The Mutiny of the Bounty

The Mutiny of the Bounty is a 1916 Australian-New Zealand silent film directed by Raymond Longford about the mutiny aboard HMS Bounty. It is the first known cinematic dramatisation of this story and is considered a lost film.

Longford claimed it was the first Australian film to shoot scenes at sea.

Plot
The story deals with the mutiny on HMS Bounty on 28 April 1789, Captain Bligh's journey back to England, the recapture of the mutineers on Tahiti and the subsequent fate of the other mutineers on Pitcairn Island. The story was structured in five acts.

Cast

 * George Cross as Captain Bligh
 * John Storm as King George III
 * D.L. Dalziel as Sir Joseph Banks
 * Wilton Power as Fletcher Christian
 * Reginald Collins as Midshipman Heywood
 * Ernesto Crosetto as Midshipman Hallett
 * Harry Beaumont as Mr Samuels
 * Charles Villiers as Burkett
 * Meta Taupopoki as Otoo
 * Mere Amohau as Mere
 * Ida Guildford as Mrs Heywood
 * Lottie Lyell as Nessy Heywood

Production
Filming took place in Rotorua, Norfolk Island and Sydney starting April 1916.

The movie was partly financed by distributors Stanley Crick and Herbert Finlay in association with J.D. Williams and was described as "probably the most costly production yet made in Australia." Māori actors played the Tahitians who greeted crew members of the Bounty. During shooting the unit came across a real life HMS Pandora. Longford wanted to shoot some scenes on Pinchgut Island in Sydney Harbour but was refused with the authorities giving no reason.

Attempts were made to ensure the script was as historically accurate as possible and Bligh was not as demonised as he would be in later film versions of this story.

Box office
The film received good reviews and was a success at the box office. When the film was released in Sydney on 2 September 1916, it was endorsed by the education department and 2,000 school children attending the initial screening. Lottie Lyell later supervised a recut of the film for the British market.

Critical response
One reviewer described it as the best Australian film ever made.