''The Mutiny of the Bounty'' is a 1916 Australian-New Zealand

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

directed by

Raymond Longford Raymond Longford (born John Walter Hollis Longford, 23 September 18782 April 1959) was a prolific Australian film director, writer, producer and actor during the silent era. Longford was a major director of the silent film era of the Australian ...

about the

mutiny Mutiny is a revolt among a group of people (typically of a military, of a crew or of a crew of pirates) to oppose, change, or overthrow an organization to which they were previously loyal. The term is commonly used for a rebellion among member ...

aboard . It is the first known cinematic dramatisation of this story and is considered a

lost film A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress. Conditions During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy o ...

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

Plot

The story deals with the

on on 28 April 1789, Captain Bligh's journey back to England, the recapture of the mutineers on

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austr ...

and subsequent fate of the other mutineers on

Pitcairn Island Pitcairn Island is the only inhabited island of the Pitcairn Islands, of which many inhabitants are descendants of mutineers of HMS ''Bounty''. Geography The island is of volcanic origin, with a rugged cliff coastline. Unlike many other ...

. The story was structured in five acts.

Cast

George Cross The George Cross (GC) is the highest award bestowed by the British government for non-operational gallantry or gallantry not in the presence of an enemy. In the British honours system, the George Cross, since its introduction in 1940, has been ...

as Captain Bligh *John Storm as

King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

*D.L. Dalziel as

Sir Joseph Banks Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the 1766 natural-history expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador. He took part in Captain James C ...

*Wilton Power as

Fletcher Christian Fletcher Christian (25 September 1764 – 20 September 1793) was master's mate on board HMS ''Bounty'' during Lieutenant William Bligh's voyage to Tahiti during 1787–1789 for breadfruit plants. In the mutiny on the ''Bounty'', Christian sei ...

*Reginald Collins as Midshipman Heywood *Ernesto Crosetto as Midshipman Hallett *

Harry Beaumont Harry Beaumont (10 February 1888 – 22 December 1966) was an American film director, actor, and screenwriter. He worked for a variety of production companies including 20th Century Fox, Fox, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation, Goldwyn, Metro Picture ...

as Mr Samuels * Charles Villiers as Burkett *Meta Taupopoki as Otoo *Mere Amohau as Mere *Ida Guildford as Mrs Heywood *

Lottie Lyell Lottie Lyell (born Charlotte Edith Cox, 23 February 1890 – 21 December 1925) was an Australian actress, screenwriter, editor and filmmaker. She is regarded as Australia's first film star, and also contributed to the local industry during the ...

as Nessy Heywood

Production

Filming took place in

Rotorua Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. The city lies on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authority encompass ...

Norfolk Island Norfolk Island (, ; Norfuk: ''Norf'k Ailen'') is an external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head and about from Lord Howe Island. Together with ...

and

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

starting April 1916. The movie was partly financed by distributors

Stanley Crick Stanley Sadler Crick (9 October 1888 – 1955) was an Australian film producer, distributor and politician. He joined the Melbourne office of Pathe Freres and became manager of the Sydney branch in 1909. He went into production, first in partner ...

and

Herbert Finlay Herbert Finlay was an Australian producer, photographer and exhibitor. He initially worked in films as a photographer and exhibitor of news items in Melbourne in the late 1890s. He helped tour ''The Story of the Kelly Gang'' (1907) and joined Path ...

in association with J.D. Williams and was described as "probably the most costly production yet made in Australia."

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

actors played the Tahitians who greeted crew members of the ''Bounty''. During shooting the unit came across a real life . 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.

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, it was endorsed by the education department and 2,000 school children attending the initial screening.

later supervised a recut of the film for the British market.Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, ''Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production'', Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 64

Critical response

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

References

External links

*
Copy of script and associated documentation
available at

National Archives of Australia The National Archives of Australia (NAA), formerly known as the Commonwealth Archives Office and Australian Archives, is an Australian Government agency that serves as the national archives of the nation. It collects, preserves and encourages ...

(registration required) *Full text of
''A Voyage to the South Sea''
by William Bligh *Full text o
''A Narrative of The Mutiny, on Board His Majesty's Ship 'Bounty
by William Bligh {{DEFAULTSORT:Mutiny of the Bounty, The 1916 films Films set in 1789 Australian drama films New Zealand drama films Australian silent feature films Australian black-and-white films Films about HMS Bounty Films directed by Raymond Longford Lost Australian films New Zealand silent films Films shot in New Zealand Films shot in Sydney Films set on ships 1916 drama films 1916 lost films Lost New Zealand films Lost drama films Silent drama films Silent adventure films 1910s New Zealand films