Mutiny on the Bounty

This remake of Mutiny on the Bounty became a money pit for one reason only: Its star, Marlon Brando. At first resistant to the notion of playing Fletcher Christian, the first mate who engineering the mutiny of the HMS Bounty in 1788, Brando was promised a multitude of perks by its producers-promises that were never intended to be kept. Likewise misled was the original director, Carol Reed, who was able to walk off the production. Lewis Milestone inherited the directorial reins, doing the best he could under impossible conditions. In contrast to the clearly defined heroes and villains of the 1935 version of Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), we are offered a Captain Bligh (Trevor Howard) who seems more grouchy than tyrannical, and a foppish Fletcher Christian who is just this side of a female impersonation. Some of the "improvements" made on the original Chris Nordhoff-James Norton Hall novel are laughable, notably Bligh's command that Christian have sex with one of the native girls so as to appease the Tahitian chief and thus expedite the shipment of breadfruit. Running-or walking-179 minutes, Mutiny on the Bounty contains some breathtaking photography and gorgeous scenery, as well as a soaring musical score by Bronislau Kaper, but on the whole is but a shadow of the Oscar-winning 1935 classic.