Mutiny on the Bounty
In
1932 Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall wrote their novel
Mutiny on the Bounty based on the real story of the
mutiny against Lieutenant
William Bligh, commanding officer of
HMS Bounty.
From the novel have arisen two movies with the same title.
The first was a 1935 film starring Charles Laughton, Clark Gable and Franchot Tone. David Niven and James Cagney also had bit parts in the movie.
The only Oscar won by the movie was for Best Picture for its producers, Irving Thalberg and Albert Lewin.
It also received seven additional nominations:
The movie was remade in
1962 under the directorship of
Lewis Milestone and starring
Marlon Brando and
Trevor Howard. This version did not win any Oscars but was nominated for seven:
Several other movies with various titles have been based on the true story, including
The Bounty (
1984) which starred
Anthony Hopkins as Bligh and
Mel Gibson as Christian.
A musical based on the same story appeared in the West End during the 1980s. It was written by and starred David Essex.
Further reading
- Caroline Alexander, The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty, Viking Penguin, 2003, hardcover, 512 pages, ISBN 067003133X