Mutiny On The Bounty (1962/Warner HD-DVD)
Picture:
B+ Sound: B- Extras: B- Film: B-
PLEASE NOTE: This HD-DVD edition of this film
has been discontinued, but is due on Blu-ray and you can read about the
original 1935 version on Blu-ray at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10537/Mutiny+On+The+Bounty+(1935/Warn
How great
was Marlon Brando? When MGM wanted
another big screen hit, they signed him at his red hot early peak after hits
like Guys & Dolls, Sayonara, The Young Lions and One-Eyed
Jacks for a remake of their 1935 classic Mutiny On The Bounty. They
were still a very powerful studio and it would be produced on location in a
large frame format, meaning it was one of their biggest gambles that year. Hoping Brando could bring something new to
the rebel Fletcher Christian and that the intense Trevor Howard could cause
additional fireworks as Captain William Bligh, the greenlight was given and the
great journeyman director Lewis Milestone would direct after Brando used his
power and had Sir Carol Reed removed as the first director.
It is a
good interpretation of the story, thanks to a screenplay by Charles Lederer
with the uncredited help of no less than the likes of Ben Hecht, Eric Ambler,
William L. Driscoll, John Gay and Borden Chase.
Too many cooks did not spoil the soup and though it was ultimately a
good film worthy of the big production values, at 185 minutes and without the
intensity of the 1935 version, it is overly long at times and a few production
aspects have not dated well. However, 45
years later, it is a marvel to look at, entertaining to watch and HD-DVD
delivers it in a way that often impresses.
Some moments are even demonstration quality for any HD playback.
To its
advantage, it takes its time trying to tell more of the story of the conflict
between the two men and their crew, which has its moments and sometimes plays
as a commentary (intended or not) on the 1935 film. The film attempt at naturalism was something
in 1962, but between Stanley Kubrick’s Barry
Lyndon (1975, which changed the costume epic forever) and Roger Donaldson’s
underrated 1984 version The Bounty
with no less than Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins, some of the glossy aspects
look too glossy. However, with more
authentic casting of native characters and some ambitious acting from a cast
that includes Richard Harris, Hugh Griffith, Richard Haydn, Percy Lambert,
Gordon Jackson and Tarita, there is always something interesting to see here. Also once again, one is reminded on how good
epic films look when they do not use digital effects.
The 1080p
2.76 X 1 image was shot in the anamorphic 65mm negative film format Ultra
Panavision 70, also known as MGM Camera 65.
The widest of all widescreen formats, this was meant to equate the
aspect ratio of Cinerama, the first and one of the greatest of all widescreen
formats. While that format required
three strips of 35mm film with slightly taller frames than 1.33 X 1, Ultra
Panavision 70 offered less negative space but did 5the same frame with one
camera instead of three interlocked. MGM
first used the format for their 1957 release Raintree County, had one of their greatest successes ever using it
on their 1959 remake of Ben-Hur and
saw its final use on another Charlton Heston epic in 1966, Khartoum for United Artists.
This was
the first to use the system under the Ultra Panavision 70 name and third of ten
features ever produced this way. Slight
alterations had been made in each of the first three productions and all were
also issued in three-strip dye-transfer IB (imbibition) 35mm Technicolor
prints. Since the color in these large
frame film formats is always superior to that of 35mm, digital and everything
lower, you can imagine how good these looked in theaters. Hoping for another Ben-Hur, MGM made sure the Mutiny
was a grand production, from the fantastic recreation of the H.M.S. Bounty ship
to the stunning locations used throughout.
This
third MGM Camera 65/Ultra Panavision 70 production used the same great
cinematographer as the first, Robert Surtees, A.S.C., who also broke ground
with large frame formats shooting Oklahoma!
(1955, reviewed elsewhere on this site) and innovating widescreen and world
cinema filmmaking in the process. This
version has very consistent color, even when it goes for a subdued realism,
while Video Black is usually solid.
Close shots are fine, but as has been the case with the print used in
recent disc editions and broadcasts, the shots get softer and detail challenged
as they pull out to wide shots.
Why? Are they trying to avoid
allowing you to notice the model of The Bounty?
Is it just an older HD transfer?
Does the 65mm negative need some more work? You still get letterboxing of the 2.76 image
within the 1.78 frame, of course, but it holds up similarly well to 1.33 X 1
block style older films in the 1.78 frame like Casablanca and The
Adventures Of Robin Hood (both reviewed in HD-DVD elsewhere on this site)
while it is easier to get used to.
Wonder how this compares to a fresh 65mm or 35mm Technicolor print?
The
original soundtrack for the film was 6-track magnetic stereo with traveling
dialogue and sound effects still present in this Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 mix
similar too and a bit better than the standard DVD. The music by the great Bronislau Kaper
defines the term epic and was so extensive that Film Score Monthly’s FSM CD
label issued a limited edition 3-CD set of the score and a bunch of alternate
and outtake tracks. Limited to 3,000
copies, you can read more about it in its own review at:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/1698/Mutiny+On+The+Bounty+(Limited+3-CD+Set)
You can
read about another big 2.76 Ultra Panavision epic now on HD-DVD, Battle Of The Bulge, at the following
link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5415/The+Battle+Of+The+Bulge+(1965/HD
This 5.1
mix has limited bass and surrounds, while the traveling sounds can be amusing
at times, but once you adjust, you get the idea of the kind of stage-like
soundstage this and similar big screen film releases had at the time.
Extras
include a set of alternate prologue and epilogue sequences not seen
theatrically, four terrific vintage featurettes that show the MGM publicity
machine still alive & well: Story Of The
H.M.S. Bounty, Voyage Of The Bounty To
St. Petersburg, Tour Of The Bounty,
1964 World's Fair promo, the new featurette After
The Cameras Stopped Rolling: The Journey Of The Bounty and a Marlon Brando
trailer gallery of titles from Warner’s MGM and Warner title holdings.
Once
again, Warner Bros. has dug deep into their massive feature film catalog and
pulled out another winner among massive large-frame format productions. Mutiny
On The Bounty 1962 may not always work, but it works more often than not
and in HD-DVD, its original impact can finally be appreciated in a way that was
impossible on home video before. The
film almost broke even, never amounting to the huge hit MGM needed at the
time. However, the then $19 Million
budget ($120 – 125 by 2007, ironically not higher than some recent
productions!) is usually all on the screen.
It is also one of the more memorable of the large frame format
productions of the 1950s and 1960s with Brando’s performance alone making the
film worth seeing the whole thing through at least once.
A Blu-ray
version is also on the way.
- Nicholas Sheffo
