Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)

Mutiny on the Bounty

The filming of Mutiny on the Bounty was delayed and rescheduled several times in 1934 and 1935. In September 1934, Motion Picture Herald reported that two different ships were being constructed as scenery and for crew commuting purposes and that 90 percent of the film would be recorded in the South Seas. In fact, shooting locations would include Catalina Island and multiple spots in the South Seas.

Franchot was not originally slated to play the role of Roger Byam. At one point, Cary Grant was in talks to play the midshipman In 1934, Hollywood Reporter and Hollywood Filmograph both reported the film would star Wallace Beery, Clark Gable and Robert Montgomery. When it came time to shoot, Gable remained but Beery and Montgomery were replaced by Laughton and Tone, respectively. On July 10, 1935, Variety reported that the start of production was contingent upon "Franchot Tone's washing up" on location.

The shoot was exhausting and not without tragedy. As a barge being used for scenes sank off Miguel Island, cameraman Glenn Strong attempted to rescue a camera of shot film and lost his life. Fifty other crew members had to be rescued from the sinking. After the picture was finished, actor Charles Laughton responded to an interviewer by saying:

I'm worn out. You'd be worn out, too, if you'd just finished Mutiny on the Bounty. What a picture. Such work. The location was at Catalina. We climbed up the rigging and sat on guns, and bits of mast kept falling on us.

Franchot was reported as having put on twenty pounds during filming, but if he did, it certainly doesn't show in the final footage. When writer Muriel Babcock visited the set, she found Franchot a bit standoffish. Muriel spent most of her experience fawning over Gable and wrote:

Franchot is invariably bored. He had no scenes on board ship that day, but I saw him in the evening on land nonchalantly putting nickels in the marble machine. He looked surprised at my appearance and inquired, "What for heaven's sakes are you doing here?" And when I told him he said, "My, it doesn't seem possible anyone would deliberately choose such an assignment! When Clark asked to go on a speed boat that night Franchot "wouldn't be bothered". 

However, I think Muriel caught Franchot on an off day—possibly she may have visited when he had a painful tooth that had to be extracted—because Franchot and other cast members bonded over shooting and fishing. In fact, Franchot and Clark—often considered rivals because of their mutual love for Joan Crawford—became fast friends on the set and held admiration for one another because of the experience. For example, New Movie Magazine wrote in September 1935:

And so to a hectic day with the Mutiny on the Bounty company at Catalina aboard an exact replica of the old Bounty that was sunk by mutineers 150 years ago in the South Seas near Tahiti. Discovering that it was really great sport to shoot fish, Clark Gable could be found hanging over the ship's rail any time of day drawing a bead on any herring or filet of sole that happened to be unfortunate enough to swim that way. Watching the fun Franchot Tone, Herbert Mundin and Donald Crisp were so intrigued that they sent ashore for some rifles and in no time at all the placid Bounty sounded like nothing so much as a man-o-war going full blast!

Following the film's release, Mutiny was heralded as the picture of the year. Movie Classic deemed it: 

an epic of man's struggle for justice and peace, embracing every emotion of mankind, with the restless, tireless, ageless sea for its setting. 

The National Board of Review agreed:

In its best and predominate sequences it fills the screen with cinematically visualized imagination. It opens up the sea, and the sea moves or lies placid. It brings the wind and it lets it go. It brings the ship, her sweat, blood, and vigor, her sadness and the sorrow of her people, in a word, her spirit, her adventure, and her end—it brings these succinctly, visually, movingly, as only the motion picture can, and must do.  

And Franchot was praised as a star to watch. Topper's Film Reviews in Hollywood Magazine noted:

Franchot Tone emerges as the big hit of the picture. He drew the only burst of applause at the preview upon completion of his defense in the Admiralty Court on mutiny charges.

Hollywood magazine predicted that Franchot would emerge an in-demand star in 1935:

The role of Roger Byam was one of the biggest plums of the year in Hollywood, and it fell to Franchot Tone by the sort of accident that put him in Lives of a Bengal Lancer. Another actor withdrew to take a different picture assignment and history repeated itself when the Bounty was cast. Robert Montgomery was broken-hearted when other work interfered and Tone got the job. The role fits him glove tight, and depend on it, Franchot will emerge a star when the Bounty is shown. He, too, did his share of suffering for the sake of Metro, to make the Bounty. A paining tooth was no fun, marooned as he was a the isthmus, but a boat finally was hired and he had the tooth yanked without delaying production. Metro chose wisely in casting Franchot, for bear in mind that Gable leaves the picture after the mutiny, and so does Captain Bligh. Laughton and Tone must carry the picture from then on.  

Yet, after this major, critically-acclaimed performance and an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, Franchot was relegated back to a lot of tuxedo roles and programmers after 1935. (I've noted before that if it had been up to Irving Thalberg, MGM's support of Tone would have been substantial.) Many critics and fans (still today) were frustrated at how Franchot's career was treated following such a brilliant performance in Mutiny. Franchot consistently noted that Mutiny and Bengal Lancers were his favorites of his performances and expected those roles to give his film career the momentum he desired. Silver Screen, in 1936, wrote:  

Franchot Tone's studio kept him in white tie and tails most of the time and never gave the poor guy a chance to act. But Paramount borrowed him for The Lives of a Bengal Lancer and he gave such a good performance that his home studio gave him the third most important part in Mutiny on the Bounty and dead indeed is your soul if you did not thrill to his speech before the big shots of the British Navy. But, unfortunately, Franchot's reward for this magnificent bit of acting was one of the dullest parts of the year in a very dull picture called Exclusive Story.

Mutiny was the highest grossing film of 1935 and won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Franchot, Clark and Charles were all nominated as Best Actor for their performances, yet all lost to Victor McLaglen for The Informer—in future years the Best Supporting Actor award would be introduced. The film also received nominations for Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Music Score and Best Film Editing. 

I would be remiss to write a post on Mutiny without including these three photos which I spotted in past online auctions, but sadly (nearly inconsolable about the first one) I did not win.

Un-retouched candid photo of Franchot on the set

A candid of Franchot with a fan on the set.

Another candid of Franchot with fans on the set.

The Film

Set in England in 1787, Mutiny on the Bounty begins with laboring men of all ages being forced into two years of naval service on the HMS Bounty. In stark contrast to the men unhappy to have their freedom taken away, wealthy Roger Byam (Franchot Tone) is eager to board the ship. Byam is very green and idealistic—so much so that Christian (Clark Gable) remarks "A little child shall lead them" when Byam asserts that the ship is safe under his command. Unlike the other men, he has no clue as to how traumatic the next two years of his life will be. After all, Byam is going along for scientific study. Because of his societal position and his family's prominent naval history, Byam has been assigned the task of writing a dictionary of the Tahitian language. When he is warned that Captain Bligh is a "seagoing disaster," the good-natured Byam laughs.

On boarding, Byam discovers that the ship is not as large as he expected and that he will bunk with Hayward and Stewart. As they cross the Pacific Ocean,  the crew is subjected to flogging, severe food and water rationing, chains and other brutal punishments for any perceived infraction by the ruthless Captain Bligh (Charles Laughton). Bligh makes his position known before the ship leaves port, saying:

Discipline's the thing. A seaman's a seaman. A captain's a captain. And a midshipman

—Sir Joseph or no Sir Joseph—is the lowest form of animal life.

Byam quickly learns the ropes and adjusts to life at sea. Unaware that an amused Christian is listening, Byam brags to his bunkmates:

We're off around the world, boys. Light hearts and tight britches off around the world...Don't worry, Stewart, if you get tangled, I'll jump in and pull you out...Mr. Christian holds no terrors for me. I can wade the seven seas and never wet my shirt. They have whales down there that can sink a ship but I can sink the whale. Behold the face that launched a thousand ships!

For all his playful talk, Byam truly does pull his weight and immerse with the crew from the start. When Bligh forces him to hold the masthead during a brutal rainstorm, a sick and freezing Byam holds tight through the night.

Byam remains respectful of the captain although he abhors his practices and becomes good friends with Lieutenant Fletcher Christian. Christian is the voice of reason throughout the film, the man that all other characters (and we, the viewers) look to for guidance and compassion. Still, Christian's been trained to follow the orders of his captain completely and is cautious about challenging Bligh's increasingly brutal practices. When he does defend his fellow men, Christian is punished.

The ship arrives in Tahiti where Byam works with the chief (William Bambridge) to create his Tahitian dictionary and quickly falls in love with the chief's daughter Tehani (Movita Castaneda).  The men finally have an opportunity to enjoy themselves without restraint. After having two passes on the island denied by Captain Bligh, Christian defies him to enjoy a day on the island with Maimiti (Mamo Clark).

As the ship leaves Tahiti for its voyage back, the crew grows weaker and Bligh's punishments intensify. After a man dies and the men continue to starve, Christian can stand by no longer. He incites mutiny and, with the aid of the crew, seizes the ship and forces the Captain and his allies into other boats.

Byam has been locked in his cabin and does not agree with Christian's actions. When Christian asks him for his word that he will not try to take the ship back from him, Byam responds:

You may have it but I'll escape if I can.

Christian has to hit Byam in order to restrain him from stopping the mutiny. When he apologizes, Byam replies:

That didn't hurt. What hurts is that you and I can never again be friends.

Christian sets the ship back to the island where he and Roger return to their loves. With time, their friendship and trust in each other is restored. 

When a British ship is spotted, Byam and other men decide to return to England and allow Christian to escape to another island with his new family and crew. Byam and the loyal crew are shocked to find that Captain Bligh is aboard the new ship as he takes immediate action to imprison them for mutiny.  Upon return to England, the men are court-martialed and found guilty by the court. 

As Byam, Franchot delivers one of the most memorable and powerful speeches in film history. He states:

Milord, as much as I desire to live, I am not afraid to die. Since I first sailed on the Bounty over 4 years ago, I've known how men can be made to suffer worse things than death

—cruelly, beyond duty, beyond necessity. 

Captain Bligh, you've told your story of the mutiny on the Bounty, how men plotted against you, seized your ship, cast you adrift in an open boat. A great venture in science brought to nothing. Two British ships lost. But there's another story, Captain Bligh...of ten coconuts and two cheeses and  a story of a man who robbed his seamen, cursed them, flogged them not to punish but to break their spirit. A story of greed and tyranny and of anger against it, of what it cost. 

One man, milord, would not endure such tyranny. That's why you hounded him, that's why you hated him, hated his friends. And that's why you're beaten. Fletcher Christian's still free.  But Christian lost too, milord. God knows he's judged himself more harshly than you could judge him. I say to his father, he was my friend, no finer man ever lived. I don't try to justify his crime, his mutiny, but I condemn the tyranny that drove him to it. 

I don't speak here for myself alone but for these men you've condemned. I speak in their names and Fletcher Christian's name and all men at sea. These men don't ask for comfort. They don't ask for safety. If they could speak to you they'd say "Let us choose to do our duty willingly, not the choice of a slave but the choice of free Englishmen." They ask only the freedom that England expects for every man. If one man among you believe that, one man, he could command the fleets of England. He could sweep the seas for England if he called his men to their duty not by flaying their backs, but by lifting their hearts, their...that's all. 

Because of his familial connections and pressure from influential friends, Byam receives a pardon by the king and his life is spared.  As the film ends, we see Byam returning to life on the sea and Christian inhabiting a new island.

Sources:

Asher, Jerry. "Franchot tells on himself." Picture Play, 1935.

"A New Log of the Bounty." Hollywood. Jan-Nov 1935.

Babcock, Muriel. "The Only Girl on a Gable Location. Screenland. November 1935.

The Year's Best Pictures and What They Brought Us." Silver Screen April 1936.

Variety, 1934.

Motion Picture Herald, September 1934.

Hollywood Filmograph. January-June 1934.

"Topper's Film Reviews." Hollywood Magazine. June 1935.

Movie Classic. February 1936.

Hollywood. January-November 1935.

New Year, New Franchot Content

Happy New Year! It's been a while since I've posted to the blog, but hopefully you've been seeing the photos on my Franchot Facebook and Instagram in the meantime. I thought I'd kick off the year by posting some Franchot items I added to my collection in 2020. I've been working on getting my research more organized—I seem to have little bits of Franchot spread across laptops and hard drives and tablets and printed in folders. It's very lovely to find a little Franchot sprinkled everywhere I look, but makes it extremely ineffective for posting to the blog in a timely manner.

I spent very little on Franchot memorabilia last year—partly due to an effort to cut back on my spending  (no fun!) but also due to the fact that there was more competition in the Franchot listings that popped up in my eBay feed. 

2020 marked the first year in the five that I've been writing about Franchot that I received really nasty comments, some about Franchot and others directed at me. The internet is a weird place but after four really positive years blogging about FT and encountering so many kind, fantastic Franchot fans, I must admit the random hate took me by surprise.  And, for a while there, it took the joy out of blogging to the point that I thought about just adoring Franchot in private. Then, I received the kindest anonymous comment on a post I did back in September. To that anonymous person I would like to say thank you. Your comment makes it all worth it. 

Here’s what I added in 2020:

Franchot in a publicity portrait for Gabriel Over the White House, 1933.

Franchot walking on the set of Between Two Women, 1937. I had a small Ross collectors 

card of this shot but was thrilled to find this 8x10.

This autographed photo of a very handsome, smiling Franchot. 

I love that he inscribed it to Ann with “Better late than never.”

An envelope commemorating the birth of Franchot that includes an image of Franchot as Byam in Mutiny on the Bounty. The great thing is that not only does it indicate Franchot's birthday as February 27th, the sender also sent it on February 27. It is stamped February 27, 1937 from Brooklyn, New York.

A used matchbook promoting the 1939 play The Gentle People starring Franchot and Sylvia Sidney. Reverse side promotes Rocket to the Moon.

I was over the moon to find this 1930 playbill for one of Franchot's early plays Pagan Lady! 

Star Lenore Ulric graces the cover and would team up with Franchot again 10 years later

 for the play The Fifth Column.

A lovely portrait of Franchot in the 1944 film The Hour Before the Dawn.

Franchot on horse for the 1940 comedy-western Trail of the Vigilantes.

Franchot and Loretta Young during the recording of the radio broadcast Remember the Day in 1943. 

This photo is signed by Loretta.

Franchot photographed in his Brentwood home. I ordered this in December and it just arrived today so I quick a took shot of it. I promise to upload a nice quality scan of it soon.

Happy New Year and all the best to you. Check back for more Franchot!

Franchot in Picture Show Annual

Picture Show was a weekly film fan magazine from the United Kingdom that ran from 1919 to 1960. Picture Show also released an annual magazine with film highlights from the year. Many of the Picture Show Annual magazines are available digitally through the Media Lantern Digital History Project. I search through the MLDH project regularly and digitized indexing doesn't always catch every instance of a person's name. I decided to browse all of the Picture Show Annuals this week and discovered that Franchot was included in many of the years, and even more exciting, some of the photos were new poses for me. 

In other fan magazines I've come across, Franchot had a highly active period of features and interviews in 1933-1935 when he first came to Hollywood and was a sought after leading man. Once Franchot married Joan, most of the fan magazines focused on photos of the couple dining and dancing and attention to Franchot as an individual performer dwindled—at least to those reading at home. Moving forward several years, Franchot became an eligible bachelor and immersed in Hollywood's nightlife. This season of Franchot's life as well as the early days of his marriage to Jean Wallace resulted in frequently published photos in the fan magazines once again.

Here is a timeline of Franchot as featured in Picture Show Annual. Because the periodical was released annually and because it was based in the United Kingdom, you'll notice that some of the film news may seem to be reported on a delay.

1934: Franchot is pictured with the cast of Today We Live at one of Joan's parties.

1935: "Franchot Tone began his screen career as Joan Crawford's brother in Today We Live. Since then he has climbed rapidly to success. The 'T' is silent in his unusual first name, which is actually his third, and his mother's maiden name."

1936: "Franchot Tone, during the three years that he has been making films, has become one of the most sought-after leading men in Hollywood. His previous experience was on the stage. He took part in University dramatics, then appeared in stock companies and in the 'little theatre' movements. This he did in preference to an easy job in his father's big and flourishing business. He had made a film in New York—The Wiser Sex—but he was none too keen on it. However, he went to Hollywood and made his debut with Joan Crawford and Gary Cooper in Today We Live. Since then he has been at work almost continuously, his latest films including Lives of a Bengal Lancer and One New York Night. He lives in a beach house with a friend from New York, a Scottie named Woo-Woo, and a dachshund. Franchot Tone has never lacked money. Even when he ran short, his family was behind him to supply what was lacking. He does not think that this has been in any way detrimental to his character or talents. Relief from the worry of wondering how you are going to get your next meal leaves the mind free to develop far more quickly."

1937: "Franchot Tone brings intelligence and sincerity to every role he plays. His work in Mutiny on the Bounty as Midshipman Byam and in Exclusive Story alone proves his brilliance and versatility."

1938: Franchot Tone and Katharine Hepburn are featured in Quality Street.

1939: Franchot's portrait was featured.

1940: "Franchot Tone, who has recently been on the New York stage, smokes a contemplative pipe."

1942: "Unstarlike Star. Franchot Tone returned to films, after a year on the stage, in Trail of the Vigilantes, followed by Nice Girl with Deanna Durbin. Thirty-five films in the previous seven years, he'd decided, had earned him the change which is proverbially as good as a rest. He is quite untypical of a Hollywood star. He is slow to make friends, his few close ones including Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck, James Stewart, Francis Lederer and Henry Fonda. He says he's not 'high hat' and he adds that he's not 'low brow.' He doesn't like small talk or people who talk about subjects they know nothing about. Among his likes are chess and horse racing. Music is one of his chief interests, sleep another. When is working in a film, he is always in bed by nine-thirty.'

1943:"Individual. Franchot Tone is one of the most individual stars Hollywood has seen--and it's not for effect. He seeks the best in music and literature and he seeks to give the best in his work. He is not what is known as a 'good mixer' and between scenes of a film, when the majority of players gossip or play cards, he can usually be found concentrating on a complicated chess problem in lonely state. He says he is not unsocial, but he is content with a few friends instead of many. He enjoys talk, but not small talk or gossip. He has a subtle, satirical humour, and enjoys discussions on politics, economics and philosophy. He dislikes emotional displays and the broadcasting of private affairs. Born on the American side of Niagara Falls, he chose acting as his profession when he was at college and was given his first job in a stock company owned by his mother's cousin. He has recently been in Nice Girl, This Woman is Mine."

1948: Franchot's portrait with signature was featured. Picture Show Annual included signed photos (many signed specifically for and dedicated to the magazine) of their favorite stars.

Source:

Picture Show Annual. Media Lantern Digital History: https://lantern.mediahist.org/

A Tribute from Shepard Traube

Eleven days after Franchot's death—of lung cancer at the age of 63 on September 18, 1968—Shepard Traube wrote to the editor of The New York Times. I've transcribed that letter here.

To the editor:

I am filled with sorrow that Franchot Tone is no longer with us. He was an artist and a man of grace.

When we were both young men, Franchot was the featured juvenile in a now-forgotten play, "A Thousand Summers," the first Broadway production that I directed. In our company were such deathless stars as Jane Cowl, Osgood Perkins and Josephine Hull. In that group of superb actors, Franchot was a kind of flame. We all knew he was our most promising star of the future, the Hamlet of tomorrow.

It didn't work out quite that way. Franchot went to Hollywood and there was a good deal of turbulence in his life. Yet he never lost his poise, his sense of humor, or his dedication to exquisite standards of taste in the theater.

A couple of summers ago, I took a train to Waterford, Conn., where I was scheduled to participate in a panel discussion for the Eugene O'Neill Foundation people. As I sank into my chair and looked around, there was Franchot, grinning at me quizzically. He was preparing for an experimental production of a play about Gordon Craig, and he was boiling over with excitement about it. There was fire and purpose in him. We babbled to each other during the entire train ride, and continued to talk throughout the day in Waterford. I remember that I had to go back to New York at the end of the afternoon, while he remained on for rehearsals. We hugged each other and said, "Break a bone..."

That's the way I shall remember Franchot.

Shepard Traube

I find this to be a very fitting and, from all I've read about him, an accurate tribute to Franchot. Septembers are always difficult. This year on the anniversary of Franchot's death I needed to see him having fun onscreen so I had a delightful movie marathon featuring the comedies Honeymoon, Man-Proof and The Girl from Missouri.

I ponder what might've been had Franchot lived to the ripe old age of 95. Would he have transitioned into a full-time director and settled down in the theater he purchased shortly before his death? Or maybe change things up and become a theater professor? Would we have seen him finally get his due at awards ceremonies in the 1970's or 1980's? Would he have made a hilarious cameo as a suitor on the first season of The Golden Girls? Franchot was always so versatile that the possibilities are truly endless. 

Source: "Franchot Tone 1905-1968." The New York Times. September 29, 1968.

Tales of Tomorrow: Diamond Lens (1952)

On his way to the guillotine, a scientist recounts his discovery of a diamond lens and his overwhelming need to perfect the microscope for all generations—an obsession so great that it would lead to murder.

This story entitled "Diamond Lens" aired in the Tales of Tomorrow anthology series on March 14, 1952. Franchot would also star in another episode called "The Horn" later that year. Both episodes are intriguing with fantastical elements and strong acting, and fortunately both are available on Youtube. However, my favorite of the two is "Diamond Lens." You can watch it here:

   

With only a half hour to live, Andre (Franchot Tone) shares his story with a priest who has been sent to perform last rites. Andre passionately tells of his life as a starving student of the microscope, a scientist out to make a name for himself while showing everyone a new way to see the world around them.

Andre has only one mission in life: to find the perfect diamond to create a microscope with a diamond lens. He goes without food and new clothes and lives in a tenement, but when a new tenant Gaston Dubois arrives so does an opportunity. The new tenant confides that there's a rare 150-carat diamond worth 50 million francs in his employer's shop.

Knowing this is the diamond he seeks, Andre begs Gaston to steal the diamond and strangles him to get him to reveal its hiding place. When the landlady barges in, the man escapes Andre's grip. Later, Gaston tries to prevent Andre from taking the diamond and is finally killed by Andre.

 

With only one mission in life, Andre feels no guilt about the murder as he sees it as a necessity. He is frankly giddy and full of wonder as he creates a special acid and shapes the diamond into a perfect lens.

When a police inspector shows up in the middle of his experiments, Andre gives himself away by knowing that the diamond is missing and a man dead, information not publicly available. The investigator opts to keep a close eye on Andre in the coming days.

As Andre peers into the diamond lens for the first time, he is dazzled by what his eye beholds. In a single drop of water, Andre sees a new, magical world full of movement and details undetectable to the naked eye. Eager to see the professor about his groundbreaking discovery, Andre hides the diamond in a houseplant as his landlady arrives to clean. 

Andre returns with the professor, who calls him a crackpot, but the diamond is missing. The landlady has used the water pitcher to water the plants—only the water she has used was really Andre's secret acid, which has completely destroyed the precious diamond.

When the professor asserts that Andre is a lunatic who lied about the diamond, Andre replies that he committed murder to get it. As he utters this confession, he sees the police inspector at his door.