Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), based on the popular namesake novel by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall, and starring Charles Laughton and Clark Gable as Bligh and Christian, respectively. The film's story was presented, says Dening, as "the classic conflict between tyranny and a just cause"; Laughton's portrayal became in the public mind the definitive Bligh, "a byword for sadistic tyranny". The two subsequent major films, "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1962) with Trevor Howard and Marlon Brando, and "The Bounty" (1984) with Anthony Hopkins and Mel Gibson, largely perpetuated this image of Bligh and that of Christian as tragic hero. The latter film
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (film) over-runs of "Lady L" (which had been postponed) and the remake of "Mutiny on the Bounty", as well as the massive failures of "Cimarron", "King of Kings", "Mutiny on the Bounty", and this film, led to the resignation of MGM's head of production, Sol C. Siegel. The film had its world premiere in February 1962. MGM had become aware by April that the film was not going to be able to recoup its cost and started writing off the losses. Ultimately the movie earned $1,600,000 in the US and Canada and $2,500,000 overseas. Once costs of prints and advertising were