The bounty

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Movie
German title The bounty
Original title The Bounty
Country of production USA , UK
original language English
Publishing year 1984
length Original length: 132 minutes,
Germany: 102 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Roger Donaldson
script Robert Bolt
production Bernard Williams
music Vangelis
camera Arthur Ibbetson
cut Tony Lawson
occupation
synchronization

The Bounty is a film adaptation of the mutiny on the Bounty by Roger Donaldson from 1984. It is based on the book The Bounty by Richard Hough , which was initially published under the title Captain Bligh and Mr Christian .

Of all the fictional representations of the bounty material, Donaldson's film, as well as the book, comes closest to the historically documented events of April 1789. The extreme situation of those abandoned by the mutineers and their risky journey in an open dinghy is conveyed very drastically. In addition, in contrast to earlier film adaptations , Captain Bligh is shown as a pragmatic and self-critical officer at the beginning, who tends to be too strict not because of sadism, but rather because of ambition and uncertainty.

action

The main plot of the film is the court martial against William Bligh because of the loss of the bounty through mutiny .

In the internal business , Lieutenant Bligh receives the order to deliver breadfruits from Tahiti to Jamaica , which are to serve as a cheap source of food for the slaves on the plantations there. Bligh is driven by personal ambition, he wants to make a name for himself with this assignment, which he wants to carry out in the shortest possible time, and make a name for himself in the royal navy . On the way there, he proves to be very sociable and takes care of his team. However , he lets his first officer, the equally ambitious John Fryer , feel his rejection right from the start. This culminates in the (unlawful) demotion of Fryers after the Cape Horn circumnavigation failed and Bligh blames him for it. Instead of Fryer, the second mate Fletcher Christian, who is friends with Bligh, is appointed first mate.

On arrival in Tahiti, they are welcomed in a friendly manner by the chief and the residents, and they are given the plants of the bread trees. Much to Bligh's displeasure, they have to stay longer than planned as the plants are not yet transportable at their current stage of growth. Meanwhile, the crew developed relationships - mainly with young women - and got to know a free life without the constraints and restrictions at sea. Fletcher Christian's love for a young chief's daughter is shown in particular. Bligh rightly worries that his crew's discipline is gradually being lost under the lure of this island paradise. The first differences between Christian and Bligh arise, which Fryer observes with satisfaction. Finally three of the sailors dare to escape from the ship. They are caught, however, and although desertion is the hang of it, Bligh only has them flogged. Since all the necessary plants are now on board, Bligh gives the order to leave.

On the way back from Tahiti, Bligh is increasingly neurotic and harassed the team and Christian, z. B. with exaggerated demands for cleanliness, accusations of theft and abuse. When Bligh announces that he is heading for Cape Horn again and wants to have a sailor who protests against it flogged, it comes to an escalation. Christian, who cannot forget his lover in Tahiti and is fed up with the harassment, lets the crew persuade him to mutiny. Bligh and most of the people who refuse to mutiny are dumped in a boat. Despite severe privation, Bligh manages to keep his boat crew loyal, and so they finally reach Timor and from there England. Christian drives back to Tahiti with most of the crew. Since he knows that the British Navy will be looking for them here and the chief, who knows how serious the situation is, denies them their right to stay, he has to sail on. Some of the women, including Fletcher's lovers, and some islanders accompany them. This is how you reach the island of Pitcairn , which is not correctly marked on any map and is therefore difficult to find. The bounty is set on fire and sunk.

The internal act ends, Bligh is judged "not guilty" by the court martial.

Reviews

“The colorful, dazzling remake by Roger Donaldson ('No Way Out', 'Getaway') is indeed a successful film adaptation of the classic mutiny based on real events, but has nothing compared to its two predecessors from 1935 and 1962 despite the good cast To offer something new and shows Captain Bligh as a gifted seaman, but lousy superior. "

- Prism Online

Others

In 1978 the Bounty (sometimes referred to as Bounty III ) was built as a replica of the sailing ship for the filming purposes. Today she is in Hong Kong and is still seaworthy.

The scene around the equator baptism was copied in the film The Fall of the Pamir, including costumes and rituals.

The original film adaptation was planned as two three-hour films directed by David Lean . As in his last three films ( Lawrence of Arabia , Doctor Zhivago and Ryan's Daughter ) he had written the script with Robert Bolt . It was to be the first Lean production since Ryan's daughter . Sam Spiegel ( The Bridge on the Kwai , Lawrence of Arabia ) was in discussion as a producer, but he declined because he didn't want to spend his “retirement years” on a South Sea island. David Lean fell out with Dino De Laurentiis and could not have told his version the way he had imagined. The "homoerotic" relationship between William Bligh and Fletcher Christian was worked out as well as the "clarification" of William Bligh's qualities as captain and navigator (under James Cook ). The script was based on the novels by Charles Bernard Nordhoff and James Norman Hall : Mutiny on the Bounty (1932), Men Against the Sea (1933) and Pitcairn's Island (1934).

Laurence Olivier was on the set in just one day for the role as admiral in the trial scene (he interrupted the filming of Mr. Halpern and Mr. Johnson to do this ).

Voice actor

The voice actors for the German version:

German cinema / DVD

The film was only shown in German cinemas in a version shortened by 25 minutes, which was also released on DVD. In May 2019, the uncut version was released for the first time, with fully synchronized dialogues, on DVD and Blu-ray. It was also the first Blu-ray release of the film in German-speaking countries and for the first time with a stereo instead of a mono soundtrack.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for Die Bounty . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF; test number: 55483 / V). Template: FSK / maintenance / type not set and Par. 1 longer than 4 characters
  2. ^ 1978 website of the Bounty
  3. ^ So David Lean in an interview with his biographer Kevin Browlow.
  4. ↑ Kevin Brownlow: David Lean. A biography. St. Martin's Press, 1996, ISBN 0-312-14578-0 .
  5. ^ Spoto, Donald: Sir Laurence Olivier Eine Biographie, Heyne Verlag, Munich, 1992, p. 427
  6. ↑ synchronkartei.de: The Bounty. Retrieved October 31, 2015 .
  7. ↑ http://www.schnittberichte.com/schnittbericht.php?ID=2124