Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
Mutiny on the Bounty is a feature film by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , the content of which is the incidents around the last voyage of the English freighter Bounty in the years 1787 to 1789. The presentation of historically documented events does not always stick to facts, but is partly adapted to the requirements of an entertainment film and supplemented by fictional episodes. The basis of the script was the fictional representation of the events by the authors Charles Bernard Nordhoff and James Norman Hall , published under the title The mutiny on the Bounty. Ship without a harbor (original title: Mutiny on the Bounty ).
action
The HMS Bounty set sail from Portsmouth in 1787 for a two-year voyage to load crops in Tahiti . On board are the tyrannical captain William Bligh and several naval officers, including the helmsman John Fryer and the equalizer Fletcher Christian . The other characters on the ship include the drunk ship's doctor Bacchus, the fearful cook Smith and the devious captain “clerk” Maggs, as well as the boatswain Morrison and the botanist Morgan (based on David Nelson ). The three young midshipmen Byam, Stewart and Hayward also come from the wealthy families of England. In addition, some sailors from pubs were forcibly recruited by Christian, including Thomas Ellison, who was around twenty. Even before the voyage to Tahiti, the captain made himself unpopular with large parts of the crew by having an already dead sailor flogged for disobedience in the port.
During the voyage, the conflict is intensified when Bligh sends the cadet Byam to the lookout on the mast in all weathers. Byam is weakened afterwards and has to be checked by Dr. Bacchus to be cared for. Several times the captain lets his law enforcement officer Morrison carry out a flogging sentence, even if there is obviously no culpable behavior. One man even dies as a result of being flogged. Furthermore, Bligh mercilessly cuts the food rations of his sailors, which were already scarce. Fletcher Christian, the second highest man on board, initially still obeys Bligh's orders, but increasingly turns away from him. Shortly before arriving in Tahiti, Fletcher made serious accusations to his captain that he was to blame for the poor food supply of the ship solely through greed and greed. This makes both archenemies. At the destination of Tahiti, Bligh takes revenge on Christian by forbidding him to go ashore. Christian suspects his friend Byam that Bligh wants to provoke him until he does something illegal and Bligh, who is also the judge of the ship, can execute him for it.
On arrival in Tahiti, Bligh greets his old friend Hitihiti ("Chief and Priest"). Byam, who is working on an encyclopedia of the Tahiti language, comes to live with King Hitihiti and quickly becomes friends with him and his daughter Tehani. Fletcher Christian is finally allowed to leave the ship for a day through the intercession of Hitihiti. Christian befriends Maimiti, Hitihiti's granddaughter, with whom he also starts a relationship a little later.
Soon after the return journey began, the popular Dr. Bacchus, after the captain had called him to roll call despite his illness. The captain also has several men chained who had deserted. When Bligh accuses Christian of stealing his coconuts and the prisoners are mistreated by Bligh's henchman Maggs, it's enough for Christian. That night he mutinied with some sailors and took control of the ship. Byam (based on Peter Heywood ), who comes from a traditional seafaring family, opposes the mutiny out of a sense of duty, although he is friends with Christian and also detests Bligh. At Christian's mutiny, the friendship of the two breaks first. Christian puts Bligh down with provisions in a barge . Some loyal men follow Bligh into the boat more or less voluntarily. Christian and some men, including the interned Byam and Ellison, return with the bounty to Tahiti, where Christian can reconcile with Byam. Christian marries Maimiti and has a child with her, while Byam Tehani is married.
Bligh, who was exposed in the launch, managed to steer his boat thousands of kilometers to Timor with a hard hand, but also with caring and seafaring skills . Once there, Bligh begins his campaign of revenge against the mutineers of the Bounty. A few months later, an English ship appears off the coast of Tahiti, whereupon Christian and a few other men and women flee with the bounty and sail away. They want to look for a new home, which they finally find in the uninhabited and undiscovered island of Pitcairn , where they burn the bounty. However, some sailors stayed behind in Tahiti, including Roger Byam and Ellison, who long for England and their families and want to voluntarily board the English ship. However, this ship is run by Bligh and immediately arrests those who remain as prisoners. Byam has to leave his wife Tehani behind in Tahiti. Then Bligh searches in vain for Christian with his new ship, but in his fanatical drive for revenge he lets it run aground on a reef.
Finally, the prisoners are brought to justice in England, where Bligh also appears as a witness against them. All are sentenced to death, including Byam, who despite a fiery speech is not believed that he wanted to prevent the mutiny. Ellison is executed but is able to see his beloved wife and child one more time before he dies. Captain Bligh triumphs in court, but his reputation as a seafarer is badly damaged. Then Roger Byam is saved by a pardon from the king made by Sir Joseph Banks , a noble scientist friend of Byam. Byam is hired on new ships, where the captains have learned from the incidents of the Bounty and this time are behaving friendly.
German version
The film was first dubbed in German in the MGM synchronization studio in Berlin in 1936 . Synchronous processing, which is still widespread today, was created in 1951.
| role | actor | Voice actor 1936 |
|---|---|---|
| Fletcher Christian | Clark Gable | Siegfried Schürenberg |
| Captain William Bligh | Charles Laughton | Erich Ponto |
| Captain Nelson | Francis Lister | Erich Fiedler |
| Edward Edwards | Crauford Kent | Erich Dunskus |
| role | actor | Voice actor 1951 |
|---|---|---|
| Fletcher Christian | Clark Gable | Siegfried Schürenberg |
| Captain William Bligh | Charles Laughton | OE Hasse |
| Roger Byam | Franchot Tone | Axel Monjé |
| Thomas Ellison | Eddie Quillan | Eckart Dux |
| Thomas Burkitt | Donald Crisp | Carl Raddatz |
| John Fryer | DeWitt Jennings | Walter Werner |
| Alexander Smith | Herbert Mundin | Clemens Hasse |
| Bacchus | Dudley Digges | Werner Lieven |
| Sir Joseph Banks | Henry Stephenson | Otto Stoeckel |
| Morgan | Ivan F. Simpson | Carl Heinz Carell |
| Lord Hood | David Torrence | Walter Suessenguth |
| Maggs | Ian Wolfe | Georg Thomalla |
| William McCoy | Alec Craig | Walter Bluhm |
| Hiti-Hiti | William Bambridge | Alfred Balthoff |
| James Morrison | Wallis Clark | Manfred Meurer |
| Hayward | Vernon Downing | Gunnar Möller |
| Mussman | Stanley Fields | Hans Emons |
Awards
In 1936 the film won an Oscar for Best Picture . Clark Gable, Franchot Tone and Charles Laughton (each for Best Actor ), Frank Lloyd ( Best Director ), Margaret Booth ( Best Editing ), Nat W. Finston ( Best Score ) as well as Jules Furthman, Talbot Jennings and Carey Wilson were nominated for the Best script . The clear temporal discrepancy between the image presence of the three nominated actors Gable, Laughton and Tone led to the actor award being divided into the categories of main and supporting actors from the following year.
Also in 1936, Charles Laughton won an NYFCC Award for Best Actor . National Board of Review named the film as Best Motion Picture of 1935.
Others
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer bought the two-masted schooner Lily for the filming and had it converted into a bounty at the “Wilmington California Shipyard”.
The later film star David Niven , unknown at the time, had an extra role as a seaman.
The film was shot in black and white, but later colored. In the German dubbed version, both the salutation "Mister" plus surname and the term "Sir" are translated as "Herr" without any subsequent naming.
Reviews
- “Historically guaranteed, large-scale lake adventure in the 18th century. Excellent presentation. ” - 6000 films. Critical notes from the cinema years 1945 to 1958. Handbook V of the Catholic film criticism. 3. Edition. Altenberg House, Düsseldorf 1963, p. 303.
- “A historically guaranteed, large-scale sea adventure (...). Excellent actors and brilliant directing make the film an exciting experience even today. ” -“ Lexicon of International Films ”(CD-ROM edition), Systhema, Munich 1997.
DVD release
- Mutiny on the Bounty. Warner Home Video 2004.
literature
- Charles Bernard Nordhoff , James N. Hall : The Mutiny on the Bounty. Ship without a port. (Original title: Mutiny on the Bounty. ) German by Ernst Simon. Insel, Frankfurt am Main, Leipzig 2006, ISBN 3-458-34908-1 .
- Hans-Jürgen Kubiak: The Oscar Films. The best films from 1927/28 to 2004. The best non-English language films from 1947 to 2004. The best animated films from 2001 to 2004. Schüren, Marburg 2005, ISBN 3-89472-386-6 .
Web links
- Mutiny on the Bounty in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Mutiny on the Bounty '35 . ( Memento from September 8, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Entry in Arne Kaul's synchronous database, accessed on September 25, 2016
- ↑ Mutiny on the Bounty '35 (new) . ( Memento of September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Entry in Arne Kaul's synchronous database, accessed on August 23, 2007.
- ↑ The Lily, HMS Bounty. At: winthrop.dk. Retrieved November 2, 2012.