...that's a mix of poor historical reenactments and documentary footage, from writer-producer-director Charles Chauvel. A crusty old sailor tells some other crusty old sailors the story of the HMS Bounty and the mutiny, led by Fletcher Christian (Errol Flynn), against the tyrannical Captain Bligh (Mayne Lynton). The second half of the 1-hour movie is documentary footage of Pitcairn Island in contemporary (1932) times, showing the society that has evolved there descended from the mutineers and their Tahitian wives.
This picture is most notable for being Errol Flynn's movie debut, but he, like the rest of the reenactment section, is terrible, offering no hint at his future star quality. These passages are cheap looking, poorly staged, and almost comically inept. The documentary footage is excellent, though, and I especially liked the brief glimpses of what remained of the Bounty's hull at the bottom of the bay at Pitcairn. If any of this second half of the movie looks familiar, it was later bought by MGM and edited into a pair of short subjects that ran with the 1935 Mutiny On the Bounty.
This picture is most notable for being Errol Flynn's movie debut, but he, like the rest of the reenactment section, is terrible, offering no hint at his future star quality. These passages are cheap looking, poorly staged, and almost comically inept. The documentary footage is excellent, though, and I especially liked the brief glimpses of what remained of the Bounty's hull at the bottom of the bay at Pitcairn. If any of this second half of the movie looks familiar, it was later bought by MGM and edited into a pair of short subjects that ran with the 1935 Mutiny On the Bounty.