MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY MISSING FOOTAGE RESTORED
Arriving with virtually no fanfare late last year, Warner's
long-awaited DVD release of MGM's 1962 epic remake of Mutiny on the Bounty was included in a
boxed set of Marlon Brando films. The double-disc set includes a wealth of vintage production
featurettes, but the real treat is the restoration of the missing prologue and epilogue. If you didn't
know about these, you're not alone. Lavish sums were spent to film both sequences only to have them cut
immediatley prior to the film's roadshow releases - probably due to factors of running time. The
missing scenes are not edited into the feature, but are presented as stand-alone extras.
The prologue features a sequence in which a sailing vessel
discovers
the unchartered Pitcairn Island, where the Bounty mutineers had settled
in order to
avoid capture. The crew of the new ship is looking about
the island, unaware of its history when a
sailor suddenly discovers an
eerie site: a cannon from a British warship half buried in the
weeds.
Astonished at how this could have been placed on this remote island,
the crew is soon
enlightened by the appearance of an elderly British
sailor - Mr. Brown (Richard Haydn), who explains
he was the Bounty's
botanist. He then relates the astonishing history of the mutiny and
its
violent aftermath on Pitcairn Island in which everyone from the ship
eventually were killed in
disputes with each other and the native
Tahitians they brought to settle the island. The epilogue has
the crew
of the ship debating how to handle the fate of Mr. Brown, who is still
wanted for mutiny
in England.
The
above sequences are stunningly filmed and reflect a great deal of
time and effort on behalf of the
cinematographer and the production
designer. Yet, these sequences were only screened once: as part of
the
film's TV premiere on ABC TV in 1967. The scenes also explain a
puzzling aspect to the
theatrical version of the film which begins with Brown narrating the story only to have this device
abruptly dropped. The missing prologue and epilogue don't add essential information to the storyline,
but do bookend the story in a way that provides more emotional resonance and a strong sense of
satisfaction that the mutineers' daring act was not entirely in vain. For the record, the double DVD
set also includes vintage production shorts about the making of the Bounty vessel and the fan fare
involved in its "publicity tours" on behalf of the film. What the set lacks, however, is any
overview or commentary by film scholars that would help explain the disastrous impact the movie had on
MGM and Marlon Brando's career. As a major money loser, the studio had to place the blame somewhere and
Brando was the most obvious target. His tempermental behavior and indecisions led to some of the delays
and- coupled with an unflattering story about the production in Life magazine - the mercurial actor took
the brunt of the blame for what was basically ineptness on the part of studio executives. It would take
Brando until 1972, with the release of The Godfather for him to reclaim his reputation as a great
actor.
To this day, misguided critics
often denounce the film as a dog simply because it lost money. However, lovers of classic movies have
long recognized its merits. It's a magnificent production, beautifully filmed and flawlessly enacted.
Brando's performance as Fletcher Christian stunned audiences at the time because he sought to play the
part as a fop. It was the right choice artistically because when Christian finally turns on Bligh, the
change in his character makes for a truly unforgettable sequence. Equally overlooked was Trevor
Howard's magnificent performance as Bligh.
Mutiny on the Bounty may have been a major
money-loser for MGM but the years have been kind to it. It remains one of the great motion picture
entertainments of the 1960s- Lee Pfeiffer
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