The Mutiny of the Bounty explained

The Mutiny of the Bounty
Director:Raymond Longford
Based On:Journals of Captain Bligh
Producer:Raymond Longford
Cinematography:Charles Newham
Franklyn Barrett
A. O. Segerberg
Studio:Crick and Jones
Distributor:Hughes (NZ)
Runtime:5,000 feet
Country:Australia
Language:Silent film
English intertitles

The Mutiny of the Bounty is a 1916 Australian-New Zealand silent film directed by Raymond Longford about the mutiny aboard .[1] It is the first known cinematic dramatisation of this story and is considered a lost film.[2]

Longford claimed it was the first Australian film to shoot scenes at sea.

Plot

The story deals with the mutiny on on 28 April 1789, Captain Bligh's journey back to England, the recapture of the mutineers on Tahiti and the subsequent fate of the other mutineers on Pitcairn Island.[3] The story was structured in five acts.[4]

Cast

Production

Filming took place in Rotorua, Norfolk Island and Sydney starting April 1916.[5] [6]

The movie was partly financed by distributors Stanley Crick and Herbert Finlay in association with J.D. Williams and was described as "probably the most costly production yet made in Australia."[7] Māori actors played the Tahitians who greeted crew members of the Bounty. During shooting the unit came across a real life .[8] Longford wanted to shoot some scenes on Pinchgut Island in Sydney Harbour but was refused with the authorities giving no reason.

Attempts were made to ensure the script was as historically accurate as possible and Bligh was not as demonised as he would be in later film versions of this story.[9]

Reception

Box office

The film received good reviews and was a success at the box office. When the film was released in Sydney on 2 September 1916,[10] it was endorsed by the education department and 2,000 school children attending the initial screening.[11] Lottie Lyell later supervised a recut of the film for the British market.[12]

Critical response

One reviewer described it as the best Australian film ever made.[11]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Loretta Barnard.These Australian women dominated Hollywood before Hollywood.The Big Smoke.8 March 2019.
  2. http://www.filmarchive.org.nz/AV-Heritage/Missing-Films.html 'New Zealand's Missing Film History', The Film Archive
  3. News: PERTH MAJESTIC. . . Perth . 4 November 1917 . 7 January 2012 . 7 . National Library of Australia.
  4. News: Advertising. . . NSW . 30 September 1916 . 1 September 2013 . 3 Edition: EVENING . National Library of Australia.
  5. News: PRODUCTION OF MOVING PICTURES-- IN AMERICA AND AUSTRALIA. . . XCVIII . 2555 . New South Wales, Australia . 18 December 1918 . 21 November 2023 . 20 . National Library of Australia.
  6. Australian Feature film. Billboard. 22 July 1916. 57.
  7. News: "MUTINY OF THE BOUNTY.". . . Adelaide . 24 March 1917 . 7 January 2012 . 4 . National Library of Australia.
  8. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article58253274 "No title." Sunday Times (Perth) 14 Nov 1926: 15
  9. Helen Martin and Sam Edwards, New Zealand Film: 1912-1996, Oxford Uni Press, 1997 p 26
  10. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0007100/ The Mutiny of the Bounty (1916)
  11. Web site: Motography - Lantern: Search, Visualize & Explore the Media History Digital Library.
  12. Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 64