‘The Bounty’ gets praise and criticism

Press, 29 May 1984, Page 15

‘The Bounty’ gets praise and criticism

NZPA staff correspondent London The New Zealand director, Roger Donaldson, attracted widespread attention as his film, “The Bounty” was given the honorary screening on the closing night of the Cannes Film Festival. Among the British newspaper critics was the “Daily Mail” reviewer, Baz Bamigboye, who focused on the film, made by the American company of Universal Pictures, mainly with British actors, at a cost. of 544 million. Donaldson, he wrote, “who made the cult picture ‘Smash Palace,’ was hired to direct the film which started out as the project for the celebrated director of ‘Lawrence of Arabia,’ David Lean.” Bamigboye said that after the film “sailed into American cinemas three weeks ago” it was suggested that the British actor, Anthony Hopkins, playing Captain Bligh “was sure to get at least a nomination for best actor in the next year’s Oscars.” Hopkins said of the film: “It took longer to make it than it took Bligh and his crew to round the Cape. We had a tough shooting schedule that took us to

New Zealand for an age, two weeks of paradise in Tahiti and then back to Britain to shoot the interiors.” “The Times” newspaper, however, was critical of a film which aimed at presenting a more understanding view of Bligh. “In the process the character of Christian has become quite incoherent: and Mel Gibson’s vague performance is no help. “The script is credited to Robert Bolt but its formlessness and crude anachronisms look as if less careful hands have been at work on it.” “The Guardian” critic, Derek Malcolm, included “Vigil” directed by the New Zealander, Vincent Ward, in his review of “the pick of the festival films.” However, he saw it as “a disappointment,” though Ward “is clearly an exceptional film-maker who just hasn’t matched the power of his visual imagination with a strong enough narrative.” The two films Malcolm found the most praiseworthy were Wim Wender’s “Paris, Texas” ■ — which won the 1984 Palme d’ Or prize — and Sergio Leone’s “Once Upon a Time in America.”