The Bounty Trilogy...
I only actually read “Men Against the Sea”, which details Bligh’s heroic open-boat-voyage across 3000 miles of the Pacific.
I have seen the 3 movies, starring Clark Gable, Marlon Brando and Mel Gibson, as Fletcher Christian. These movies made me a student of this historic mutiny. My research compels me to state that the Mel Gibson “Bounty” is the most historically accurate.
Bligh never was the cruel “Captain” depicted in the Gable or Brando movies.
He did not even attain the rank of “Captain” until long after the Bounty episode.
Of the 3 movies, the 1935 Clark Gable offering from Hollywood was the most ludicrous, utilizing white, American girls in dark make-up to play the role of Tahitians.
Still, the Mutiny on the Bounty is a most fascinating subject of research.
I was very disappointed that the Bounty, re-made for the Brando movie, had sunk. It used to be docked in St. Pete, FL, where I spent some of my early years...
The original Bounty’s still underwater just off Bounty Bay on Pitcairn. I get their monthly newspaper, published on the island, and available online at http://www.miscellany.pn/. The July issue had coverage of this story.
No, but he did have an amazing proclivity to incite, or at least get in the way of, mutinies.
He was later in life governor of New South Wales, and the local militia mutinied against him.
I remain disappointed that that version has not yet been released as a Director's Cut on Blu-ray. It was excellent.
And it had an EXCELLENT sound track, too (by Vangelis).
Actually, the two Tahitiian girls known by name in the 1935 film, Tehani and Maimiti, were portrayed by a Mexican and a Hawaiian.
It was casting William Bambridge as Chief Hitihiti that was woefully inaccurate ethnically.