BRJ
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #131,554 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's naval, not navels..., January 30, 2000

By 

Riley Wells "Riley" (Echodell, Or. USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mutiny on the Bounty [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Charles Laughton gives the standout performance in this classic retelling of the Bounty mutiny. Gable appears properly confounded and gives a believable and sympathetic rendering of Fletcher Christian. The movie holds up remarkably well despite some awkward editing and gaps in the story line. Still, at 133 minutes it is a relatively long film but it never drags. In spite of allegations made in other reviews there are no "white girls in blackface" or "boats in a bathtub" scenes. True, navels are concealed but the two female leads are obviously and revealingly topless in several scenes. As for "toy boats in a bathtub" there is only one sequence that obviously utilizes a model and it isn't all that obvious. Laughton is the luminary here and his Bligh stays with you. In fact it has stayed with the culture for sixty-five years. His performance is without fault and repeated watchings bear this out. A couple of sequences bear a closer look: The mutiny montage is startlingly effective and intense. It is a realistic portrayal of sudden violence; short, confusing, and graphic. The Sunday morning prayers on deck sequence is poetic and approaches the sublime. The ship's sails gleam translucent in the sun, the Union Jack floats majestically in the breeze, sunlight reflects brightly on faces as the Captain invokes God's blessings on the voyage. The extreme contrast of light and dark in the black and white print and the metaphorical contrast of good against Bligh, the epitome of evil, is subtle yet effective. It is a beautiful few moments. In every way but gloss this film is superior to the 1962 version. The 1984 "Bounty" with Mel Gibson is a fine film but it fades in the memory. This version lingers in the subconsious.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Legendary, Memorable--and Somewhat Problematic, February 2, 2005

By 

Gary F. Taylor "GFT" (Biloxi, MS USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mutiny on the Bounty (DVD)

Based on the then-popular novel by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall, the 1935 MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY is among a series of legendary films of the 1930s that have been repeatedly celebrated for cinematic achievement. And small wonder: the film has a host of powerful assets.

The single most obvious among these is the star power involved: led by two Oscar-winning stars, the critically formidable Charles Laughton and the incredibly popular Clark Gable, the cast reads like a Who's Who of mid-1930s male actors ranging from leading man Franchot Tone to the memorable character actor Donald Crisp. In a visual sense, the film is also a knockout: filmed on location in a full-size replica of the Bounty, it set a new standard for capturing the sea on film. And the story itself is powerful, the tale of the battle between the cruel and autocratic Bligh and the humane and populist Fletcher Christian. Taken together, it makes for a powerful ride.

Still, some viewers may not find MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY all it is cracked to be. Then as now, Hollywood was less interested in getting the facts right than in telling a good story--and from a factual point of view the film is perhaps twenty percent accurate and eighty percent nothing more nor less than historical tarradiddle. That is no real hinderance per se; after all, we're not watching a documentary. But seen from a modern standpoint the cast now feels somewhat problematic.

Charles Laughton was so critically well regarded that he received star billing over Clark Gable for the film, and seen today his performance is easily the single most powerful in the entire film. Autocratic, brilliant, and immediately and increasingly unlikable, he drives the film from start to finish--and it is here, really, in which most of the film's historical accuracy resides. The rest of the cast, however, is extremely Hollywood. Clark Gable, Franchot Tone and all the rest give an excellent show, full of power and drive--but you never for a moment forget that they are indeed Hollywood stars and not members of the British Navy.

This is very much a "big" film in the MGM tradition, often brilliant, often memorable, and often setting new standards for the motion picture industry. And when regarded from that point of view it is extremely, extremely entertaining. But it may also be a film whose power has slightly faded with the passing of time.

The DVD package is slight and less informative than simply entertaining, including trailers, a scrap of newsreel footage, and (most interesting) a short documentary on Pitcairn Island as it existed about the time MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY was made. Although the picture and sound have not been restored per se, both are best-possible-quality short of digital restoration. Recommended to fans of classic 1930s Hollywood.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

30 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, but not historically accurate, March 21, 2004

By 

Daniel Waitkoss (St. Charles, Missouri USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mutiny on the Bounty (DVD)

OK, while miles ahead of the 1960s remake, ruined by an over-the-top performance by a very miscast Marlon Brando, this version still does not tell the true story of the HMS Bounty and its ill-fated voyage. (See James A. Michener's "Rascals in Paradise" for a historically accurate, but brief, picture of Bligh and the mutiny.) The movie stays close to the novel by Hall & Nordhoff and uses a fictious midshipman, Roger Byam, as the main character and we see both Christian and Bligh mostly through his eyes.

The acting by Gable and Laughton are, of course, excellent and the film shows the money spent by M-G-M wasn't wasted. The Bounty, itself, was a beautiful replica and the filming at sea--especially during storms--is hair-raising. In short, if you are after historically accurate drama--then this isn't your film, but if you want an entertaining, thrilling sea adventure from Hollywood's golden age--then by all means take a chance with this great picture.