Director: Roger Donaldson
Writers: Robert Bolt
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Mel Gibson, Bernard Hill, Phil Davies, Dania Day Lewis, Laurence Olivier
Year: 1984
Duration: 132 mins
BBFC Certification: N/A
There are some stories Hollywood can’t get enough of. In the modern era of conveyor belt remakes and sequels, this may seem like a rather trite point; yet there are some stories that Hollywood has returned to so many times that they almost serve to bookend Tinseltown’s very existence (A Star is Born being a potent example).
The ill-fated voyage of the Bounty is one such story that has dominated the Hollywood imagination for decades. Perhaps it is not hard to see why. A dramatic tale of mutiny, hubris and heroism, rooted in historical fact, is certainly fertile ground out of which stirring Hollywood epics can grow. And grow they certainly have. From early silents starring Errol Flynn, to Oscar winning triumphs staring Charles Laughton, to barely contained disasters staring Marlon Brando, the tale of Captain Bligh and first mate Fletcher Christian seems to be remade every thirty to forty years (surely we are due a new version by now?).
The last reimagining of the Bounty legend came out in 1984 and is now the subject of a stupendous new Blu Ray boxset from Australian label Imprint. The Bounty (abridged from the more typical The Mutiny on the Bounty) was somewhat of a box office failure at the time of release and certainly seems to have sunk below the waves of public perception as the years have gone by. Yet this new boxset presents the film as a cast iron classic. Is The Bounty the definitive take on a tale re-told so many times, in both literature, theatre and cinema, that it has almost become myth, or does the 1934 Charles Laughton epic still take the crown as the best adaptation? Like the real story of what happened between Captain Bligh and his crew, the truth lurks somewhere in between…
If you need a re-cap, the story of the real-life Bounty is a fairly simple one. In 1787, William Bligh was asked by the Royal Navy to sail to Tahiti in order to procure samples of the Breadfruit plant (a potentially cheap food source that the British Government hoped would feed their African slaves in the Caribbean – a point The Bounty rather shamefully ignores). Due to various mishaps on the outward voyage, Bligh and his crew had to stay in Tahiti for months longer than originally planned. When it was finally time to sail for home, the crew had grown used to living on an island paradise. Some, including Bligh’s friend Fletcher Christian, had even fallen in love with the Tahitian natives. Only a few days into their voyage home, the crew, led by Christian, mutinied and took over the ship.
Surprisingly it is here that the story gets really interesting (and a faint spoiler warning for anyone not wanting to know what happens next). Bligh, along with 18 crew who had remained loyal, were cast into a small boat with provisions for only a week. Somehow, Bligh, without charts, managed to sail almost 3500 nautical miles to the Dutch port of Kupang, an almost miraculous feat of navigation that still inspires awe. Christian, meanwhile, eventually sailed the captured Bounty to the remote Pitcairn Island, where he settled with the remains of the crew. When an American whaling vessel arrived at the island some 23 years later, only one of the original Bounty’s crew had survived. The rest had all died, in circumstances that remain mysterious to this day (this is where I cast my vote for this to be the subject of the next season of The Terror).
Previous cinematic adaptations of the Bounty had always focused on the combative buildup to the mutiny itself; what happened afterwards was always treated rather like an afterthought. Yet none other than David Lean knew that there was narrative gold to be found in the tale of what happened after Fletcher had taken over the ship.
In the late 1970s, Lean, working in conjunction with producer Dino De Laurentiis, wanted to shoot two films at the same time. The first would follow tradition and focus on the mutiny itself, while the other would tell the tale of Bligh’s heroic journey across the Pacific while simultaneously exploring the crew’s mysterious fate on Pitcairn Island.
Despite Lean dedicating years of his life to pre-production on the project (a process that involved building a real life, exact replica of The Bounty), the money never quite materialised. Dejected, Lean eventually stepped away to make Ryan’s Daughter. Yet The Bounty hadn’t foundered quite yet. While the idea of doing two films was scrapped, De Laurentiis was still keen on making a traditional Bounty film about the mutiny. The twist this time was that they would tell the real story of what happened, eschewing the blatant Hollywood falsehoods that had plagued previous versions. In stepped young director Roger Donaldson (hot off successful crime thriller Sleeping Dogs) and The Bounty suddenly found herself afloat once again.
Fans of earlier adaptations will soon come to realise that the most striking difference that results from The Bounty’s more grounded approach is in the depiction of Captain Bligh himself. In Donaldson’s version, Bligh (Anthony Hopkins) isn’t a tyrannical, sadistic taskmaster who drives his crew to the point of mutiny. Instead, Hopkins’ almost sympathetic portrayal evokes a Bligh who is a strict but ultimately decent man doing his best in incredibly challenging circumstances. This is marked difference to both Charles Laughton’s and Trevor Howard’s performances as the maligned commander, which very much portrayed him as a villain, driving his crew to breaking point due to being a cruel, bombastic disciplinarian or an sneering, cowardly busybody.
Yet Hopkin’s rendition of the character is very much closer to historical fact. In fact, William Bligh’s legacy has been dealt a great disservice by Hollywood. His tyrannical portrayal in previous Bounty films is a product of Hollywood myth, of writers spinning as much simple, black and white drama as they could out of a story filled with layers of grey. In this regard, The Bounty is to be commended for attempting to take the weight of guilt off Bligh’s shoulders.
This certainly isn’t the only respect in which Donaldson’s film soars. The cast, for one, are absolutely fantastic, reading like a who’s who of early 80s British acting talent. Besides Hopkins, the film boasts Danial Day Lewis, Phil Davis, Bernard Hill, Liam Neeson, Neil Morrissey, Dexter Fletcher and Jon Sessions among it’s cast. There is even room for small roles for Edward Fox and none other than Lawrence Olivier. Donaldson, for being such a young director, does an admirable job directing such a formidable company of actors.
In fact, the only weak link in the chain here is Mel Gibson’s turn as Fletcher Christian. For an actor gifted with so much natural charisma, much of it is curiously missing throughout The Bounty. Gibson’s Christian feels all too frequently flat and rather inconsequential, and certainly not the leader the crew would naturally turn to as Bligh’s replacement.
This in turn leads to perhaps the film’s most crippling flaw. While previous versions of the Bounty’s story played fast and loose with history, they certainly told a damn good story, where the crucible of the conflict between Bligh and Christian produced high drama and searing tension. Donaldson’s The Bounty, by sticking so close to historical facts, forgets along the way to sow the right seeds for the key dramatic moment that the film has been building towards. When the mutiny finally comes, the motivations behind it, and more crucially the motivations behind Gibson’s Christian, feel flacid and rather ill defined. This could be down to not enough screen time being devoted to Gibson’s romantic relationship with Mauatua (Tevaite Vernette) nor to his platonic relationship with Bligh himself; either way, The Bounty’s story fails to achieve the same dramatic payoffs that so successfully defined its cinematic predecessors.
This isn’t to suggest that The Bounty is a failure – far from it. Donaldson, for such a relatively inexperienced director, created a bold and muscular film that certainly stands up incredibly well today. The production design and special effects deserve a special mention. Utilising a full scale and accurate replica of the Bounty herself, the film frequently astounds with its sense of authenticity, easily matching 2003’s Master and Commander for jaw dropping attention to detail and realism. A storm sequence easily stands out as a technical marvel, all the more astounding when you remember that it was achieved without a hint of CGI.
The cast, as perhaps to be expected, also deliver the goods but it is Hopkins himself who deserves the highest praise. In a roster of incredible performances, his Captain Bligh has been lost in the shadow of more infamous turns. Yet Hopkin’s performance here proves to be an absolute powerhouse – by turns furious, desperate, tragic, arrogant and sympathetic, it is a remarkable reminder of the Welsh actor’s one of a kind talent.
With a bleak, plaintive Vangelis score, The Bounty is certainly the most sombre and desolate of all the cinematic tales about Captain Bligh’s fateful voyage out onto the Pacific Ocean. While it cannot claim to the best film based on that voyage (that honour still goes to 1934’s The Mutiny on the Bounty) it remains a remarkable, haunting film that presents a familiar story in an unfamiliar way. By sticking to the facts and by gifting Bligh back some of his decency and humanity, it achieves a poignancy that the other adaptations, for all their strengths, quite simply fail to match.
Film:
The Bounty is out now on Blu Ray via Australian label Imprint. They have really gone to town on this release. The film comes in a beautiful box that contains two blu rays (in separate cases) along with a 60 page book.
For this release, Imprint use a 4K scan of the original camera negative. Overall, the Blu Ray picture boasts a wonderful filmic quality, with a rich contrast and decent grain. Fine detail, especially in facial close ups, comes across very well. It would be wonderful to see a 4K HDR pass on some of the footage here, but until that happens, fans of the film should be very happy with the visual presentation. Audio comes in two flavours, the original stereo and a DTS 5.1 track. I listened to the DTS track and found it to be an involving and at times gripping listen. One odd thing to note is that I really had to crank my volume up on the disc to get film to a listenable volume (not just for the main feature but for the commentaries as well).
As mentioned, Imprint have provided two Blu Ray Discs for this release. The first contains the main film and the following extras:
- Audio Commentary by director Roger Donaldson, producer Bernard Williams and production designer John Graysmark
- Audio Commentary by historical consultant Stephen Walters
- Making of The Bounty – documentary narrated by Edward Fox (1984)
- ‘The Bounty’ on Film – visual essay narrated by Stephen Walters (2004)
- Isolated Score
The first commentary is from Donaldson, producer Bernard Williams and production designer John Graysmark. All three have been recorded together and they offer a fun, lively chat throughout the film that offers both candid reminiscences alongside more technical discussion about the special effects and performances. With hardly a gap during the whole 2 hour plus running time, this is chock full of information and a great listen.
A second commentary is provided by the film’s historical consultant, Stephen Walters. This is another interesting listen and was my favourite out of the two commentaries provided. Walters offers a wealth of historical information and analysis, as well as production background on the film. He fills the entire running time with fascinating and insightful information. A brilliant listen.
Making of the Bounty is a 52 minute documentary made at the time of the film’s original release. Presented in rather low quality video, this is nevertheless an interesting mixture of historical documentary and making of. Presented and narrated by Edward Fox, the documentary relates both the history of the Bounty while also providing us with contemporary interviews with Mel Gibson, Anthony Hopkins and Bernard Hill, alongside on-set footage of the shoot in Tahiti.
The Bounty on Film offers a brief, 12 minute, look at the cinematic history of the Bounty legend. Narrated by Stephen Walters, the bulk of the running time feels like it is made out of trailers, but Walters offers some interesting comparisons between the various cinematic versions. Thankfully, there is a similar and far superior documentary on this subject on the second disc.
The second disc of Imprint’s limited edition contains a treasure trove of additional extras, which are as follows:
- A Fated Ship – documentary surrounding the construction of The Bounty replica ship and the early development of the film (1981)
- In Bligh’s Wake – documentary charting the voyage from New Zealand to Tahiti to deliver The Bounty replica for shooting the film (1984)
- NEW A Desperate Enterprise: Directing ‘The Bounty’ – interview with director Roger Donaldson
- NEW A Long Hard Voyage: Adapting ‘Mutiny On The Bounty’ – featurette
- NEW Limits of Endurance: Scoring ‘The Bounty’ – featurette
- NEW Scoring The Bounty – featurette
- NEW Making Waves – feature-length documentary with members of ‘The Bounty’ film crew
- NEW Mixing Waves – interview with dubbing mixers John Hayward and Robin O’Donoghue
- NEW Voyage of Our Own – interview with second unit cameraman Douglas Milsome
- A Turbulent Journey: The Making of ‘The Bounty’ – Production Slideshow
First up are two documentaries from New Zealand that chart the journey of The Bounty’s replica ship. The first, A Fated Ship, is in a similar vein to the Edward Fox documentary found on the first disc. Over its 52 minutes, it offers a fascinating mixture of re-telling the history of the Bounty while following the building of the actual replica ship in late 70s New Zealand. Insightful and interesting, this gives the closest hints to what the David Lean version might have become and includes some brief footage of the great director himself. A sequel, of sorts, is the 48 minute In Bligh’s Wake. This is set a few years after A Fated Ship, when Richard Donaldson’s film is underway. This documentary follows a group of sailors, along with second unit cameraman Douglas Milsome, as they sell the replica Bounty from New Zealand to Tahiti. While I did not find it quite as interesting as the previous documentary, those with an interest in sailing will no doubt get a lot more from it. It ends with the ship’s triumphant entry into Tahiti, offering a few brief snippets of the cast and crew.
A Long Hard Voyage is a more detailed and thorough exploration of the previous cinematic adaptations of the the Bounty tale, compared to the rather lacklustre doc on the first disc. Over 36 minutes, the featurette offers some background information on the famous novel that was based on the real events, followed by a discussion and comparison of the three key films. A really entertaining and interesting watch.
Scoring the Bounty offers a 27 minute look at the film’s score and its legendary composer, Vangelis. It begins with a look at Vangelis‘s career before making The Bounty, then offers a breakdown and discussion of the score as it occurs throughout the film. This is an insightful exploration of one of Vangelis‘s least known film scores.
Next up is Making Waves, an epic 2 hour making of. It is bit of an odd documentary to be honest. On the one hand, this collection of interviews with the film’s crew is both exhaustive and full of intricate, occasionally fascinating details. It is also very refreshing to hear about the film’s production from crew members who do not usually get their time in the limelight, from second unit cameramen to carpenters and prop hands. On the other hand, however, the documentary could have benefited from some judicious editing here and there, as it certainly feels like the contributors are allowed to ramble without much focus at times, which occasionally makes watching it feel like more of a slog than it should. Altogether though, this is a fabulous, unique and personal collection of reminiscences from the film.
The disc is rounded out with a collection of further individual crew interviews. A Desperate Enterprise is a 22 minute chat with director Roger Donaldson, where he discusses how he got involved with the film, Dino De Laurentiis’ undervalued contribution and on set tensions with Hopkins.
Mixing Waves is a 31 minute look at how The Bounty’s sound effects were created and mixed, told via two interviews with the film’s dubbing mixers. It is rare to get such an in-depth look at a lesser known but absolutely vital aspect of filmmaking, so for those interested in how sound effects are created and what a dubbing mixer actually does, this will prove incredibly insightful and informative.
The last interview, Voyage of Our Own, is with second unit camera man Douglas Milsome (who has already cropped up in both the A Fated Ship and Making Waves documentaries). He discusses his voyage on the replica Bounty, where he shot 2nd unit footage as it to sailed from New Zealand to Tahiti. He then goes on to discuss his other experiences working on the film.
If you still haven’t had your fill of Bounty related extra features, Imprint have also included an huge 37 minute slideshow that contains what must be thousands of photographs of the production. A a 60 page book is also included in the boxset. This contains an essay by Stephen Walters that documents David Lean’s history with the film, plus the 1984 version’s original production notes.
Disc/Extras:
Overall then, this is an epic, superlative edition of a frequently brilliant and underrated film. Fans of The Bounty should not hesitate for one second in order to snap up one of Imprint’s beautiful limited editions.
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