Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) - Quotes

Daring Adventure of a Notable Mutineer

Taglines: Clark Gable as the daring mutineer in the screen's most exciting adventure story!

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Sacrifice for Love's Fleeting Moment

Taglines: A Thousand Hours of Hell For One Moment of Love!

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Conflict Over Command and Betrayal at Sea

Bligh: But you're taking my ship. My ship.

Christian: Your ship? The King's ship, you mean. And you're not fit to command it. Into the boat!

Bligh: Casting me adrift thirty five hundred miles from a port of call. You're sending me to my doom, eh? Well, you're wrong, Christian! I'll take this boat, as she floats, to England if I must. I'll live to see you - all of ya - hanging from the highest yard arm in the British fleet!

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Name Inquiry Amidst Personal Struggles

Bligh: What's your name?

Seaman Ellison: Thomas Ellison, sir. Pressed into service. I've got a wife, a baby!

Bligh: I asked your name, not the history of your misfortunes.

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The Call for Freedom and Duty

Midshipman Roger Byam: One man, my lord, would not endure such tyranny. That's why you hounded him. That's why you hate him, hate his friends. And that's why you're beaten. Fletcher Christian's still free. Christian lost, too, my lord. 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 or for these men you condemn. I speak in their names, in Fletcher Christian's name, for 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.

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The Cost of Tyranny and Greed

Midshipman Roger Byam: My lord, much as I desire to live, I'm not afraid to die. Since I first sailed on the Bounty over four 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 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 cocoanuts and two cheeses. 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.

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Reflections on the Voyage of the Bounty

Midshipman Roger Byam: To the voyage of the Bounty. Still waters of the great golden sea. Flying fish like streaks of silver, and mermaids that sing in the night. The Southern Cross and all the stars on the other side of the world.

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Critique of Naval Authority and Respect

Lt. Fletcher Christian: [to Bligh] You have obtained degrees from the Navy, but you have not got our admiration

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The Burden of Defiance and Regret

Lt. Fletcher Christian: [to Byam] When you're back in England with the fleet again, you'll hear the hue and cry against me. From now on, they'll spell mutiny with my name. I regret that.

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Defiance Against Authority and Nature

Lt. Fletcher Christian: [to Bligh] I'll take my chance against the law. You'll take yours against the sea.

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Defiance in the Face of Authority

Lt. Fletcher Christian: [to Bligh] Now you've given your last command on this ship. We'll be men again if we hang for it.

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Betrayal and Discontent at Sea

Lt. Fletcher Christian: [about Bligh] I've never known a better seaman, but as a man, he's a snake. He doesn't punish for discipline. He likes to see men crawl. Sometimes, I'd like to push his poison down his own throat.

The Importance of Discipline at Sea

Capt. William Bligh: Can you understand this, Mr. Byam? Discipline is 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 in the British Navy.

Captain Bligh's Command on Punishment

Capt. William Bligh: [to a crewman who begs for water] I'll give you water. Mr. Morrison. Keel haul this man.

Captain Bligh's Critique of Crew's Skills

Capt. William Bligh: During the recent heavy weather, I've had the opportunity to watch all of you at work on deck and aloft. You don't know wood from canvas! And it seems you don't want to learn! Well, I'll have to give you a lesson.

Authority and Duty on the Ship

Capt. William Bligh: The ship's company will remember that I am your captain, your judge, and your jury. You do your duty and we may get along. Whatever happens, you'll do your duty.

Law of Fear and Obedience

Capt. William Bligh: [to Christian] They respect but one law - the law of fear...I expect you to carry out whatever orders I give, whenever I give them.