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FROM THE VAULT: 1962

Mutiny on the Bounty

Starring: Marlon Brando, Trevor Howard, Richard Harris

Director: Lewis Milestone

The film: No one could accuse Marlon Brando of not getting into the spirit of the story of Mutiny on the Bounty. After driving director Carol Reed off the set with his rebellious attitude, he proceeded  to take the film over from Reed's replacement Lewis Milestone (All Quiet on the Western Front, Ocean's Eleven), and direct himself and other actors.

He also 'borrowed' crew members to stage a friend's wedding on location in Tahiti, and held extravagant parties there on the production budget.  At the end of filming, Brando married his Tahitian leading lady, after divorcing the woman who had played the  same role in the 1935 version of the film. Also in character, he stayed on and made a home in the islands.

In much the same way that he took over the production, Brando (above left) dominates the screen as the mutinous officer Fletcher Christian, and enjoys the best of the script (although his English accent takes some getting used to). His character's excessively foppish behaviour has been criticised by  some, but it makes his post-mutiny transformation all the more striking.

Trevor Howard as Captain Bligh was always going to have an uphill battle in trying to match Charles Laughton's career-defining performance from 1935, but after he paddles off in the ship's longboat with his remaining loyal crew, we barely notice his absence. None of the seven Oscars for which Mutiny was nominated was for acting. This is pure screen spectacle for the most part, with the Polynesian scenery and the ship (made over eight months by 200 tradesmen using traditional methods) being the main attractions.

Filmed in Ultra Panavision 70, this three-hour voyage is great eye-candy for widescreen TV owners and, despite  its many historical inaccuracies and some questionable acting,  is one of the most beautifully shot Hollywood films of the 1960s. Picture and sound have  both been restored for this release, and the soundtrack bumped up to Dolby 5.1.

The extras: Warner Brothers usually puts together a  good DVD package, particularly for special editions like this one, and at first glance this new double-disc release looks to be packed with extras.

Unfortunately, each of  the five documentary films, running about 90 minutes  in total, focuses almost exclusively on the ship that was built for the film. One is new, looking at the ship as she is today, and the others are from about the time of the film's production.

A prologue and epilogue (seven minutes total) that were cut from the film after its  first few showings make interesting bookends, but other than these and a few trailers from other Brando films, that's about it.

The absence of a commentary, liner notes or  material relating to the film's cast, crew,  or production history other than the ship's construction and trip from Canada to Tahiti,  is disappointing. Some factual historical material would also have been a useful addition. At just over three hours in length,  the film is spread over two discs, with extras  on each.



Mutiny on the Bounty