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The book doesn’t have a lot to say about Frank Lloyd’s Mutiny on the Bounty, highlighting it as an example of a popular film of its time that pushed one aspect of film production (namely, art production) forward. The sets and landscapes of the film are no doubt stunning for its time, and the choreography of the ships in the opening and closing sequences are awesome even today. With that said, the film also illustrates something really interesting about how cinema plots tended to work in the 1930s - a fact that is really only identifiable in this film because of our tendency to revisit history from a revisionist standpoint.

So here goes. Mutiny on the Bounty tells the story of Fletcher Christian (Clark Gable), who starts off in a comfortable life as ship’s lieutenant to Captain William Bligh (Charles Laughton). Bligh’s ill-treatment of his crew rankles Christian, who turns to mutiny after the ship leaves Tahiti. The film suggests, nobly, a number of reasons why Fletcher Christian might finally snap and turn on Bligh - Christian, as well as other crew members, have fallen in love with women while on Tahiti; the mission to collect breadfruit plants has been so successful that the crew’s water rations have been cut to keep the plants alive - but most important is the harsh punishment allotted to even the mildest of offense. Bligh and his loyal followers are set adrift, but manage to sail back to civilisation under absurdly trying conditions, while the Bounty continues to search for a safe place. Bligh’s next ship almost captures the escaped mutineers, but only one, Roger Byam (Franchot Tone) is taken back to England. A courtroom scene occurs, where Byam is almost executed, and public opinion turns against Bligh. At the end of the film, Fletcher Christian and his remaining crew reach the Pitcairn Islands, where they live a happy life.

Now, is my experience of this film inflected by what I know of the Pitcairn Islands as a New Zealander in the 21st century? Yes. Hell yes. It’s hard not to be aware of the fact that the current mayor of the Pitcairn Islands still has the last name Christian (as well as the other unsavoury facts about him and the population) and feel like there is any promise in those final scenes. My distaste for Gable’s character throughout the film is no doubt turned in certain directions by this knowledge.

What supporting evidence tells us about Bligh’s behaviour, though, suggests that this film bypassed a serious opportunity to give some nuance to its characters. Most of the evidence was unavailable at the time of the film’s production, of course, but there are moments where it’s clear that the film knows that Bligh could be a well-rounded character. Despite this, the filmmakers seemed more comfortable to play a straight conflict between the characters (and their actors - Laughton was reportedly incredibly jealous of Gable’s sex appeal).

The scene in which Bligh is cast adrift is one of these moments. The balance of audience allegiance in this film, for the first time, momentarily wavers here, as the film contrasts the debauched chaos of the ‘liberated’ ship with the firm and supportive leadership Bligh gives his remaining crew. All aspects of the film, from the music to the cinematography, show this scene as being the heroic moment of the film. Because our allegiance is supposedly meant to remain with Christian, though, we don’t actually see the moment of their landing, or any of the honours that Bligh was feted with for his exploits in this moment.

The argument goes that Bligh’s treatment of his crew was actually quite mild, and it was only after he perceived he was losing control of his crew after the landing at Tahiti that he became harsher. This is the way the film could (indeed, perhaps should) have gone - a relatively even-keeled (excuse the pun) journey to Tahiti, with only a hint of the strife that could occur. At the Bounty’s arrival in Tahiti, the characters of Christian and Bligh begin to diverge, leading to a crisis at the third-act turn. Bligh’s behaviour becomes intolerable, and the audience’s sympathies lie fully with Christian. As it is, Bligh is meant to be a monster from the beginning, so there’s no clear point at which Christian turns away from Bligh. There doesn’t seem to be any clear motivation for Fletcher Christian to Hulk out when he does, and the violence of the mutiny seems almost comical, way out of proportion to any perceived increase in Bligh’s sadism.

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