In the Wake of the Bounty (1933) User Reviews

More Documentary Than Anything Else

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 21 July 2008]

I have to admit that I was not sure of what I would be seeing when I finally got a copy of In The Wake Of The Bounty. The Australian film is noted today for being the debut of Errol Flynn in motion pictures is mostly a fine documentary about the lives of the folks on rugged Pitcairn Island, the descendants of the Bounty mutineers and the women they took with them from Tahiti.

When MGM did it's grand scale production of Mutiny on the Bounty in 1935, Louis B. Mayer bought all the rights to this film and it was never shown in America intact. Pieces of it were seen in short documentary subjects about Pitcairn Island.

The producer/director/writer of In The Wake Of The Bounty was Charles Clauvel who some would credit with being the father of Australian cinema. He and his wife and baby girl took motion picture cameras and a crew to Pitcairn Island and put together a fine feature film documentary. And he had about 15 to 20 minutes of acting.

It's a technique that Americans will be familiar with if they watch the History Channel. It calls for the use of some brief live action sequences interspersed with documentary footage and voice-over commentary about whatever event the program is talking about. This is the function of Errol Flynn and the small cast who reenact the Bounty mutiny in microcosm.

Certainly Charles Clauvel did not have the facilities that Louis B. Mayer had so reviewers should go easy on this intrepid Australian who went out to a rarely seen part of the world. Instead of comparing In The Wake Of The Bounty to it's later and more known successors, it might better be compared to some of the documentaries of Frank Buck or Martin and Osa Johnson.

To be sure the acting isn't of the best caliber, I've seen worse however. The film really didn't need the actors, it should have been much better as a straight documentary.

On the other hand Errol Flynn might then have toiled in obscurity and who knows who would have played all those swashbuckling heroes at Warner Brothers.

In the wake of Errol

[girvsjoint · 5/10 · 8 September 2016]

Most reviewers seem to have the wrong idea about this film, it's not meant to be a version of 'Mutiny on the Bounty' or even a feature film! It's basically a doco/travelogue, with a few 'flashbacks' enacting a few scenes of the Bounty 'drama'. The main interest is the scenes filmed on Pitcairn Island, probably the first, and the far from ideal living conditions of the inhabitants. Of the 'dramatic' scenes spliced in, considering the lead was most likely a seasoned 'stage' actor, and hammy as they come, the young, totally inexperienced Errol Flynn, signed for his looks alone, probably comes out best of all? It wasn't this film that Jack Warner signed him on, it was a 'lost' movie called 'Murder in Monte Carlo' he made in England about a year later that got him to Hollywood, and the rest as they say, is history! Incidentally, the derogatory remarks made about Australia by another reviewer, are nonsense!

Film Debut of Errol Flynn

[russjones-80887 · 4/10 · 10 March 2020]

Description of the film didn't inspire me but decided to watch it simply because it was the film debut of a Hollywood great, Errol Flynn. On that basis I wasn't expecting much and I wasn't disappointed as a result.

It bears little resemblance to later, more popular, successful versions of the story. If you like Errol Flynn, watch it. If you like curious old films, watch it. If you want to compare it against other versions, watch it. Otherwise give it a miss.

even giants start small

[vladimir-137 · 2/10 · 3 January 2006]

This film combines documentary, travelogue-style footage with dramatic 'reconstructions' of the mutiny on the Bounty.

Much of it is silent, ie with music only, as I recall. It's very much a primitive sound-movie, in which the director is still working with silent movie techniques, although not in any sophisticated way.

The acting in the dramatic scenes is uniformly abysmal; very 'stagey' acting even by the more experienced performers. The only interest is in seeing Errol Flynn in his first movie role. He's dreadful: very wooden delivery; as stiff as a parody of amateur theatricals, with no star presence whatsoever.

But I find it of interest for this very reason. It shows that even a superstar like Errol Flynn didn't hatch from the egg fully formed, and that however bad you are to start with, there's still hope ...

A very strange film indeed

[loza-1 · 2/10 · 22 May 2005]

This is a documentary about the people of Pitcairn Island. In among what is straight documentary, there are a few scenes which acts out the mutiny on the Bounty. If that were not bad enough, the action opens with a few old tars telling yarns in a tavern. And if that were not bad enough, the acting in these scenes (Errol Flynn excepted) is really, really bad.

It is worth watching as a documentary of Pitcairn Island. It is also worth watching to see the germs of stardom in Errol Flynn.

I have never ever seen another film quite like this one - which is just as well.

An interesting aside to the `Bounty' story you think you know.

[bamptonj · 4 March 2003]

The fictional part of `IN THE WAKE OF THE BOUNTY' is a brief, piecemeal rendition of the typical Bounty saga; resplendent with over-acting, ludicrously stereotypical costumes and substandard directing. It adds nothing to the arcane mystique and unholiness that later versions would impress upon it (particularly Dino De Laurentis's). The scenes used for Tahiti are taken from un-used stock footage with none of the principle actors appearing in them.

What is compelling, however, is the style in which the movie is made: for the film is also a documentary on the current inhabitants of Pitcairn Island, nearly all of whom are descendants of Christian and his fellow mutineers. It is pleasantly filmed and makes for very compelling viewing: the footage painting these in-bred islanders as resourceful, unique, and resilient.

Errol Flynn's performance is subpar (thought the script doesn't give anyone much scope) and certainly gives no impression whatsoever to his international talent, although it was a scant eighteen months after 'BOUNTY that he would achieve his superstardom.

Laughable Australian film ...

[AlsExGal · 4/10 · 4 May 2023]

...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.

Essential Viewing for Anyone Interested in the Bounty Saga

[briantaves · 7/10 · 27 April 2008]

As the second cinematic presentation of the 1789 mutiny aboard the Bounty–the first was also made in Australia in 1916–this film is required viewing for anyone interested in that historical chapter.

A pre-credits crawl announces the documentary and travelogue endeavor, to follow in the Bounty's wake: promising this is the first of a series from Expeditionary Films that should also entertain. As the movie opens, there is singing in an old English tavern, and the initial impression is that this is not so different from the 1935 Frank Lloyd version. A crusty old sailor recalls for his fellows the strange incidents of that voyage, in a series of flashbacks, and the differences become apparent. There are no topside nautical scenes of the Bounty, just brief shots of sails interspersed with tight settings below decks, mostly among the grumbling, mistreated sailors, and a couple with Bligh and a mute Christian. Errol Flynn in his first film is barely recognizable in that role at this point.

The setting shifts outdoors, as the Tahitians spot the Bounty in the distance, eagerly gathering their boats to go out and meet it. Ashore, they put on a dancing spectacle for the crew, who are drawn into romantic relationships with the natives while living on Tahiti when the Bounty is at anchor. However, after months of bliss, the crew must return to the ship, and depart for England, a placard promising death to those who may seek to desert.

After a few weeks of the voyage home the mutiny erupts, at which point Christian takes command. He denounces Bligh's treatment of him and the crew, the starvation, insults, and lashings, and sets him adrift. Flynn gives his most notable monologue asking no one to follow him–but all are eager to do so. Back in the tavern, the sailor says that Bligh made the voyage back to civilization and two decades have now passed and none knows what has become of Christian and his followers. This leaves open the question of the sailor's own point-of-view and how his omniscience was acquired.

Here the movie shifts from reconstruction of historical events to become the first motion picture event to document the mutineer's haven of Pitcairn Island. Three months were spent filming there by Hollywood-trained pioneer Australian director Charles Chauvel, his wife, and cameraman Tasman Higgins, with an additional two months in Tahiti. Most of the budget was spent on this portion, leaving little for the studio shooting at Cinesound in Bondi.

This second half of the dual narrative strategy is vastly more successful than the first and gives IN THE WAKE OF THE BOUNTY its timeless quality. Beginning at Tahiti, its thriving commerce and tourist aspects of the day contrast with the reception that had greeted the arrival of the Bounty, shown earlier.

The expedition departs for Pitcairn Island and there finds a thriving community of fifty families. While acknowledging the bloodletting of its initial years, the aptly-named John Adams, final surviving crewman of the Bounty, took up the Bible and by his ministry created a paradise. Life is simple and agricultural, the rugged terrain supplying needs and providing the residents with a landscape photographed so as to make the viewer see Pitcairn as a new Eden. The black-and-white photography both captures the natural beauty as well as conveying the sense of a time gone by. The production of IN THE WAKE OF THE BOUNTY, particularly on Pitcairn Island, was related in a book by the director published to coincide with the movie's release, In the Wake of the Bounty--To Tahiti and Pitcairn Island (Sydney: Endeavour Press).

On Pitcairn, the devout people are devoted to one another, sharing all they have equally, everyone contributing their labor, demonstrating the viability of socialism on this island. With the mix of races, and despite the inbreeding, the residents are strong and healthy, even when one individual with the Christian surname marries another. Indeed, one of the Christian descendants is described as the "Beau Brummel" of Pitcairn.

Yet while there are eager visitors to this nearly inaccessible spot, with a harbor that only the trained inhabitants can navigate, there are drawbacks. In the final sequence, one of the resident's first-born is near death, and in need of a physician. A passing freighter with a doctor on board, unwilling to detour from its own course, ignores their distress signal.

This startling, harsh conclusion separates the movie from other South Seas documentaries of the time. An island idyll comes at a price. The second half, with only one very brief coda of another flashback of Christian and another mutineer on the island, becomes a time capsule of an apparent paradise lost; today the island has fewer than 50 inhabitants.

IN THE WAKE OF THE BOUNTY fulfills its purpose of discovering the outcome of that fateful action so long ago. Although it faced censorship over both the depiction of floggings aboard the Bounty and Tahitian women in indigenous garb, the movie was finally given educational endorsement upon its Australian release (one of seven feature-length movies made in the country in 1933). It serves as an ideal companion piece to other filmic presentations of the Bounty saga, which have either so lightly touched upon the Pitcairn portion or outrageously misrepresented its history, most notably in the shallow renditions of 1962 and 1984. The fact that IN THE WAKE OF THE BOUNTY carries forth its story to the final outcome for the mutineers was recognized by MGM when releasing its 1935 spectacular, when the studio bought the rights and used some footage in the 1935 promotional shorts PRIMITIVE PITCAIRN and PITCAIRN ISLAND TODAY. IN THE WAKE OF THE BOUNTY is distinct from other representations, a fitting monument to a historical incident and an enduring legend.

so amateurish, it should NOT be considered Flynn's first film

[planktonrules · 1/10 · 13 June 2005]

This was Errol Flynn's first film and it was made before he made it to Hollywood. This will be obvious to ANYONE once they begin viewing this terrible film. It was made in Australia and it looks more like a made for school video than a real movie intended for general release. Much of it is narrated documentary--including grainy stock film. There were also some reenacted moments concerning the Bounty and they have the same stilted and uninteresting quality you would expect for a non-theatrical release. How anyone might have seen this and seen any promise in Flynn is very doubtful--he is wooden and unengaging and only seen for a small portion of the "movie". It's amazing that only a very short time later he was acting in the fantastic movie Captain Blood! It just goes to show you that first impressions don't always mean anything!

This is one "forgotten" film that is best forgotten--it's only a curiosity for cinemaniacs (and VERY hard to find on video, but I've managed to buy a copy).

An early effort with considerable historical and entertainment value

[davesf · 6/10 · 15 August 2006]

This film is a documentary. In approaching it, it helps to make allowances for the early date. But its age is also a benefit, as it is presumably the first film that was ever made of Pitcairn and shows it at perhaps its prime. I have read that the island now suffers from even fewer vessel visits and a declining population. This movie could not be replicated today, and I am glad it exists and glad to have seen it (which was quite accidental!).

Movie techniques were primitive in 1933, and the film's master is not in good physical condition. The acting is (as others have commented) abysmal, with the exception of the mother towards the end of the film. I agree that the future greatness of Errol Flynn would not be guessed from this. On the positive side, the scenery is spectacular and the story is exciting.

Try accepting the movie on its own terms, and you will enjoy it. I would give it more than 6 points, but have to round the number off. It is better than I expected from the average score.

"We drank heavily and fought over the women..."

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 29 July 2006]

I found the film to be strangely surreal, relating as it does the life on Pitcairn Island for the descendants of Fletcher Christian and his fellow mutineers from the 'Bounty'. After setting Captain Bligh and eighteen of his men adrift in the ocean, Christian and his crew found solace and a life on Pitcairn, seemingly welcomed by the native inhabitants with which they formed an ongoing community. Virtually invisible to ocean going steamers as late as the 1930's, one hundred sixty years of inbreeding among the island's inhabitants is presented as a virtual idyllic utopia.

Told in a documentary style with inserted dramatizations of the mutiny, it appears the picture was put together as sort of a travelogue by Expeditionary Films, whose stated goal at the beginning of the story was to take the viewer to strange and exotic places. In that respect it seems to succeed, and I imagine viewers of the time might have marveled at it's story. By the same token, it leaves out large chunks of the Bounty's history, thereby blurring the distinctions between fiction and fact.

Going in, I was intrigued by this being Errol Flynn's first movie role. In fact, his first appearance on screen is almost comical, somewhat in a 'Saturday Night Live' kind of way. His role thankfully is presented in the limited flashback scenarios that paint a picture of the mutiny and the angst he experienced as a result. For those interested in swordplay, you might better sit this one out.

Considering the film was made in 1933 I was rather impressed with Charles Chauvel's direction and story of this South Seas tale. It's wondrous and weird at the same time and will likely make you thankful for your present circumstances. For anyone wondering what it might be like to live on a secluded tropical island, this is quite the eye opener.

In the Wake of the Bounty review

[JoeytheBrit · 3/10 · 25 June 2020]

A strange combination of historical drama that recreates the mutiny on the Bounty, and a travelogue picture that visits Pitcairn Island, where the mutineers made their home in 1789, and where many of their descendants still resided in 1935. The acting is uniformly awful, even by a young Errol Flynn making his big screen debut in an ill-fitting wig.

Poor

[Michael_Elliott · 28 February 2008]

In the Wake of the Bounty (1933)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Errol Flynn made his debut in this film, which is an early version of Mutiny on the Bounty as well as a travelogue. The old sailor sits at a bar and tells the story of Fletcher Christian (Flynn) and that infamous journey where he helped lead a mutiny. This footage is told via a story but half of the film uses narration to talk about the Pitcairn Island, which is where the travelogue stuff comes from. For some strange reason it was this film, which made Warner sign Flynn, which is rather shocking because he is very wooden in his few scenes here but I guess the studio could have been going on his looks. The film contains quite a bit of female nudity from the locals on the island but these seem more like models due to their looks. This is a really strange film but thankfully it just runs 60-minutes but in the end this is just for those wanting to see a young Flynn before fame.

Every journey has a first step

[schappe1 · 3/10 · 24 September 2020]

Here we see Errol Flynn as a 25-year-old wondering what to do with his life. He was a wonderfully intelligent man who was expelled from school after school and later educated himself on whatever subject interested him better than any school could. He got a job as a clerk for a shipping company, then took off for New Guinea, looking for adventure. He briefly had a government job, somehow became a copra plantation overseer, got involved in gold mining and "recruiting' workers for the plantations and gold fields from the local tribes, a process that has been compared to slavery because recruiters made deals with the tribal chiefs to have tribe members assigned to the m and many were mistreated, something Flynn claims in his autobiography, 'My Wicked, Wicked Ways', he did not do. Flynn tells stories of crossing a stream with a bunch of recruits and of having a boat overturned and watching one of his men eaten by crocodiles and of killing a native in shoot-out and being put on trial for murder. He was acquitted because the body could not be found. Whether these things happened to him or someone else- or happened at all- has been disputed. He then bought a boat, which he called the 'Sirocco' and sailed it from Australia to New Guinea. Where he became overseer at a tobacco plantation and began writing about his adventures.

Flynn, in My Wicked Wicked Ways says that a producer he called 'Joel Schwartz' chartered the Sirocco. This may have been Charles Chauvel, the producer/director of 'In the Wake of the Bounty' who then hired the handsome Flynn to portray Fletcher Christian in a few brief dramatic scenes wrapped around what was really a travelogue/documentary about the Bounty, the descendants of it's mutineers, Tahiti and Pitcairn island.

The documentary is pretty good but the dramatic scenes are pretty dire with amateurish acting on cheap sets in an Australian studio. Flynn looks clueless and nervous but is still better than the scenery chewers in the rest of the cast, who aren't helped by a terrible script. But it was enough to give Flynn the acting bug and he decided to head for England to learn the profession with his pal and fellow roisterer, Dr. Herman Erben, (called Dr. Gerrit Koets in MWWW), with various adventures and misadventures along the way, some of which may have actually happened, (and others not). Erben later developed a fascination with Hitler that caused some to assume that Flynn shared his views, which he most assuredly did not. In England, Flynn did repertory theater and really learned to act, then did a lost film. "Murder at Monte Carlo", a lost film that had to have been better than this - it's what convinced Warner Brothers to give him a contract.

There's a "bell curve" to Flynn's career. Easily his worst films were this first one and his last, "Cuban Rebel Girls", (1959), another amateurish affair that gives no clue as to the greatness in between. From dust to dust....

Australian-made South seas documentary and first Errol Flynn movie

[BSKIMDB · 4/10 · 11 February 2023]

I bought this 1933 picture because I was curious to see the first Errol Flynn movie role. He is playing Fletcher Christian in the historically based Bounty mutiny. He is supposed to be himself a descendant of Christian, which gives an added interest. If you expect a good adventure movie, a kind of an Australian Captain Blood, then you'll sure be disappointed. Better see the Clark Gable or Marlon Brando versions. This is more like a Flaherty documentary, although more amateurly delivered. Image quality is quite defective, specially at the beginning, and rythm is sometimes boring. Real sequences depicting places where the Bounty left its trace constitute the majority of the picture, and between them the dramatised story is now and then added (and abruptly ended). An ancient mariner (Victor Gouriet) remembers the adventure and tells it to a tavern audience. Captain Blight (Mayne Lynton) figures in only a couple of scenes, but Flynn hasn't got much more; the detailed story of the breadfruit plant is left aside. The characters are superficially approached, but this seems to be the producer's intention, giving more time to show Tahitian habits and life at Pitcairn at the time. And it's in this sense that it's worth viewing. Many descendants of the mutineers are shown, as well as community-based island life and their struggle against the wild sea. The alleged remains of the Bounty can still be seen through the clear waters in the natural bay where it lays. I guess the real adventure was in fact lived by the film crew.

Funny is to notice the fact that the picture consistently anticipates producer Charles Chauvel & wife future style, which would develop between long-feature and documentary films.

Let's do everyone a favor and forget about this one

[HotToastyRag · 1/10 · 10 June 2020]

I don't know if Errol Flynn was upset that he didn't get cast as Fletcher Christian in 1935's epic Mutiny on the Bounty, since he played that part in the small-budget Australian indie flick In the Wake of the Bounty two years before. He did get the lead in Captain Blood in 1935, so hopefully he was happy with his own smash hit of the year. Something must have happened to him between 1933 and 1935, because when you watch this terrible movie, you'd never suspect the ridiculously green actor in the terrible wig would become an instant star in Hollywood two years later. If it weren't for his recognizable face, I'd think they were two different people. My hat comes off to whoever gave Errol Flynn acting and confidence lessons.

Errol may play Fletcher Christian in this movie, but he's not really the lead. Victor Gouriet opens the film by drinking with his cronies in a pub, and camera rolls for minute after minute as he drones on and on about his remembrances of his experiences on the Bounty. The camera never cuts, not even when he takes a long drink from his tankard, places it down, and sighs. Finally, when you think you just can't take it anymore, the film cuts to a flashback on the ship, which is where Errol comes in, looking very nervous.

The movie is very short, and it's combined with an equal-length travelogue about Tahiti, showing the beauty of the island, the natives going about their normal activities, and it stops in on Fletcher Christian's descendants to see how they're doing. If that part interests you, you can rent the DVD of 1935's Mutiny on the Bounty and watch the special featurette included. It's the exact same travelogue from this Australian production. Really, the only noteworthy feature of this 1933 flick is the abundance of nude natives once the sailors get to Tahiti. You'll probably see more naked women in this movie than you'll see in a year's worth of other movies, but that's not really a reason to rent a 1933 film, is it?

interesting piece of history

[ksf-2 · 6/10 · 25 July 2018]

Extra interesting historically, as this was the first film for Errol Flynn. Written and directed by australian Charles Chauvel. Captain Bligh is played by Mayne Lynton, who no-one has ever heard of... he started in the silents, but did a bunch more talkies. Lots of O-L-D footage of sailing ships... bad, choppy editing. They DO get extra credit for actually travelling to Tahiti and Pitcairn Island to research and film the story. Looks like Expeditionary Films only filmed one other film in the series ....."Uncivilized" from 1937, also directed by Chauvel. Sadly, Uncivilized does not seem to be available for viewing on Turner Classic. Wake of the Bounty, is interesting to me, historically, if just for the early film footage of Tahiti and Pitcairn, for sure. not really much of a plot, just random scenes of people dancing, and the scenery from 1933. Lots of footage of sailor fights too dark to see, and ships sailing. There was also a silent version of Mutiny from 1916, but probably the most famous one was the later talkie from 1935, with Clark Gable and Charles Laughton. If you haven't seen that one, you should add that to your list! TCM DOES show that one.

Errol Flynn's First Movie Appearance

[springfieldrental · 7/10 · 16 January 2023]

Errol Flynn, one of cinema's more colorful actors during the Golden Age of Hollywood, was known for his swashbuckling and adventuresome roles as well as his frequent womanizing and carousing. Flynn's film debut as a 23-year-old actor was in the low budgeted movie, March 1933's "In The Wake of the Bounty," cinema's first movie with sound to be made on the 1789 British ship mutiny in the Pacific Ocean.

Born 1909 in Tasmania, Australia, Flynn had no acting experience when filmmaker Charles Chauvel scoured for a young man to play Fletcher Christian, second-in-command on the HMS Bounty.

Reportedly Chauvel spotted Flynn's picture in a newspaper showing him with on a wrecked yacht. Another account has John Warwick, an actor in the movie, recommending Flynn as being the ideal Fletcher character.

From "seafaring folk," Flynn had a passion for boats throughout his life. As a troublesome student in several schools, he was kicked out from each one for his hyper behavior. Flynn finally buckled down in his mid-teens to attend an English private boarding school for two years before returning to Australia, where he worked in a series of jobs, including a sheep castrator and a fisherman. His large circle of friends included Warwick, who saw Flynn's appeal for film in his good looks and extraverted behavior.

"In The Wake of the Bounty" was small Australian studio Expeditionary Films' first movie. The movie's introduction says the studio's feature films were travelogues, re-enacting historical events before they segued into the actual places these incidents occurred. The Australian film was second movie in cinema about the mutiny, the first an early 1916 silent. Flynn, who claimed kinship to the Bounty officer Fletcher, could never offer any proof to this lineage. But it's ironic he personally identified so closely to the officer who in the face of authority refused to bend because he felt was right.

"In The Wake of the Mutiny," although a failure at the box office, did serve as an inspiration for Flynn to pursue an acting profession. He immediately went to England where he was able to get a spot on a repertory company, receiving invaluable acting training. He performed on the London and Glasgow stage, and earned the lead in 'Murder at Monte Carlo,' a low budgeted (now lost) Warner Brothers film made in England. Its producer, Irving Asher, was so impressed by Flynn's acting he contacted Warner Brothers Studio to offer him a contract, which it did. He journeyed to Hollywood via an ocean liner in 1935, where he met his future first wife, French-American actress Lil Damita, on board. 1935 proved pivotal in Flynn's career, because after a couple of minor roles in Hollywood, he received the lead as Peter Blood in the swashbuckler movie "Captain Blood."

Hard to rate!

[crisbetts2075 · 6/10 · 25 November 2023]

A difficult one to evaluate. The 'Bounty' segments are pretty dire, with some appallingly melodramatic scripting and truly horrific acting, including - in fact especially - from Mr Flynn, who is making the debut that resulted in Warners' publicity department making up, wholesale, the fiction that the swashbuckler was descended from Fletcher Christian. The travelogue sections are a not-very-credible rose-tinted view of the islanders' hardy stoicism and community spirit in what was essentially a theocratic dictatorship. But, the self-conscious and pompous narration is convincing and they are nevertheless rather interesting in spite of that...

This film is not for the average film fan

[oscar-35 · 6 February 2013]

*Spoiler/plot- Wake of the Bounty, 1933. A later-day account of the the Bounty's travels and history.

*Special Stars- Errol Flynn.

*Theme- Men will only be abused for so long and then they will revolt.

*Trivia/location/goofs- B&W, 16mm, The earliest on camera film acting role for Errol Flynn as Fletcher Christian. He is related to a member of the Bounty main crew(not Fletcher Christian) on his mother's family side. Location shots in the South Seas where the Bounty was supposed to have traveled.

*Emotion- Mr. Flynn is clearly very young, wooden, and shows little on camera charm and camera persona that would make him an icon. Almost silent movie overacting for the camera and cardboard sets in this film. A very rough and hard to enjoy story about the matters connected with The Bounty. This film is not for the average film fan. It is too hard to get through.