Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
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Background
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) is one of the best nautical adventure     films  of all time and one of MGM's greatest classics. The rousing, 18th     century  story of the Bounty's mutiny, directed by Frank Lloyd, was adapted     from the first two volumes of the Charles Nordhoff-James Norman Hall 1932     best selling novel The Bounty Trilogy (composed of Mutiny on the Bounty, Men      Against the Sea, and Pitcairn Island). It      echoed the semi-documentary In the Wake of the Bounty (1933, Australia) which      starred Errol Flynn in his movie debut as Fletcher Christian; both films      were based upon the 1932 novel Mutiny on the Bounty by Nordoff and      Hall.
For authenticity, the film was shot on location in the South      Pacific's Tahiti, as well as on Catalina Island, Santa Barbara, and in MGM's      Culver City studios, over a period of three months. The over-budget (about      $2 million) MGM film was the studio's most expensive production since Ben-Hur:     A Tale of the Christ (1925), but it was also the highest-grossing film      of 1935 (at $4.5 million).
It was nominated for a total of eight Academy      Awards, and its sole Oscar was for Best Picture. It was very unusual that       the profitable film received no other Oscars than Best Picture (two other       earlier MGM productions had done the same thing - Broadway Melody (1928-29) and Grand Hotel (1932) ).       The other seven nominations included three Best Actor nominations (Clark       Gable, Charles Laughton, and Franchot Tone, who split the vote and gave       the award to Victor McLaglen for The Informer) - a unique accomplishment       (although Tone's performance was more like a supporting role, but the awards       category hadn't been created yet), Best Director (Frank Lloyd), Best Screenplay       (Talbot Jennings, Jules Furthman and Carey Wilson), Best Film Editing (Margaret       Booth), and Best Score. It was the first film to have three acting       nominations, and the first film to have three co-performers competing against       each other in the same category - as Best Actor.
Charles Laughton, who had won the Best Actor Oscar for The      Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), gave an exaggerated portrayal of the     duty-obsessed, cruel and arrogant Captain Bligh - he made the character one     of the screen's most memorable and abusive villains. The film's tagline reflects     his character: "A thousand hours of Hell for one moment of love." [The     first choice for the Bligh role was Wallace Beery.] Virile Clark Gable, who     had won the Best Actor Oscar the previous year for It     Happened One Night  (1934) , took the secondary role as the fair-minded     First Mate Fletcher  Christian, although he was reluctant to wear silly-looking     breeches, sport  a sailor's pony-tail, and shave off his mustache. With his     performance, he  solidified his status as one of the leading actors of the     30s.
The screenplay departed from some of the facts of the true      event by romanticizing the cavortings of the 'beefcake' crew with the Tahitian     native women, and by distorting the historical record with a denouncement     and snubbing of the contemptuous, malevolent Bligh at the conclusion of the     court-martial trial - in fact, the notorious Captain Bligh was later promoted     to the rank of Vice Admiral by the British Navy. [Of the various film versions     of the tale, The Bounty (1985), starring Anthony Hopkins as Bligh and      Mel Gibson as Fletcher Christian, was the most accurate.] One remake, starring      Marlon Brando and Trevor Howard, the 70 mm Panavision widescreen version of Mutiny on the Bounty (1962), fared poorly.
The Story
The tale was the rousing, handsome adventure story of the       sailing of the H. M. S. Bounty in 1787, departing from Portsmouth, England for       a two  year voyage, its scientific mission to transport breadfruit from       Tahiti to  the West Indies as an inexpensive food source for plantation       slave laborers.  Before the ship sets sail with a crew of English conscripts,       preparations  are made. A toast is given by Midshipman Roger Byam (Franchot       Tone), on his  first cruise as a midshipman:
To the voyage of the Bounty. Still waters of the great golden        sea. Flying fish like streaks of silver, and mermaids that sing in the night.        The Southern Cross and all the stars on the other side of the world.
The ship is captained by a tyrannical, harsh, sadistic disciplinarian       Captain  William Bligh (Charles Laughton) and his well-respected Master's       Mate (first  officer to the Captain) Fletcher Christian (Clark Gable, appearing       without  a mustache for the last time in a film). Before they set sail       in their third  voyage together, Bligh orders a flogging of a dead man,       to punish the infraction  to the letter of the law. He tells Christian:
They respect but one law - the law of fear...I expect you to carry        out whatever orders I give, whenever I give them.
On the journey, Bligh quickly shows contempt for the men       in his crew, and  treats them with brutality, in a regime of fear and punishment.       Bligh lectures  the seamen:
The ship's company will remember that I am your captain,        your judge, and your jury. You do your duty and we may get along. Whatever        happens, you'll do your duty.
He barks chilling, staccato orders to his Master's Mate in       an oft-repeated line: "Mr. Christian - come here." He cruelly and sadistically       meets a sailor's  request for water in the hot weather: "I'll give you       water. Mr. Morrison. Keel haul this man."
Bligh continually goads Fletcher Christian who has already       gained the respect  of the entire crew. Christian resents his Captain's       inhumanity (at one point,  Bligh puts his men on half-rations):
I've never known a better seaman, but as a man, he's a snake. He        doesn't punish for discipline. He likes to see men crawl. Sometimes, I'd like        to push his poison down his own throat.
The voyage is long and arduous, but the Bounty finally arrives       in Tahiti. Christian is ordered to stay on deck, but Byam is allowed to       go ashore, where he is befriended by Hitihiti, the island's chieftain.       Byam is quickly entranced after meeting and falling in love with one of       the beautiful Tahitian women, Tehani (Maria "Movita" Castaneda,       who later married Marlon Brando!). When the chief arranges for Christian       to come ashore for one day, the Master's mate also meets and falls in love     with Hitihiti's granddaughter, Maimiti (Mamo Clark).