Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)

Charles Laughton and Clark Gable

'Mutiny on the Bounty is a rousing sea adventure movie made in 1935, directed by Frank Lloyd and starring Clark Gable as Spencer Christian and Charles Laughton as Captain Bligh with Franchot Tone as Roger Byam. The film, which was based on real-life events in the British Navy of the eighteenth century, was an enormous box-office success and won the Academy Award for Best Picture with seven further Award nominations. It is still regarded today as a classic adventure movie and is memorable as an early pace-setter for the art of production design and of studio moviemaking.

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The mainly American cast imbue this British tale with an unusual Depression-era optimism. The trio of Charles Laughton, Clark Gable, and Franchot Tone set a remarkably high standard and indeed shared three Best Actor nominations between them, thus splitting the vote and ensuring that none of them won. The category of Supporting Actor was created by the Academy as a result.

Set in the late 18th century when the British Empire ruled from the decks of the Royal Navy, the crew of the ship HMS Bounty, en route to Tahiti to collect breadfruit plants, mutinies after months of savage mistreatment by their sadistic Captain Bligh (Charles Laughton). Led by Fletcher Christian (Clark Gable), the mutineers succeed in taking over the ship and they set their cruel captain and his supporters adrift in a boat and return the Bounty to Tahiti. Bligh manages to find port in a remarkable demonstration of seamanship and soon returns to Tahiti to look for the mutineers. He returns to England with some of the mutineers who face trial while Christian and the remainder find refuge on an isolated island.

Gable appears without his moustache, as per the rules of the Royal Navy in the 18th century, and Laughton's bee-stung lips flutter with harsh discipline. In between are a number of nominal sub-plots. It is generally regarded as the best movie made on the mutiny.

interestingly, 3 Hollywood stars appear in the movie, uncredited - James Cagney, David Niven and Dick Haymes.