Mutiny on the Bounty - January 13, 1939 - 00:59:19 - 27.1 MB

On January 13, 1939, Orson Welles and his Mercury players present Mutiny
on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. Cast: Orson Welles
(Captain Bligh), Joseph Cotten (Fletcher Christian), Carl Frank (Roger Byam),
Ray Collins (Thomas Birkitt), Frank Readick (John Fryer), Myron McCormick
(James Morrison), Edgar Barrier (William Purcell), Richard Wilson (Matthew
Thompson), William Alland (Mr. Samuel), Memo Holt (Tehani), Ernest Chappell
(Announcer). Written and Directed by Orson Welles. Co-adapted for radio by
Virginia Nicolson (Mrs. Orson Welles), Howard Koch and John Houseman. Produced
by John Houseman. Music by Bernard Herrmann.

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The novel by Charles Nordoff and James Norman Hall dramatises the actual mutiny
that occurred aboard the British Royal Navy ship HMS Bounty on April 28, 1789,
"written from the point of view of a crewmember of the Bounty. Welles, on the
other hand, chose to tell his version of the story from many points of view.
Various members of the crew relate events, commenting on the action and giving
the audience a look into their attitudes and beliefs... By using this approach,
Welles leaves the audience with much to think about, many questions but no clear
answers." Paul Holler, "Orson Welles, The New Deal, and the Mercury Theatre On
The Air", Critique Magazine.

At the conclusion of the broadcast, Welles introduces Mrs. Dorothy Hall, a Ham
radio operator from Queens, New York. In July 1938, Mrs. Hall helped rescue 214
descendents of the Bounty still living on Pitcairn Island after false reports of
a typhoid epidemic closed their harbor and left them without food and medical
supplies.

An Australian film of Mutiny on the Bounty was made in 1916. A second Australian
film, In the Wake of the Bounty (1933), starred Mayne Lynton as Lieutenant Bligh
and Errol Flynn as Fletcher Christian. Hollywood made Mutiny on the Bounty in 1935,
directed by Frank Lloyd. It won the Oscar for Best Picture and starred Charles
Laughton as Bligh and Clark Gable as Christian. Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) starred
Trevor Howard as Bligh and Marlon Brando as Christian. The Bounty (1984), starred
Anthony Hopkins as William Bligh and Mel Gibson as Fletcher Christian. BBC Radio
presented an adaptation by Bert Coules in 1996, starring Oliver Reed as William
Bligh and Roger Daltrey as Fletcher Christian.