Mutiny on the Bounty (1935 film)

1935 film by Frank Lloyd

Mutiny on the Bounty

Theatrical release poster

Directed by| Frank Lloyd
Written by| Talbot Jennings
Jules Furthman
Carey Wilson
John Farrow (uncredited)
Based on| Mutiny on the Bounty
1932 novel)Men Against the Sea
1933 novel
by Charles Nordhoff
James Norman Hall
Produced by| Frank Lloyd
Irving Thalberg
Starring| Charles Laughton
Clark Gable
Franchot Tone
Movita Castaneda
Mamo Clark
Cinematography| Arthur Edeson
Edited by| Margaret Booth
Music by| Herbert Stothart
Distributed by| Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Release date

* November 8, 1935 (1935-11-08)

Running time

| 132 minutes
Country| United States
Language| English
Budget| $1,950,000[1]
Box office| $4,460,000[1][2] (rentals)

Mutiny on the Bounty is a 1935 American historical adventure drama film directed by Frank Lloyd and produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.[3] It dramatizes the mutiny of HMS Bounty, and is adapted from the novels Mutiny on the Bounty and Men Against the Sea by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall.[4] It stars Charles Laughton as William Bligh, Clark Gable as Fletcher Christian, and Franchot Tone as Roger Byam (based on Peter Heywood).

Despite historical inaccuracies, the film was a huge box office success, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1935 and one of MGM's biggest hits of the 1930s. The film was also a major critical success, and received a leading eight nominations at the 8th Academy Awards, winning Best Picture.

## Plot

[edit]

In 1787, William Bligh commands the Royal Naval merchant vessel HMS Bounty. Bligh is a brutal tyrant who routinely administers harsh punishment to officers and crew alike who lack discipline, cause any infraction on board the ship, or defy his authority in any manner. After press ganging a crew out of a local pub, the Bounty sets sail from Portsmouth on a two-year voyage across the Pacific, to transport breadfruit from the Polynesian islands to Jamaica.

Fletcher Christian, the ship's executive officer, is a formidable yet compassionate man who disapproves of Bligh's treatment of the crew. Roger Byam is an idealistic midshipman who is divided between his loyalty to Bligh, owing to his family's naval tradition, and his friendship with Christian.

During the voyage, the enmity between Christian and Bligh grows after Christian openly challenges Bligh's unjust practices aboard the ship. When the ship arrives at the island of Tahiti, where the crew acquires breadfruit plants to take to the West Indies, Bligh punishes Christian by refusing to let him leave the ship during their stay.

Byam, meanwhile, sets up residency on the island and lives with the island chief, Hitihiti (William Bambridge), and his daughter, Tehani, and he compiles an English dictionary of the Tahitian language. Hitihiti persuades Bligh to allow Christian a day pass on the island. Bligh agrees, but quickly repeals the pass out of spite. Christian disregards the order and spends his day off the ship romancing a Tahitian girl, Maimiti. Christian promises her he will be back someday.

After leaving Tahiti, the crew begins to talk of mutiny after Bligh's harsh discipline leads to the death of the ship's beloved surgeon, Mr. Bacchus, and Bligh severely cuts water rationing to the crew in favor of providing more water for the breadfruit plants.

Christian, although initially opposing the idea, decides he can no longer tolerate Bligh's brutality when he witnesses crew members shackled in iron chains, and he approves the mutiny. The crew raids the weapons cabinet and seizes the ship. Bligh and his loyalists are cast into a boat and set adrift at sea with a map and rations to ensure their survival. Due to Bligh's steady leadership, they are able to find their way back to land.

Meanwhile, Christian orders that Bounty return to Tahiti. Byam, who was in his cabin during the mutiny, disapproves of what Christian has done and decides the two can no longer be friends.

Months later, Byam is married to Tehani, and Christian has married Maimiti and has a child with her, while the rest of the crew are enjoying their freedom on the island. After a long estrangement, Byam and Christian reconcile their friendship. However, when the British ship HMS Pandora is spotted approaching, Byam and Christian decide they must part ways. Byam and several crew members remain on the island for the ship to take them back to England, while Christian leads the remaining crew, his wife, and several Tahitian men and women back on board Bounty in search of a new island on which to seek refuge.

Byam boards Pandora and, much to his surprise, discovers that Bligh is the captain. Bligh, who suspects that Byam was complicit in the mutiny, has him imprisoned for the remainder of the journey across the sea.

Back in England, Byam is court-martialed and found guilty of mutiny. Before the court condemns him, Byam speaks of Bligh's cruel, dehumanising conduct aboard Bounty. Due to the intervention of his friend Sir Joseph Banks and Lord Hood, Byam is pardoned by King George III and allowed to resume his naval career at sea.

Meanwhile, Christian has found Pitcairn, an uninhabited yet sustainable island that he believes will provide adequate refuge from the reach of the Royal Navy. After Bounty crashes on the rocks, Christian orders her to be burned.

## Cast

[edit]

* Charles Laughton as Captain William Bligh[a]
* Clark Gable as Fletcher Christian
* Franchot Tone as Midshipman Roger Byam (based on Peter Heywood)
* Herbert Mundin as Alexander Smith
* Eddie Quillan as Thomas Ellison
* Dudley Digges as Bacchus (based on Thomas Huggan)
* Donald Crisp as Burkitt
* Henry Stephenson as Sir Joseph Banks
* Francis Lister as Captain Nelson
* Spring Byington as Mrs. Byam
* Movita Castaneda as Tehani
* Mamo Clark as Maimiti (Mauatua)
* Byron Russell as Matthew Quintal
* David Torrence as Lord Hood
* John Harrington as Mr. Purcell
* Douglas Walton as Stewart
* Ian Wolfe as Maggs
* DeWitt Jennings as John Fryer
* Ivan F. Simpson as Morgan
* Vernon Downing as Thomas Hayward
* William Bambridge as Hitihiti (Pōmare I)
* Marion Clayton as Mary Ellison
* Stanley Fields as William Muspratt
* Wallis Clark as James Morrison
* Crauford Kent as Lt. Edward Edwards
* Pat Flaherty as Charles Churchill
* Alec Craig as William McCoy
* Hal LeSueur as Millard
* Dick Winslow as Tinkler
* Charles Irwin as Thompson

Uncredited

* Harry Allen as Wherryman
* David Niven, James Cagney and Dick Haymes as Crewmen

## Production

[edit]

The film is based on Mutiny on the Bounty and Men Against the Sea, the first two novels of The Bounty Trilogy written by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. Director Frank Lloyd purchased the rights to the novel and offered to sell the project to MGM chief Irving Thalberg, on the condition that he be allowed to direct and star, and that the film be shot on-location in Tahiti. Thalberg agree to let Lloyd direct, but rejected his other demands.[4]

Frank Lloyd and Thalberg undertook extensive research of 18th century British naval customs and archival records pertaining to the actual mutiny, in a bid for his historical authenticity. Lloyd consulted genealogical charts in order to contact and interviewing living descendants of the original Bounty crew, transcripts of the courts-martial, and also read William Bligh's own memoir A Narrative of the Mutiny on His Majesty's Ship "Bounty".[4]

John Farrow, Robert Hopkins, and Allen Rivkin were uncredited screenwriters on the film.[4]

### Casting

[edit]

Charles Laughton as Captain Bligh set adrift by Fletcher Christian (Clark Gable). Clark Gable as Fletcher Christian Franchot Tone as Roger Byam in the film's trailer, incorrectly referred to as an Ensign.

The film was originally conceived as a starring vehicle for Wallace Beery (as Bligh) and Robert Montgomery (as Byam), but both were replaced before production began.

Clark Gable was initially opposed to playing Christian, since it meant shaving his trademark mustache.[4]

Charles Laughton, who had a severe self-image complex concerning his weight and unattractive looks, suffered horribly in comparing himself to the handsome, masculine Clark Gable.[5] Laughton would constantly watch his own walk, gestures, and face, making sure not to let his complex be projected.[5]

During pre-production, Laughton discovered that Bligh's tailoring establishment still possessed one of Bligh's original transaction records, which contained the price as well as the measurements and type of material of his uniforms. At Laughton's request, the tailor used the records to reproduce Bligh's uniforms.[4]

### Filming locations

[edit]

* Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios – 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, United States (studio)
* Monterey Bay, Monterey, California, United States
* Monterey Harbor, Monterey, California, United States
* Sailing Ship Restaurant, Pier 42, The Embarcadero, San Francisco, California, United States (ship Ellen as the Bounty)
* San Miguel Island, California, United States
* Santa Barbara Channel, Channel Islands, California, United States
* Santa Catalina Island, Channel Islands, California, United States
* South Beach Harbor, South Beach, San Francisco, California, United States (ship Ellen as the Bounty)
* South Pacific, Pacific Ocean
* Tahiti, French Polynesia

James Cagney (then on a hiatus from Warner Bros. during a contract dispute) and future stars David Niven and Dick Haymes were uncredited extras in the movie. Cagney is clearly visible toward the beginning of the film. He was sailing his boat near where the film was shooting near Catalina Island; director Frank Lloyd was an old friend of his, and Cagney asked him if he could play a small part in the film, saying, jokingly, "I need the money". Lloyd had Cagney dressed in a crewman's clothes and put him in the background of a few scenes.

Second unit camera operator Glenn Strong was killed after a barge the crew was using capsized off San Miguel Island.[4]

### Ships

[edit]

The ship that starred as the Bounty was built in 1882 as the Lily, by the Dickie Brothers in San Francisco.[6] She was used for filming starting 1920, when an unknown film production was given permission to burn her decks while moored in San Francisco. In July of 1920, the Lily was towed into Newport Harbor, and was cited as the largest ship to have entered the harbor. MGM would purchase the Lily in May of 1927, and she was used in the films The Single Standard (1929), and The Ship from Shanghai (1930). She was sold in 1932 and worked as a salvage vessel. By June of 1934, MGM owned her and conversion to appear as the Bounty was underway.

By 1937 the replica Bounty and Pandora were moored together at the entrance to the Port of Long Beach. By 1939, they were in disrepair. By 1941, they had been moved to a location deeper into the harbor. In 1946, MGM sold the Bounty to F.W. Eaton, who restored the schooner rigging, and anchored her off of Cabrillo Beach, Los Angeles. The August 13, 1950 edition of the Long Beach Press-Telegram reports that sometime after conversion to a fishing barge, the ship had dragged its anchor during a storm, battered herself against the breakwater, and sank.[7]

The Nanuk (replica Pandora) was sold sometime between 1941 and 1946 to the Pacific National Shipping Company of Mexico, where her masts were removed, and Lloyds would lister her working as an oil-powered motor freighter. She would disappear from the Lloyd's register in 1960.[8]

## Historical accuracy

[edit]

The film's screenplay is based largely on the Nordhoff-Hall novels, and contains several historical inaccuracies.

The movie contains several historical inaccuracies. Captain Bligh was never on board HMS Pandora, nor was he present at the trial of the mutineers who stayed on Tahiti.

At the time, he was halfway around the world on a second voyage for breadfruit plants. Fletcher Christian's father had died many years before Christian's travels on board Bounty, whereas the film shows the elder Christian at the trial. The movie was always presented as an adaptation of the Nordhoff and Hall trilogy, which already differed from the actual story of the mutiny.

Bligh is initially depicted as a brutal, sadistic disciplinarian, only becoming more sympathetic during the voyage to Timor. Particular episodes include a keelhauling and flogging a dead man. Neither of these happened. Keelhauling was used rarely, if at all, and had been abandoned long before Bligh's time. Indeed, the meticulous record of Bounty's log reveals that the flogging rate was lower than the average for that time.[9]

Prior to the mutiny, Bounty had only two deaths. One seaman, James Valentine, died of an ill-defined respiratory illness; logs indicate he was "seized with a violent hollow Cough and spit much." And the ship's surgeon, Thomas Huggan, apparently died of complications due to his chronic alcoholism, not as a result of abuse by Bligh. In fact, Bligh had threatened to seize and impound Huggan's alcohol stocks on account of him regularly being intoxicated while on duty, a threat Bligh eventually carried out. Huggan's constant drunkenness left Bligh little choice but to oversee key health issues himself. Notably, the crew had been examined constantly for scurvy, and Bligh – his expertise in this matter developed under Captain James Cook – had detected no verified signs of the illness at any time.

Likewise, the film shows the mutineers taking over the ship only after killing several loyal crewmen, when in fact none died (although one crewman came very close to shooting Bligh until stopped by Christian). Lastly, Christian is shown being inspired to take over the ship after several crewmen have unjustly been put into irons by Bligh; this is fictional.[citation needed]

In the final scene of the film, Christian gives a rousing speech to his fellow mutineers, speaking of creating a perfect society of free men on Pitcairn, away from Bligh and the navy. The reality was very different as mutineers enslaved Tahitian men.[10]

For historical accuracy, Clark Gable reluctantly had to shave off his moustache because the sailors in the Royal Navy in the 18th century had to be clean-shaven. Midshipman Roger Byam was based on a real person, Midshipman Peter Heywood, who is not listed in the novel or motion picture. Just as the fictional Byam is pardoned at the end of the film, the real-life Heywood was pardoned for his part in the mutiny. MGM trailers in 1935 made an error calling Midshipman Byam an ensign.

Mutineer Thomas Ellison is depicted as being allowed to see his wife before his execution. There is no record to indicate that the real Ellison was married, and in any case, a consolation visit of this type never would have been permitted in real life.

## Reception

[edit]

Advertorial poster

Contemporary reviews were enthusiastic. Andre Sennwald of The New York Times wrote, "Grim, brutal, sturdily romantic, made out of horror and desperate courage, it is as savagely exciting and rousingly dramatic a photoplay as has come out of Hollywood in recent years. The Nordhoff-Hall trilogy was, of course, born to be filmed, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer has given it the kind of production a great story deserves."[11] The Hollywood Reporter raved that it was "one of the greatest films of all time", with "the epic sweep of the sea itself."[12] Variety called it "Hollywood at its very best. The story certainly could not have been presented as powerfully through any other medium."[13] Film Daily wrote, "This is one of the most important productions since the inception of talking pictures. It is grim, gripping and pictorially perfect."[14] John Mosher of The New Yorker declared that the filmmakers had "done a good, solid, fine job" and wrote that Laughton's performance as Captain Bligh "may not be exactly the image of the original brute, but it's a Laughton masterpiece."[15] Mutiny on the Bounty topped the annual Film Daily poll of 523 critics as the best film of 1936 (it was released too late in the year to appear on the 1935 ballot).[16][17]

Rotten Tomatoes reports a 96% approval rating based on 74 reviews, with a weighted average of 8.60/10. The site's consensus reads: "The historical inaccuracies in this high-seas adventure are more than offset by its timeless themes, larger-than-life performances from Clark Gable and Charles Laughton, and Frank Lloyd's superb direction".[18]

### Box office

[edit]

According to MGM records the film earned $2,250,000 in the US and Canada and $2,210,000 elsewhere resulting in a profit of $909,000.[1]

It was the 3rd most popular film at the British box office in 1935–36.[19]

## Awards and honors

[edit]

### Academy Awards

[edit]

This film is, as of 2023, the last Best Picture winner to win in no other category (following The Broadway Melody and Grand Hotel). It is the only film to have three Best Actor nominations. As a result of this, a Best Supporting Actor category was created for the Oscars, beginning with the following year's awards ceremony.

Award  | Nominee  | Result

|
|

Best Picture | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
(Irving Thalberg and Frank Lloyd producers)  | Won
Best Director | Frank Lloyd | Nominated
Best Actor | Clark Gable | Nominated
Charles Laughton | Nominated
Franchot Tone | Nominated
Best Writing, Screenplay | Jules Furthman, Talbot Jennings and Carey Wilson | Nominated
Best Film Editing | Margaret Booth | Nominated
Best Music, Scoring | Nat W. Finston and Herbert Stothart
("Love Song of Tahiti" written by Walter Jurmann, uncredited)  | Nominated

### Other honors

[edit]

American Film Institute recognition

* AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies #86
* AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains:
* Captain Bligh, Villain #19

## Cancelled sequels

[edit]

In 1940 Frank Lloyd was reported as wanting to make a film about the life of Captain Bligh starring Spencer Tracy or Charles Laughton, at Universal. It was never made.[20]

In 1945, it was reported that MGM would make a sequel with Gable, Christian of the Bounty. It would be based on a novel by Charles Nordhoff about Christian's romantic adventures in England and South America following the colonization of Pitcairn Island and would be produced by Carey Wilson.[21] It was never made.

## Other film versions

[edit]

A 1962 three-hour-plus widescreen Technicolor remake, starring Marlon Brando as Fletcher Christian and Trevor Howard as Capt. Bligh, was a disaster both critically and financially at the time. Nonetheless, the remake was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar.

In 1984, Mel Gibson played Christian opposite Anthony Hopkins as Bligh in a film (based not upon the Nordhoff-Hall novels but on an historical work by Richard Hough) called The Bounty. This latest version, which gives a far more sympathetic view of Bligh, is considered to be the closest to historical events.

The 1935 version was itself not the first film account of the mutiny. In 1933 an Australian film entitled In the Wake of the Bounty, with the then-unknown Errol Flynn as Fletcher Christian, was released, but was not successful and received few bookings outside Australia. Flynn noted in his autobiography that whenever he mentioned that he'd played Christian in an Australian version of Mutiny on the Bounty two years before Gable, no one ever believed him. There was also an even earlier silent film, the 1916 Australian–New Zealand film, The Mutiny on the Bounty directed by Raymond Longford.

## Parodies

[edit]

* Friz Freleng's cartoon Mutiny on the Bunny casts Yosemite Sam (called Shanghai Sam) as a foul-tempered skipper who shanghais Bugs Bunny, only to see Bugs rebel. Also, in one scene in Freleng's earlier Buccaneer Bunny, Bugs dresses up as Capt. Bligh (including a visual and vocal impression of Charles Laughton) and barks out orders to Sam (called Seagoin' Sam).
* The 1967 Lost in Space episode "Mutiny in Space" features Ronald Long imitating Charles Laughton in the role of spaceship captain "Admiral Zahrk."
* Morecambe and Wise performed a sketch with Arthur Lowe (who played Captain Mainwaring in Dad's Army) as Captain Bligh. At the end of the sketch it is announced Bligh has some loyal crewmen who turn out to be other cast members of Dad's Army.
* "Holidays at Home", a 1978 episode of It Ain't Half Hot Mum, includes a dream sequence where the sitcom's cast enact scenes from the film.
* The Simpsons episode "The Wettest Stories Ever Told" features the family telling stories set on ships. The second segment is a parody on Mutiny on the Bounty and casts Principal Skinner as Capt. Bligh, brutalizing the crew members (played by Bart, Milhouse, Martin, Nelson, Jimbo, Dolph and Kearney).

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
2. ^ Mutiny on the Bounty, Overview Archived March 17, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. Movie Guy 24/7. Retrieved April 14, 2013
3. ^ ED STOCKLY.Movies on TV this week: March 15: ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ on Freeform; Raiders of the Lost Ark and more. Los Angeles Times.
4. ^ a b c d e f g "AFI|Catalog". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved June 26, 2024.
5. ^ a b "Charles Laughton". Hollywood Greats. Series 2. Episode 5. August 31, 1978. 12–13 minutes in.
6. ^ https://jayseaarchaeology.wordpress.com/2023/01/29/the-first-replica-bounty/
7. ^ The Mariner (August 13, 1950). "Junk Ships Vanish, Steel Replaces Wood". Long Beach Press-Telegram. No. 195. Retrieved December 10, 2024.
8. ^ https://jayseaarchaeology.wordpress.com/2023/01/29/the-first-replica-bounty/
9. ^ "MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY". movieguide.org. Movieguide. June 24, 2020. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
10. ^ Buchanan, Kelly (April 29, 2013). "Mutiny and Other Crimes: Another Tale from the South Seas (Part 1)". loc.gov. The Library of Congress. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
11. ^ Sennwald, Andre (November 9, 1935). "Movie Review – Mutiny on the Bounty". The New York Times. Retrieved July 23, 2015.
12. ^ "MGM 'Mutiny' A Smash". The Hollywood Reporter. October 28, 1935. p. 1.
13. ^ "Mutiny on the Bounty". Variety. New York. November 13, 1935. p. 16.
14. ^ "Reviews". Film Daily. New York. November 1, 1935. p. 7.
15. ^ Mosher, John (November 16, 1935). "The Current Cinema". The New Yorker. p. 99.
16. ^ ""Mutiny On The Bounty" Heads '36 "Ten Best"". Film Daily. New York. January 7, 1937. p. 1.
17. ^ ""Copperfield" Heads 1935 "Ten Best" List". Film Daily. New York. January 9, 1936. p. 6.
18. ^ "Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved July 29, 2022.
19. ^ "The Film Business in the United States and Britain during the 1930s" by John Sedgwick and Michael Pokorny, The Economic History ReviewNew Series, Vol. 58, No. 1 (Feb., 2005), pp.97
20. ^ "TWO STUDIOS PLAN A BOUNTY 'MUTINY': M-G-M and Paramount Race to Complete Productions of Films on Sea Adventure". New York Times. November 2, 1959. p. 39.
21. ^ "NEWS OF THE SCREEN: M-G-M to Make 'Christian of Bounty,' With Gable-- 'Southerner' Premiere Again Postponed Of Local Origin". New York Times. August 14, 1945. p. 17.

1. ^ In real life, Bligh was a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, but as captain of a vessel would be regarded and addressed as a Captain, relative to that vessel. In the film, he is only ever referred to as 'Captain'.

## External links

[edit]

Wikiquote has quotations related to Mutiny on the Bounty (1935 film).

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mutiny on the Bounty (1935 film).

* Mutiny on the Bounty at IMDb
* Mutiny on the Bounty at AllMovie
* Mutiny on the Bounty at the TCM Movie Database
* Mutiny on the Bounty at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
* Mutiny on the Bounty at Rotten Tomatoes
* Southseascinema.org
* Mutiny on the Bounty at Virtual History

* v
* t
* e

Mutiny on the Bounty

HMS Bounty
(complement)|

| Commander|

* William Bligh

|

Loyalists|

* John Fryer
* John Hallett
* Thomas Hayward
* David Nelson
* Michael Byrne

Mutineers|

* Fletcher Christian
* Peter Heywood
* Ned Young
* William Muspratt
* John Adams
* Thomas Ellison
* William McCoy
* James Morrison
* Matthew Quintal

In fiction|

| Novels|

* The Mutineers of the Bounty (1879)
* The Bounty Trilogy
* Mutiny on the Bounty (1932)
* Men Against the Sea (1933)
* Pitcairn's Island (1934)

|

Films|

* The Mutiny of the Bounty (1916)
* In the Wake of the Bounty (1933)
* Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
* Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)
* The Bounty (1984)

Plays|

* Pitcairn (2014)

Related|

* The Eventful History of the Mutiny and Piratical Seizure of HMS Bounty
* Bounty Bible
* Descendants of the Bounty mutineers
* History of the Pitcairn Islands
* Bounty Day
* Bounty (1960 ship)
* Bounty (1978 ship)

* v
* t
* e

The films of Frank Lloyd

1910s|

* The Gentleman from Indiana (1915)
* Jane (1915)
* The Reform Candidate (1915)
* The Tongues of Men (1916)
* The Call of the Cumberlands (1916)
* Madame la Presidente (1916)
* The Code of Marcia Gray (1916)
* David Garrick (1916)
* The Making of Maddalena (1916)
* An International Marriage (1916)
* The Stronger Love (1916)
* The Intrigue (1916)
* Sins of Her Parent (1916)
* The World and the Woman (1916)
* The Kingdom of Love (1917)
* The Price of Silence (1917)
* A Tale of Two Cities (1917)
* American Methods (1917)
* When a Man Sees Red (1917)
* Les Misérables (1917)
* The Heart of a Lion (1917)
* The Blindness of Divorce (1918)
* True Blue (1918)
* Riders of the Purple Sage (1918)
* The Rainbow Trail (1918)
* For Freedom (1918)
* The Man Hunter (1919)
* Pitfalls of a Big City (1919)
* The World and Its Woman (1919)
* The Loves of Letty (1919)

1920s|

* The Woman in Room 13 (1920)
* The Silver Horde (1920)
* Madame X (1920)
* The Great Lover (1920)
* A Tale of Two Worlds (1921)
* Roads of Destiny (1921)
* A Voice in the Dark (1921)
* The Invisible Power (1921)
* The Grim Comedian (1921)
* The Man from Lost River (1921)
* The Eternal Flame (1922)
* The Sin Flood (1922)
* Oliver Twist (1922)
* The Voice from the Minaret (1923)
* Within the Law (1923)
* Ashes of Vengeance (1923)
* Black Oxen (1923)
* The Sea Hawk (1924)
* The Silent Watcher (1924)
* Her Husband's Secret (1925)
* Winds of Chance (1925)
* The Splendid Road (1925)
* The Wise Guy (1926)
* The Eagle of the Sea (1926)
* Children of Divorce (1927)
* Adoration (1928)
* Weary River (1929)
* The Divine Lady (1929)
* Drag (1929)
* Dark Streets (1929)
* Young Nowheres (1929)

1930s|

* Son of the Gods (1930)
* The Way of All Men (1930)
* The Lash (1930)
* The Right of Way (1931)
* East Lynne (1931)
* The Age for Love (1931)
* A Passport to Hell (1932)
* Cavalcade (1933)
* Berkeley Square (1933)
* Hoop-La (1933)
* Servants' Entrance (1934)
* Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
* Under Two Flags (1936)
* Maid of Salem (1937)
* Wells Fargo (1937)
* If I Were King (1938)
* Rulers of the Sea (1939)

1940s|

* The Howards of Virginia (1940)
* This Woman Is Mine (1941)
* The Lady from Cheyenne (1941)
* Forever and a Day (1943)
* Blood on the Sun (1945)

1950s|

* The Shanghai Story (1954)
* The Last Command (1955)

Productions|

* Saboteur (1942)
* The Spoilers (1942)
* Invisible Agent (1942)

* v
* t
* e

Irving Thalberg

Producer|

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* The Hollywood Revue (1929)
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* Redemption (1930)
* The Divorcee (1930)
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* The Big House (1930)
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* Let Us Be Gay (1930)
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* Inspiration (1931)
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* Red-Headed Woman (1932)
* Smilin' Through (1932)
* Red Dust (1932)
* Rasputin and the Empress (1932)
* Strange Interlude (1932)
* Tugboat Annie (1933)
* Bombshell (1933)
* Eskimo (1933)
* Riptide (1934)
* The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934)
* The Merry Widow (1934)
* What Every Woman Knows (1934)
* No More Ladies (1935)
* China Seas (1935)
* Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
* A Night at the Opera (1935)
* Riffraff (1936)
* Romeo and Juliet (1936)
* Camille (1936)
* Maytime (1937)
* A Day at the Races (1937)
* Broadway Melody of 1938 (1937)
* The Good Earth (1937)
* Marie Antoinette (1938)

Writer|

* The Trap (1922)

People|

* Norma Shearer (wife)
* Irving Thalberg Jr. (son)

Related|

* The Last Tycoon

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Academy Award for Best Picture

1927–1950|

* Wings (1927–1928)
* The Broadway Melody (1928–1929)
* All Quiet on the Western Front (1929–1930)
* Cimarron (1930–1931)
* Grand Hotel (1931–1932)
* Cavalcade (1932–1933)
* It Happened One Night (1934)
* Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
* The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
* The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
* You Can't Take It with You (1938)
* Gone with the Wind (1939)
* Rebecca (1940)
* How Green Was My Valley (1941)
* Mrs. Miniver (1942)
* Casablanca (1943)
* Going My Way (1944)
* The Lost Weekend (1945)
* The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
* Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
* Hamlet (1948)
* All the King's Men (1949)
* All About Eve (1950)

1951–1975|

* An American in Paris (1951)
* The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
* From Here to Eternity (1953)
* On the Waterfront (1954)
* Marty (1955)
* Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
* The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
* Gigi (1958)
* Ben-Hur (1959)
* The Apartment (1960)
* West Side Story (1961)
* Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
* Tom Jones (1963)
* My Fair Lady (1964)
* The Sound of Music (1965)
* A Man for All Seasons (1966)
* In the Heat of the Night (1967)
* Oliver! (1968)
* Midnight Cowboy (1969)
* Patton (1970)
* The French Connection (1971)
* The Godfather (1972)
* The Sting (1973)
* The Godfather Part II (1974)
* One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

1976–2000|

* Rocky (1976)
* Annie Hall (1977)
* The Deer Hunter (1978)
* Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
* Ordinary People (1980)
* Chariots of Fire (1981)
* Gandhi (1982)
* Terms of Endearment (1983)
* Amadeus (1984)
* Out of Africa (1985)
* Platoon (1986)
* The Last Emperor (1987)
* Rain Man (1988)
* Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
* Dances With Wolves (1990)
* The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
* Unforgiven (1992)
* Schindler's List (1993)
* Forrest Gump (1994)
* Braveheart (1995)
* The English Patient (1996)
* Titanic (1997)
* Shakespeare in Love (1998)
* American Beauty (1999)
* Gladiator (2000)

2001–2025|

* A Beautiful Mind (2001)
* Chicago (2002)
* The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
* Million Dollar Baby (2004)
* Crash (2005)
* The Departed (2006)
* No Country for Old Men (2007)
* Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
* The Hurt Locker (2009)
* The King's Speech (2010)
* The Artist (2011)
* Argo (2012)
* 12 Years a Slave (2013)
* Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)
* Spotlight (2015)
* Moonlight (2016)
* The Shape of Water (2017)
* Green Book (2018)
* Parasite (2019)
* Nomadland (2020)
* CODA (2021)
* Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
* Oppenheimer (2023)
* Anora (2024)

Authority control databases: National |

* United States

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