MovieChat Forums > Mutiny on the Bounty (1936) Discussion > A Pox On Hollywood ...

A Pox On Hollywood ...

posted 17 years ago by Roy_Batty_Nexus6
5 replies | jump to latest

... for portraying William Bligh as such a cruel and inhuman man. They couldn't be further from the truth.

Deckard, 2 63 54, I'm filed and monitored

[–] crazychild35 16 years ago

well, the movie is based off of Christians journal, so it is only from his point of veiw that he depicted Bligh as such a cruel man. If the movie had been based off of someone elses journal, or say Bligh himself, then he would probablly be portrayed as a very noble and strict captain, while Christian would be portrayed as a rebellious, non-courages man. Its all about perspective.

[–] TorontoJediMaster 16 years ago

How could Christian's journals have been used?

Christian never returned to England. He was murdered on Pitcairn Island a few years after settling there. Eveb if he had kept a journal of the voyage he never returned to have it published.

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] cross-12 14 years ago

The movie was based on a novel of the same name, and part of the novel was based on the so-called Morrison Diary, kept by a petty officer on the Bounty. The authenticity of the Morrison Diary was called into question by naval historian Gavin Kennedy, who wrote a biography of Captain Bligh. Kennedy argued that the "diary" was written on paper not available to Morrison, and that Morrison may have made Captain Bligh out to be more cruel than he really was in order to win sympathy for himself when he was court-martialled for the mutiny (Morrison was convicted, sentenced to death, and pardoned). Incidentally, the authors of Mutiny on the Bounty wrote several sequels, including Men Against the Sea, about Captain Bligh's open boat voyage following the mutiny. The novel is told through the eyes of a loyal officer and portrays Captain Bligh in a far more favorable light than Mutiny on the Bounty does.

[–] vinidici 8 years ago

Actually, the one bone thrown to Bligh in the 1935 version was his courage and seamanship throughout the harrowing ordeal in navigating the boatload of his loyalists back to civilization.