This 1962 remake of "Mutiny On the Bounty," is not in the same league of greatness as the 1935 version. That film has a more coherent narrative, is quite gripping and Charles Laughton as Captain Bligh is the film's best performance. Trevor Howard is perfectly OK in the 1962 version as Bligh but his rendition can't hold a candle to Laughton's. Having said that, Marlon Brando is a far better Fletcher Christian than Clark Gable. Brando actually creates a character and gives probably the best performance in the movie. "Mutiny on the Bounty" benefits from having lavish photography and a film of this kind needed to be made on an extravagant scale. However, a film that has good production values doesn't guarantee satisfactory results and it is no wonder that this film wasn't very successful upon release. The scenes involving the various bouts of sadism and eventual rebellion are very capably handled. There was even some tension as some of the crew members began to rebel against Bligh's tyranny. I thought the running time to be far too long. About 40 minutes should have been edited from the final cut. The film was beset with problems from pre- production onwards. Brando had original director Carol Reed fired early on but Lewis Milestone certainly had his work cut out for him. The fact that the screenplay kept being changed during production, weakens the narrative as it loses all sense of direction after a while. The best portion of the film is during aboard the Bounty. One of the last films Marlon Brando made whilst his name meant anything at the box office or in the acting industry. His decline had begun.
Review of Mutiny on the Bounty
