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
Mutiny on the Bounty (1962 film) Bounty took nine months to make rather than the scheduled six and arrived after filming had started. In January 1961, after three months of filming, Reed flew back from location with, reportedly, an "undisclosed ailment". In actual fact he had quit over differences in the direction of the story. He was replaced by Lewis Milestone, who later estimated only five minutes of the final film was Reed's. "Reed was used to making his own pictures," said Milestone. "He was not used to producer, studio and star interference. But those of us who have been around Hollywood are like alley cats.