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Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) (HD DVD)
Warner Bros. // Unrated // November 14, 2006 // Region 0
List Price: $28.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
"I am at war -- against ill winds, contrary currents, and incompetent officers. You'd best join my war, Mr. Christian, for if I don't start winning soon, the casualty list will be real enough."
MGM's 1962 epic Mutiny on the Bounty is better known for Marlon Brando's excesses than the merits of the film itself, from the actor's then-unheard of salary of more than a million dollars to his overeating wreaking havoc on his wardrobe to cost overruns and an interminable shooting schedule. Mutiny also struggled with the spectre of the widely-loved adaptation that starred Clark Gable just a few decades prior. This is a film whose reputation compelled me to seek it out purely out of morbid curiosity, and it didn't occur to me that Mutiny could be anything other than an unmitigated disaster. Regardless of what may have happened behind the scenes when the bulky Ultra Panavision cameras stopped rolling, Mutiny on the Bounty is a tremendous film that's worth discovering on video, particularly on these next-generation formats that can take better advantage of its high-resolution photography.
This incarnation of Mutiny on the Bounty takes a fair number of liberties with the story, but the basic premise remains intact. Set in the late 18th century, the H.M.S. Bounty is dispatched to Tahiti in an attempt to cultivate the island's native breadfruit as a food source for Jamaican slaves. Smirking First Mate Fletcher Christian immediately grates on the nerves of William Bligh, a seasoned officer whose first command of a ship compels him to overcompensate. Bligh is so eager to impress his superiors that he obsesses over every inch of movement, and when the ship fails to make the sort of progress he anticipated, the Captain risks the lives of his crew by taking a legendarily treacherous detour. Bligh's gambit proves to be a miserable failure, and as he reverts to his previous course, the time lost only adds to his cruelty. An accusation of theft by a crewman, deserved or not, is answered with two dozen lashes. Punishments for more serious offenses, however ultimately inconsequential, bring his victims near-death.
The Bounty eventually does arrive in Tahiti. Christian falls for a Polynesian princess, and the rest of the crew, save the morally indignant Bligh, indulge in the natives' passion for free love. In an attempt to make up for the months of delays, Bligh has twice the necessary number of breadfruit specimen loaded on-board, and even on a ship as sprawling as the Bounty, too much of one thing means not enough room for another. These thousand plants demand more water than the ship has to offer, and deciding that the needs of the breadfruit outweight those of his men, Bligh institutes an absurd method of rationing fresh water to the crew. Take a glance at the title if you can't guess the turn the plot takes from there.
Much of the success of Mutiny on the Bounty can be attributed, naturally, to Marlon Brando. His Fletcher Christian isn't the dashing officer Clark Gable portrayed; as Bligh snidely describes him, Christian is a bit of a fop. Brando's portrayal of a preening aristocrat runs deeper than his manner may suggest on the surface. There's a persistent sense that Christian's behavior is somewhat of an act, that he dons silk nightcaps and slyly provokes Bligh simply because he knows he can get away with it.
Christian grudgingly supports Bligh for much of the film, making his discontent known but ultimately obeying orders, and the First Mate snaps at the crew whenever they speak ill of the Captain. Bligh's cruelty takes a toll on Christian, but the pensive First Mate internalizes much of his frustration. The inevitable mutiny isn't portrayed as an act of heroism, and Christian seizes command as a man defeated, despite the crew's elation at Bligh's ousting. Bligh is undoubtedly the villain of the piece, but Mutiny takes care to ensure that the Bounty isn't manned by a crew of haloed martyrs. The most compelling villains are typically those with the moral certainty that their deplorable actions are correct, and unjust though Bligh's decisions may be, I was still able to understand why he reacted the way he did. I'm left with the sense that Brando's Fletcher Christian felt much the same way.
The film's dialogue is consistently sharp throughout. It mixes in just the right amount of humor, such as Christian's feigned ignorance as the stodgy captain implores him to sleep with the Tahitian king's daughter, though not in quite so many words. Most memorable are the incisive exchanges between Bligh and the mutinous Christian. One stand-out comes during the Captain's final moments on the ship as Christian returns to him his preferred means of exacting punishment, a whip. "Take your flag with you." "I don't need a flag, Mr. Christian," Bligh replies. "Unlike you, I still have a country." Mutiny on the Bounty benefits as much from its epic scope as it does from Charles Lederer's screenplay. The Bounty isn't just ornate set dressing but a character herself, and the hand-crafted, elaborate full-scale replica was built so fully seaworthy that it made the long voyage to the South Pacific for filming on her own power. The sequences on Tahiti boast an exotic beauty that a more convenient stand-in couldn't hope to replicate. For a three hour film, the pacing is surprisingly nimble, and there wasn't a moment where I felt the least bit bored.
Mutiny on the Bounty had inexplicably remained unavailable on DVD until nearly a decade into the format's lifespan, but the upside of that delay is this near-simultaneous release in high definition. All of the extras from the two disc special edition DVD are provided alongside a remarkable 2.76:1 transfer and masterfully restored audio.
Video: The most exceptional of Warner's already thoroughly impressive presentations of classic films on HD DVD, Mutiny on the Bounty is essentially flawless. The colossal 2.76:1 image is sumptuously smooth and immaculately detailed, taking as best advantage it can of the nearly unlimited resolution of MGM's favored Ultra Panavision 70 format. The sequences on the Tahitian island highlight the vividly saturated palette, and black levels remain deep and substantial throughout the film. Grain is tight and unintrusive in all but a couple of brief, scattered shots, and no visible wear or authoring missteps were seen throughout Mutiny's three hour-plus runtime. I did spot a handful of skipped frames, but such concerns are so inconsequential that they scarcely warrant a mention. Sensational work from Warner.
Audio: The Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 audio sounds wonderful, from the roar of Bronislau Kaper's Oscar-nominated score to the creaking planks and crashing waves that permeate the soundscape. It's a rich, full-bodied remaster, marred only by an easily ignored hiss that rears its head from time to time. Extraordinary work. Mutiny on the Bounty also features a French dub in Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 as well as a monaural Spanish track. Subtitles are offered in English, French, and Spanish.
Supplements: The disc's extras, all of which are provided in standard definition, revolve more around the Bounty herself rather than the film. The lack of any sort of retrospective is somewhat of a disappointment, although there's still a healthy selection of bonus material.
The lone newly-produced featurette is the anamorphic widescreen "After the Cameras Stopped Rolling: The Journey of the Bounty". The twenty-four minute featurette opens with an explanation of why the ship was so meticulously built by hand to be fully sea-worthy and how it served as a floating movie studio during production. The Bounty's current owner and crew go on to explain the dismal state of the ship, which was initially slated to be torched until Brando intervened. The featurette also explores the costly restoration process and the ship's stint at the 1964 World's Fair in New York.
The remaining four featurettes date back to the 1960s. The first of these, the half-hour "The Story of H.M.S. Bounty", is quoted liberally in "After the Cameras Stopped Rolling". Its focus is primarily on the craftsmanship of the Bounty, although it also devotes a good bit of time to the voyage to Tahiti and the nature of the shoot. "Voyage of the Bounty to St. Petersburg" (24 min.) is aptly titled, following the ship as she makes her way down the Eastern seaboard to Florida. "Tour of the Bounty" (8 min.) documents the ship's promotional tour for the film's release, and the fourth and final vintage featurette is a six and a half minute promo from the '64 World's Fair.
A bookending framing story with botanist William Brown was excised from the film before its theatrical run, and although it was reinserted for a single airing on ABC, this footage hasn't been seen since that 1967 broadcast. This HD DVD includes the prologue and epilogue in 2.39:1 anamorphic widescreen, and the footage runs around around six minutes in total. Unfortunately, it's not offered in high definition. Rounding out the extras is a gallery of Brando trailers that features clips from Mutiny on the Bounty, Julius Caesar, Reflections in a Golden Eye, and The Formula.
Conclusion: Warner Bros. issued Mutiny on the Bounty the same week as Casablanca and Forbidden Planet, a welcomed commitment to classic cinema in high-definition that I would never have expected in these early months of the format. Mutiny on the Bounty is admittedly the least essential of these three titles, but the presentation of this underappreciated epic on HD DVD is stunning, even if its extras aren't as substantial as I would've preferred. Very highly recommended, and hopefully a high-definition release of the 1935 version isn't too terribly far off on the horizon.
MGM's 1962 epic Mutiny on the Bounty is better known for Marlon Brando's excesses than the merits of the film itself, from the actor's then-unheard of salary of more than a million dollars to his overeating wreaking havoc on his wardrobe to cost overruns and an interminable shooting schedule. Mutiny also struggled with the spectre of the widely-loved adaptation that starred Clark Gable just a few decades prior. This is a film whose reputation compelled me to seek it out purely out of morbid curiosity, and it didn't occur to me that Mutiny could be anything other than an unmitigated disaster. Regardless of what may have happened behind the scenes when the bulky Ultra Panavision cameras stopped rolling, Mutiny on the Bounty is a tremendous film that's worth discovering on video, particularly on these next-generation formats that can take better advantage of its high-resolution photography.
This incarnation of Mutiny on the Bounty takes a fair number of liberties with the story, but the basic premise remains intact. Set in the late 18th century, the H.M.S. Bounty is dispatched to Tahiti in an attempt to cultivate the island's native breadfruit as a food source for Jamaican slaves. Smirking First Mate Fletcher Christian immediately grates on the nerves of William Bligh, a seasoned officer whose first command of a ship compels him to overcompensate. Bligh is so eager to impress his superiors that he obsesses over every inch of movement, and when the ship fails to make the sort of progress he anticipated, the Captain risks the lives of his crew by taking a legendarily treacherous detour. Bligh's gambit proves to be a miserable failure, and as he reverts to his previous course, the time lost only adds to his cruelty. An accusation of theft by a crewman, deserved or not, is answered with two dozen lashes. Punishments for more serious offenses, however ultimately inconsequential, bring his victims near-death.
The Bounty eventually does arrive in Tahiti. Christian falls for a Polynesian princess, and the rest of the crew, save the morally indignant Bligh, indulge in the natives' passion for free love. In an attempt to make up for the months of delays, Bligh has twice the necessary number of breadfruit specimen loaded on-board, and even on a ship as sprawling as the Bounty, too much of one thing means not enough room for another. These thousand plants demand more water than the ship has to offer, and deciding that the needs of the breadfruit outweight those of his men, Bligh institutes an absurd method of rationing fresh water to the crew. Take a glance at the title if you can't guess the turn the plot takes from there.
Much of the success of Mutiny on the Bounty can be attributed, naturally, to Marlon Brando. His Fletcher Christian isn't the dashing officer Clark Gable portrayed; as Bligh snidely describes him, Christian is a bit of a fop. Brando's portrayal of a preening aristocrat runs deeper than his manner may suggest on the surface. There's a persistent sense that Christian's behavior is somewhat of an act, that he dons silk nightcaps and slyly provokes Bligh simply because he knows he can get away with it.
Christian grudgingly supports Bligh for much of the film, making his discontent known but ultimately obeying orders, and the First Mate snaps at the crew whenever they speak ill of the Captain. Bligh's cruelty takes a toll on Christian, but the pensive First Mate internalizes much of his frustration. The inevitable mutiny isn't portrayed as an act of heroism, and Christian seizes command as a man defeated, despite the crew's elation at Bligh's ousting. Bligh is undoubtedly the villain of the piece, but Mutiny takes care to ensure that the Bounty isn't manned by a crew of haloed martyrs. The most compelling villains are typically those with the moral certainty that their deplorable actions are correct, and unjust though Bligh's decisions may be, I was still able to understand why he reacted the way he did. I'm left with the sense that Brando's Fletcher Christian felt much the same way.
The film's dialogue is consistently sharp throughout. It mixes in just the right amount of humor, such as Christian's feigned ignorance as the stodgy captain implores him to sleep with the Tahitian king's daughter, though not in quite so many words. Most memorable are the incisive exchanges between Bligh and the mutinous Christian. One stand-out comes during the Captain's final moments on the ship as Christian returns to him his preferred means of exacting punishment, a whip. "Take your flag with you." "I don't need a flag, Mr. Christian," Bligh replies. "Unlike you, I still have a country." Mutiny on the Bounty benefits as much from its epic scope as it does from Charles Lederer's screenplay. The Bounty isn't just ornate set dressing but a character herself, and the hand-crafted, elaborate full-scale replica was built so fully seaworthy that it made the long voyage to the South Pacific for filming on her own power. The sequences on Tahiti boast an exotic beauty that a more convenient stand-in couldn't hope to replicate. For a three hour film, the pacing is surprisingly nimble, and there wasn't a moment where I felt the least bit bored.
Mutiny on the Bounty had inexplicably remained unavailable on DVD until nearly a decade into the format's lifespan, but the upside of that delay is this near-simultaneous release in high definition. All of the extras from the two disc special edition DVD are provided alongside a remarkable 2.76:1 transfer and masterfully restored audio.
Video: The most exceptional of Warner's already thoroughly impressive presentations of classic films on HD DVD, Mutiny on the Bounty is essentially flawless. The colossal 2.76:1 image is sumptuously smooth and immaculately detailed, taking as best advantage it can of the nearly unlimited resolution of MGM's favored Ultra Panavision 70 format. The sequences on the Tahitian island highlight the vividly saturated palette, and black levels remain deep and substantial throughout the film. Grain is tight and unintrusive in all but a couple of brief, scattered shots, and no visible wear or authoring missteps were seen throughout Mutiny's three hour-plus runtime. I did spot a handful of skipped frames, but such concerns are so inconsequential that they scarcely warrant a mention. Sensational work from Warner.
Audio: The Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 audio sounds wonderful, from the roar of Bronislau Kaper's Oscar-nominated score to the creaking planks and crashing waves that permeate the soundscape. It's a rich, full-bodied remaster, marred only by an easily ignored hiss that rears its head from time to time. Extraordinary work. Mutiny on the Bounty also features a French dub in Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 as well as a monaural Spanish track. Subtitles are offered in English, French, and Spanish.
Supplements: The disc's extras, all of which are provided in standard definition, revolve more around the Bounty herself rather than the film. The lack of any sort of retrospective is somewhat of a disappointment, although there's still a healthy selection of bonus material.
The lone newly-produced featurette is the anamorphic widescreen "After the Cameras Stopped Rolling: The Journey of the Bounty". The twenty-four minute featurette opens with an explanation of why the ship was so meticulously built by hand to be fully sea-worthy and how it served as a floating movie studio during production. The Bounty's current owner and crew go on to explain the dismal state of the ship, which was initially slated to be torched until Brando intervened. The featurette also explores the costly restoration process and the ship's stint at the 1964 World's Fair in New York.
The remaining four featurettes date back to the 1960s. The first of these, the half-hour "The Story of H.M.S. Bounty", is quoted liberally in "After the Cameras Stopped Rolling". Its focus is primarily on the craftsmanship of the Bounty, although it also devotes a good bit of time to the voyage to Tahiti and the nature of the shoot. "Voyage of the Bounty to St. Petersburg" (24 min.) is aptly titled, following the ship as she makes her way down the Eastern seaboard to Florida. "Tour of the Bounty" (8 min.) documents the ship's promotional tour for the film's release, and the fourth and final vintage featurette is a six and a half minute promo from the '64 World's Fair.
A bookending framing story with botanist William Brown was excised from the film before its theatrical run, and although it was reinserted for a single airing on ABC, this footage hasn't been seen since that 1967 broadcast. This HD DVD includes the prologue and epilogue in 2.39:1 anamorphic widescreen, and the footage runs around around six minutes in total. Unfortunately, it's not offered in high definition. Rounding out the extras is a gallery of Brando trailers that features clips from Mutiny on the Bounty, Julius Caesar, Reflections in a Golden Eye, and The Formula.
Conclusion: Warner Bros. issued Mutiny on the Bounty the same week as Casablanca and Forbidden Planet, a welcomed commitment to classic cinema in high-definition that I would never have expected in these early months of the format. Mutiny on the Bounty is admittedly the least essential of these three titles, but the presentation of this underappreciated epic on HD DVD is stunning, even if its extras aren't as substantial as I would've preferred. Very highly recommended, and hopefully a high-definition release of the 1935 version isn't too terribly far off on the horizon.
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