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10 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
A very strange film indeed, 22 May 2005
2/10
Author: loza-1

This is a documentary about the people of Pitcairn Island. In among what is straight documentary, there are a few scenes which acts out the mutiny on the Bounty. If that were not bad enough, the action opens with a few old tars telling yarns in a tavern. And if that were not bad enough, the acting in these scenes (Errol Flynn excepted) is really, really bad.

It is worth watching as a documentary of Pitcairn Island. It is also worth watching to see the germs of stardom in Errol Flynn.

I have never ever seen another film quite like this one - which is just as well.

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6 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
even giants start small, 3 January 2006
2/10
Author: vladimir-137 from australia

This film combines documentary, travelogue-style footage with dramatic 'reconstructions' of the mutiny on the Bounty.

Much of it is silent, ie with music only, as I recall. It's very much a primitive sound-movie, in which the director is still working with silent movie techniques, although not in any sophisticated way.

The acting in the dramatic scenes is uniformly abysmal; very 'stagey' acting even by the more experienced performers. The only interest is in seeing Errol Flynn in his first movie role. He's dreadful: very wooden delivery; as stiff as a parody of amateur theatricals, with no star presence whatsoever.

But I find it of interest for this very reason. It shows that even a superstar like Errol Flynn didn't hatch from the egg fully formed, and that however bad you are to start with, there's still hope ...

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5 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
An interesting aside to the `Bounty' story you think you know., 4 March 2003
Author: bamptonj from Melbourne

The fictional part of `IN THE WAKE OF THE BOUNTY' is a brief, piecemeal rendition of the typical Bounty saga; resplendent with over-acting, ludicrously stereotypical costumes and substandard directing. It adds nothing to the arcane mystique and unholiness that later versions would impress upon it (particularly Dino De Laurentis's). The scenes used for Tahiti are taken from un-used stock footage with none of the principle actors appearing in them.

What is compelling, however, is the style in which the movie is made: for the film is also a documentary on the current inhabitants of Pitcairn Island, nearly all of whom are descendants of Christian and his fellow mutineers. It is pleasantly filmed and makes for very compelling viewing: the footage painting these in-bred islanders as resourceful, unique, and resilient.

Errol Flynn's performance is subpar (thought the script doesn't give anyone much scope) and certainly gives no impression whatsoever to his international talent, although it was a scant eighteen months after 'BOUNTY that he would achieve his superstardom.

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4 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Essential Viewing for Anyone Interested in the Bounty Saga, 27 April 2008
7/10
Author: briantaves from Washington, DC

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

As the second cinematic presentation of the 1789 mutiny aboard the Bounty–the first was also made in Australia in 1916–this film is required viewing for anyone interested in that historical chapter.

A pre-credits crawl announces the documentary and travelogue endeavor, to follow in the Bounty's wake: promising this is the first of a series from Expeditionary Films that should also entertain. As the movie opens, there is singing in an old English tavern, and the initial impression is that this is not so different from the 1935 Frank Lloyd version. A crusty old sailor recalls for his fellows the strange incidents of that voyage, in a series of flashbacks, and the differences become apparent. There are no topside nautical scenes of the Bounty, just brief shots of sails interspersed with tight settings below decks, mostly among the grumbling, mistreated sailors, and a couple with Bligh and a mute Christian. Errol Flynn in his first film is barely recognizable in that role at this point.

The setting shifts outdoors, as the Tahitians spot the Bounty in the distance, eagerly gathering their boats to go out and meet it. Ashore, they put on a dancing spectacle for the crew, who are drawn into romantic relationships with the natives while living on Tahiti when the Bounty is at anchor. However, after months of bliss, the crew must return to the ship, and depart for England, a placard promising death to those who may seek to desert.

After a few weeks of the voyage home the mutiny erupts, at which point Christian takes command. He denounces Bligh's treatment of him and the crew, the starvation, insults, and lashings, and sets him adrift. Flynn gives his most notable monologue asking no one to follow him–but all are eager to do so. Back in the tavern, the sailor says that Bligh made the voyage back to civilization and two decades have now passed and none knows what has become of Christian and his followers. This leaves open the question of the sailor's own point-of-view and how his omniscience was acquired.

Here the movie shifts from reconstruction of historical events to become the first motion picture event to document the mutineer's haven of Pitcairn Island. Three months were spent filming there by Hollywood-trained pioneer Australian director Charles Chauvel, his wife, and cameraman Tasman Higgins, with an additional two months in Tahiti. Most of the budget was spent on this portion, leaving little for the studio shooting at Cinesound in Bondi.

This second half of the dual narrative strategy is vastly more successful than the first and gives IN THE WAKE OF THE BOUNTY its timeless quality. Beginning at Tahiti, its thriving commerce and tourist aspects of the day contrast with the reception that had greeted the arrival of the Bounty, shown earlier.

The expedition departs for Pitcairn Island and there finds a thriving community of fifty families. While acknowledging the bloodletting of its initial years, the aptly-named John Adams, final surviving crewman of the Bounty, took up the Bible and by his ministry created a paradise. Life is simple and agricultural, the rugged terrain supplying needs and providing the residents with a landscape photographed so as to make the viewer see Pitcairn as a new Eden. The black-and-white photography both captures the natural beauty as well as conveying the sense of a time gone by. The production of IN THE WAKE OF THE BOUNTY, particularly on Pitcairn Island, was related in a book by the director published to coincide with the movie's release, In the Wake of the Bounty--To Tahiti and Pitcairn Island (Sydney: Endeavour Press).

On Pitcairn, the devout people are devoted to one another, sharing all they have equally, everyone contributing their labor, demonstrating the viability of socialism on this island. With the mix of races, and despite the inbreeding, the residents are strong and healthy, even when one individual with the Christian surname marries another. Indeed, one of the Christian descendants is described as the "Beau Brummel" of Pitcairn.

Yet while there are eager visitors to this nearly inaccessible spot, with a harbor that only the trained inhabitants can navigate, there are drawbacks. In the final sequence, one of the resident's first-born is near death, and in need of a physician. A passing freighter with a doctor on board, unwilling to detour from its own course, ignores their distress signal.

This startling, harsh conclusion separates the movie from other South Seas documentaries of the time. An island idyll comes at a price. The second half, with only one very brief coda of another flashback of Christian and another mutineer on the island, becomes a time capsule of an apparent paradise lost; today the island has fewer than 50 inhabitants.

IN THE WAKE OF THE BOUNTY fulfills its purpose of discovering the outcome of that fateful action so long ago. Although it faced censorship over both the depiction of floggings aboard the Bounty and Tahitian women in indigenous garb, the movie was finally given educational endorsement upon its Australian release (one of seven feature-length movies made in the country in 1933). It serves as an ideal companion piece to other filmic presentations of the Bounty saga, which have either so lightly touched upon the Pitcairn portion or outrageously misrepresented its history, most notably in the shallow renditions of 1962 and 1984. The fact that IN THE WAKE OF THE BOUNTY carries forth its story to the final outcome for the mutineers was recognized by MGM when releasing its 1935 spectacular, when the studio bought the rights and used some footage in the 1935 promotional shorts PRIMITIVE PITCAIRN and PITCAIRN ISLAND TODAY. IN THE WAKE OF THE BOUNTY is distinct from other representations, a fitting monument to a historical incident and an enduring legend.

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
More Documentary Than Anything Else, 21 July 2008
6/10
Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

I have to admit that I was not sure of what I would be seeing when I finally got a copy of In The Wake Of The Bounty. The Australian film is noted today for being the debut of Errol Flynn in motion pictures is mostly a fine documentary about the lives of the folks on rugged Pitcairn Island, the descendants of the Bounty mutineers and the women they took with them from Tahiti.

When MGM did it's grand scale production of Mutiny on the Bounty in 1935, Louis B. Mayer bought all the rights to this film and it was never shown in America intact. Pieces of it were seen in short documentary subjects about Pitcairn Island.

The producer/director/writer of In The Wake Of The Bounty was Charles Clauvel who some would credit with being the father of Australian cinema. He and his wife and baby girl took motion picture cameras and a crew to Pitcairn Island and put together a fine feature film documentary. And he had about 15 to 20 minutes of acting.

It's a technique that Americans will be familiar with if they watch the History Channel. It calls for the use of some brief live action sequences interspersed with documentary footage and voice-over commentary about whatever event the program is talking about. This is the function of Errol Flynn and the small cast who reenact the Bounty mutiny in microcosm.

Certainly Charles Clauvel did not have the facilities that Louis B. Mayer had so reviewers should go easy on this intrepid Australian who went out to a rarely seen part of the world. Instead of comparing In The Wake Of The Bounty to it's later and more known successors, it might better be compared to some of the documentaries of Frank Buck or Martin and Osa Johnson.

To be sure the acting isn't of the best caliber, I've seen worse however. The film really didn't need the actors, it should have been much better as a straight documentary.

On the other hand Errol Flynn might then have toiled in obscurity and who knows who would have played all those swashbuckling heroes at Warner Brothers.

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
"We drank heavily and fought over the women...", 29 July 2006
6/10
Author: classicsoncall from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I found the film to be strangely surreal, relating as it does the life on Pitcairn Island for the descendants of Fletcher Christian and his fellow mutineers from the 'Bounty'. After setting Captain Bligh and eighteen of his men adrift in the ocean, Christian and his crew found solace and a life on Pitcairn, seemingly welcomed by the native inhabitants with which they formed an ongoing community. Virtually invisible to ocean going steamers as late as the 1930's, one hundred sixty years of inbreeding among the island's inhabitants is presented as a virtual idyllic utopia.

Told in a documentary style with inserted dramatizations of the mutiny, it appears the picture was put together as sort of a travelogue by Expeditionary Films, whose stated goal at the beginning of the story was to take the viewer to strange and exotic places. In that respect it seems to succeed, and I imagine viewers of the time might have marveled at it's story. By the same token, it leaves out large chunks of the Bounty's history, thereby blurring the distinctions between fiction and fact.

Going in, I was intrigued by this being Errol Flynn's first movie role. In fact, his first appearance on screen is almost comical, somewhat in a 'Saturday Night Live' kind of way. His role thankfully is presented in the limited flashback scenarios that paint a picture of the mutiny and the angst he experienced as a result. For those interested in swordplay, you might better sit this one out.

Considering the film was made in 1933 I was rather impressed with Charles Chauvel's direction and story of this South Seas tale. It's wondrous and weird at the same time and will likely make you thankful for your present circumstances. For anyone wondering what it might be like to live on a secluded tropical island, this is quite the eye opener.

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1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
An early effort with considerable historical and entertainment value, 15 August 2006
6/10
Author: davesf from California, United States

This film is a documentary. In approaching it, it helps to make allowances for the early date. But its age is also a benefit, as it is presumably the first film that was ever made of Pitcairn and shows it at perhaps its prime. I have read that the island now suffers from even fewer vessel visits and a declining population. This movie could not be replicated today, and I am glad it exists and glad to have seen it (which was quite accidental!).

Movie techniques were primitive in 1933, and the film's master is not in good physical condition. The acting is (as others have commented) abysmal, with the exception of the mother towards the end of the film. I agree that the future greatness of Errol Flynn would not be guessed from this. On the positive side, the scenery is spectacular and the story is exciting.

Try accepting the movie on its own terms, and you will enjoy it. I would give it more than 6 points, but have to round the number off. It is better than I expected from the average score.

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2 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
Poor, 28 February 2008
Author: Michael_Elliott from Louisville, KY

In the Wake of the Bounty (1933)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Errol Flynn made his debut in this film, which is an early version of Mutiny on the Bounty as well as a travelogue. The old sailor sits at a bar and tells the story of Fletcher Christian (Flynn) and that infamous journey where he helped lead a mutiny. This footage is told via a story but half of the film uses narration to talk about the Pitcairn Island, which is where the travelogue stuff comes from. For some strange reason it was this film, which made Warner sign Flynn, which is rather shocking because he is very wooden in his few scenes here but I guess the studio could have been going on his looks. The film contains quite a bit of female nudity from the locals on the island but these seem more like models due to their looks. This is a really strange film but thankfully it just runs 60-minutes but in the end this is just for those wanting to see a young Flynn before fame.

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2 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
Pretty bad but with some camp appeal and a lot of curiosity value, 19 April 2007
4/10
Author: TimothyFarrell from Worcester, MA

"In the Wake of the Bounty" is one of the worst films I've ever seen. However, it has the special Ed Wood quality badness where the film's incompetency crosses the line over into surrealism at times. The blend of dramatic reenactments and actual (probably staged) documentary resembles "Glen or Glenda", except without the enthusiasm Wood had. It has plenty of unintentional laughs also, and is rather entertaining at moments. To prove that first impressions aren't always everything, we also have Errol Flynn giving his screen debut, in a performance that doesn't show any signs of the charisma and appeal Flynn would have only two years later in "Captain Blood". "In the Wake of the Bounty" is mostly a curiosity for die-hard classic film buffs. (4/10)

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4 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
so amateurish, it should NOT be considered Flynn's first film, 13 June 2005
1/10
Author: planktonrules from Bradenton, Florida

This was Errol Flynn's first film and it was made before he made it to Hollywood. This will be obvious to ANYONE once they begin viewing this terrible film. It was made in Australia and it looks more like a made for school video than a real movie intended for general release. Much of it is narrated documentary--including grainy stock film. There were also some reenacted moments concerning the Bounty and they have the same stilted and uninteresting quality you would expect for a non-theatrical release. How anyone might have seen this and seen any promise in Flynn is very doubtful--he is wooden and unengaging and only seen for a small portion of the "movie". It's amazing that only a very short time later he was acting in the fantastic movie Captain Blood! It just goes to show you that first impressions don't always mean anything!

This is one "forgotten" film that is best forgotten--it's only a curiosity for cinemaniacs (and VERY hard to find on video, but I've managed to buy a copy).

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