: Mutiny on the Bounty :
Mutiny on the Bounty is a story that fascinates me (as well as many others given its popularity and staying power). I’m not much into navy stories, either historical or modern-day, except for this one. I thought the movie was great and Clark Gable, my personal hunk of burning love, even managed to make those pansy-assed tights and white capri pants look sexy. And that takes some doing.
The version I watched had a short film on the disc about Pitcairn Island, where Fletcher Christian, the Bounty’s most famous mutineer, lived out his life, and where the descendants of the mutineers and their Tahitian island paramours lived into the 21st century (and maybe to this day, not sure about that point). Centuries of a small gene pool has resulted in a lot of intermarriage and a small village of families living out of time and apart from history. It’s just amazing to see the consequences of this tale still playing out.
: The 39 Steps :
Filmsite.org posits that The 39 Steps should have won Best Picture in 1935, although it was not nominated. I have to vote for Mutiny on the Bounty for this year. It is “vintage” Hitchcock and he directed this one before coming to Hollywood and working for Selznik.
It was definitely “Hitchcock” and had all of the key tells that were his trademarks but I have to say it simply wasn’t as engaging as many of his later works. If you’re a big Hitchcock fan check it out, otherwise catch some of his other movies, particularly, in my opinion but not in any particular order, Rebecca, Notorious, Marnie and The Birds.
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