MovieChat Forums > Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) Discussion > anyone remember the roadshow version?

anyone remember the roadshow version?


I saw the 1962 version in its initial roadshow release, and I wonder if anyone else remembers the beginning/ending scene that is deleted from present editions (the VHS and the TCM version); it serves as a "framing" device and completes Richard Haydn's narration that begins the currently available version of the picture.

As I recall, the roadshow version begins with the character of Brown being discovered on Pitcairn by an American crew that has, like the Bounty before them, stumbled upon the place by accident years after the search for the Bounty has been suspended. He is the only white survivor of the mutiny, and tells his story to the American officers as a flashback. The narration almost immediately shifts to the title that begins the current version, "Portsmouth Harbor, England, December 23, 1787."

At the end of the picture, after Christian's death, the shot of the Bounty sliding off the reef and sinking dissolves back to old Brown on Pitcairn. The officers ask him if he wishes to accompany them back to "civilization" and he declines. They then sail thoughtfully away from paradise, and the picture fades out quietly to "The End."

The currently available version is the one that opened the film's popular price run at neighborhood theaters when the reserved seat version finished its "10 performances weekly" run (usually at ticket prices of around $2 - $2.50). I believe it was trimmed down to 3 hrs so as to allow the neighborhood venues to squeeze in more "continuous performances at popular prices," as they used to say.

Does anyone else have a memory of having seen this version? I think it would only have been about 10 minutes longer. In all probability, the deleted footage is long gone.

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Prologue and epilogue are special features on disc 1 of the American DVD release.

Evidently they were edited from the roadshow release, but were included, for one time only, in the ABC 1967 TV premiere.

So, watch prologue and epilogue on disc 1 special features, and enjoy as you remembered. Are you sure you didn't 1st see it on TV in '67?


--
Charlie

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I was taken to see it as a child the first week of its release in Dallas; it played the downtown Tower theater in a reserved seat engagement - long time ago, and I don't recall seeing it on TV until HBO ran it in the early '80's. Of course, memory can play tricks, so it might have been as you suggest. Haven't seen the new DVD, but will look for it and get it. Thanks for the reply. - Steve

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but were included, for one time only, in the ABC 1967 TV premiere.
That sounds familiar to me too, though I had forgotten all about it until now. I must have seen it on the ABC premiere.


"Dave, this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye." 2001: A Space Odyssey

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It's on tonight and I was wondering if I was the only one who saw the opening and closing Brown scenes or perhaps I imagined it? Thanks so much for confirming this.It's bothered me everytime I see this version.

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I saw the prologue on YouTube. I'm still looking for the epilogue.

It's actually a British warship, HMS Briton that (re)discovers Pitcairn in 1814, and puts a party ashore to refill its water casks. The officers don't realize who Brown is right away, as the Bounty episode has been pretty much forgotten in the Navy. It takes them a few minutes to remember the incident and one of them to recollect that Brown's name was on the list of mutineers.

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[deleted]

On my copy of the DVD, it has both the prologue and the epilogue. However, they are shown as part of the bonus features. It said that these two sections were supposed to be part of the roadshow release, but weren't for some reason

It also said that the only time they were seen with the rest of the movie was when it was shown on ABC in 1967.

Laugh while you can, Monkey Boy!

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