Charles Laughton is the world’s perfect on-screen jerk. Sadistic, uncaring, cruel, and dead set on punishing everyone aboard his ship, Laughton became the best Captain Bligh of the multiple film versions of Mutiny on the Bounty because you believe him.
It’s not enough that he dishes out punishment more than food, but he does it with a smug look, completely oblivious to how he is crossing the line and taking advantage of his entire crew. He makes the film, overshadowing even Clark Gable as Fletcher Christian, taking this story of abusive power to another level.
Mutiny is especially violent considering it’s mid-1930’s origins. People are punched, a hand is skewered by a bayonet, blood flows quite freely, and there’s no shortage of just off-screen brutality either as the mutiny itself gets underway.
In direct contrast is Tahiti, the island location shoot producing classical cinematic romance, an added sense of adventure, and that emotional push as the crew and their woman are pulled from each other. It’s a place where friendly exchanges are common, food is in abundance, and the crew is allowed to break free from their overworked shells.