Mutiny on the Bounty (1935 film) since the inception of talking pictures. It is grim, gripping and pictorially perfect." John Mosher of "The New Yorker" declared that the filmmakers had "done a good, solid, fine job" and wrote that Laughton's performance as Captain Bligh "may not be exactly the image of the original brute, but it's a Laughton masterpiece." "Mutiny on the Bounty" topped the annual "Film Daily" poll of 523 critics as the best film of 1936 (it was released too late in the year to appear on the 1935 ballot). According to MGM records the film earned $2,250,000 in the US and Canada and
Mutiny on the Bounty first port of call. Christian therefore headed "Bounty" towards the small island of Tubuai, some south of Tahiti. Tubuai had been discovered and roughly charted by Cook; except for a single small channel, it was entirely surrounded by a coral reef and could, Christian surmised, be easily defended against any attack from the sea. "Bounty" arrived at Tubuai on 28 May 1789. The reception from the native population was hostile; when a flotilla of war canoes headed for the ship, Christian used a four-pounder gun to repel the attackers. At least a dozen warriors were killed, and the rest scattered.