8th Academy Awards · 1936
Mutiny on the Bounty
Directed by Frank Lloyd
“Clark Gable as the daring mutineer in the screen's most exciting adventure story!”
Tap to rate
The story
Fletcher Christian successfully leads a revolt against the ruthless Captain Bligh on the HMS Bounty. However, Bligh returns one year later, hell bent on revenge.
What critics & audiences say
Tomatometer96%Fresh#17 of 98 winnersIMDb7.627K votes#63 of 98 winners
Metacritic87/ 100#33 of 93 winners
TMDB7.4/ 10
Famous lines
Can you understand this, Mr. Byam? Discipline is the thing. A seaman's a seaman. A captain's a captain. And a midshipman, Sir Joseph or no Sir Joseph, is the lowest form of animal life in the British Navy.
I've never known a better seaman, but as a man, he's a snake. He doesn't punish for discipline. He likes to see men crawl.
…I'll live to see you - all of ya - hanging from the highest yard arm in the British fleet!
I'll give you water. Mr. Morrison. Keel haul this man.
Bligh: But you're taking my ship. My ship.
Christian: Your ship? The King's ship, you mean. And you're not fit to command it. Into the boat!
I'll take my chance against the law. You'll take yours against the sea.
The ship's company will remember that I am your captain, your judge, and your jury.
…From now on, they'll spell mutiny with my name. I regret that.
Bligh: What's your name?
Seaman Ellison: Thomas Ellison, sir. Pressed into service. I've got a wife, a baby!
Bligh: I asked your name, not the history of your misfortunes.
Now you've given your last command on this ship. We'll be men again if we hang for it.
Quotes via Wikiquote
Fun facts
- Mutiny on the Bounty is the only film ever to receive three Best Actor nominations. As a result, the Academy created the Best Supporting Actor category the following year.Wikipedia · Academy Awards
- James Cagney, sailing near the shoot off Catalina Island during a contract dispute with Warner Bros., jokingly told his old friend Frank Lloyd 'I need the money'. Lloyd dressed him as a crewman and put him in the background of a few scenes.Wikipedia · Filming locations
- Two years before Clark Gable, a then-unknown Errol Flynn played Fletcher Christian in the 1933 Australian film In the Wake of the Bounty. Flynn wrote that whenever he mentioned it, no one ever believed him.Wikipedia · Other film versions
- Charles Laughton found that Captain Bligh's tailoring establishment still had Bligh's original transaction records, including his measurements and fabric, and had the tailor use them to reproduce Bligh's uniforms.Wikipedia · Casting
- Clark Gable initially opposed playing Fletcher Christian because it meant shaving his trademark mustache, which was required since 18th-century Royal Navy sailors had to be clean-shaven.Wikipedia · Casting
- The film's most brutal moments, such as a keelhauling and the flogging of a dead man, never happened. Bounty's meticulous log shows Bligh's flogging rate was actually lower than average for the time.Wikipedia · Historical accuracy
- Frank Lloyd bought the rights to the novel and offered it to Irving Thalberg on the condition that he could direct, star and shoot in Tahiti. Thalberg let him direct but rejected the other demands.Wikipedia · Production
- The film was originally conceived as a vehicle for Wallace Beery as Bligh and Robert Montgomery as Byam, but both were replaced before production began.Wikipedia · Casting
- Tragedy struck the production when second unit camera operator Glenn Strong was killed after a barge the crew was using capsized off San Miguel Island.Wikipedia · Filming locations
- Mutiny on the Bounty was the highest-grossing film of 1935, earning MGM a profit of $909,000. It is also, as of 2026, the last Best Picture winner to win in no other category.Wikipedia · Introduction