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Released by: Warner Brothers
Released on: 11/16/2010
Director: Frank Lloyd
Writer: Talbot Jennigns
Year: 1935
Cast: Charles Laughton, Clark Gable
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The Movie:
Somewhat based on actual events, 1935's Mutiny On The Bounty, which won multiple Academy Awards the year it played theaters, follows a man named Christian Fletcher (played by Clark Gable) who inspires his fellow crewmembers and leads a revolt against the man in charge of the ship on which they serve, Captain Bligh (Charles Laughton). They succeed in their takeover and all seems to be well until, months later, Bligh returns looking for revenge.
Wholly deserving of all the praise and accolades lauded upon it, Mutiny On The Bounty is an impressive work of classic Hollywood filmmaking from start to finish. Not only does it benefit from an excellent cast of actors, but it makes fine use of some surprisingly realistic sets that really do convince us that what we're watching is taking place on a ship called the H.M.S. Bounty and not on some studio back lot. There's a load of detail worked into the production not just in those sets but in the costumes as well and the movie is all the better for it. Some expert camerawork captures it all quite beautifully while the score, which comes courtesy of Herbert Stothart, adds just the right amount of musical flair subsequently upping the tension and drama considerably.
With the likes of Clark Gable and Charles Laughton in the two lead roles, it's easy to see how the acting in the film would be up to par. Gable is as dashing and charismatic here as he's ever been but he has an edge to his character that makes him believable in the part. Playing more than just another handsome face, he's given some good material to work with here and delivers a realistic and grounded performance which contrasts nicely against Laughton's sinister and hubris filled turn as the nasty Captain Bligh. A fine supporting performance from Franchot Tone as Roger Byam, a man caught up in the mutiny who may or may not deserve to be, is also noteworthy as are smaller roles from Herbert Mundin, Henry Stephenson, Byron Russell and David Torrence.
At over two hours in length the film is a bit on the long side but it's paced well enough that you won't mind so much. The story unfolds at a fairly deliberate pace but it doesn't feel particularly slow even by modern day standards (which, for better or worse, tend to move faster than those of the films of the thirties). You can pick the film apart if you want - the American actors don't sound like British sailors and some of the effects shots show their age - and the film obviously takes plenty of liberties as far as its historical accuracy is concerned, but as a slice of vintage entertainment, Mutiny On The Bounty holds up really well.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Warner Brothers presents Mutiny On The Bounty in an excellent 1.37.1 fullframe transfer in full 1080p high definition with VC-1 encoding in glorious black and white, just as it should be. In short, the transfer is pretty much perfect. There's a welcome coat of fine film grain present throughout but no serious print damage to note and the improvement in detail, contrast and clarity compared to previous standard definition DVD releases is instantly noticeable, especially in close up shots where you will notice a very substantial upgrade. Texture, too, is very obviously quite well improved over previous offerings. Blacks are nice and strong while whites look smooth and natural, never too hot and never showing any evidence of blooming. There are no noticeable problems with mpeg compression or edge enhancement to complain about. The image has been cleaned up nicely, so that we're left with a strong, sharp, clear picture that never feels overly processed which results in a very film like presentation.
The English language DTS-HD Mono track, which comes with optional Spanish Dolby Digital Mono tracks available in English, French and Spanish, English closed captioning, and French and Spanish subtitles, is nice and clear. There is some hiss present that you're going to notice if you're paying attention but other than that, things sound quite good. Dialogue is always easy to follow, there are no problems with any distortion to note, and the score has an appropriate amount of emphasis put on it when the movie calls for it. For an older movie, the audio here is very good.
There aren't tons of extras on here compared to some of the catalogue titles that Warner Brothers has lavished the special edition treatment on, but there are a few starting with a 1935 short film entitled Pitcairn Island Today, which is a ten minute promo which paints a rather rosy portrait of life on this odd island in the South Pacific. There's also a one minute newsreel clip from 1936 that reports on how Mutiny On The Bounty cleaned up at the Academy Awards.
Rounding out the extras on the disc itself are trailers for the 1935 version of Mutiny On The Bounty and for the 1962 remake of the film, menus, and chapter selection. All of the extras on this disc are in standard definition.
The disc comes housed inside a nice hardcover book containing 32 full color pages of photos, text and biographical information for those who worked on the picture. Quite a few of the pictures are from Lloyd's family archives and haven't been reproduced before.
The Final Word:
While it would have been really nice to see a retrospective featurette or hear a commentary over top of this classic (the extras are light), the film looks excellent and sounds quite good. The movie itself holds up really well as a wonderfully directed epic action and adventure film with all the drama you'd want from a classic Hollywood production and some memorable lead performances.