In 1984, yet another version of The Bounty was released,
with Sir Anthony Hopkins as a resolute Bligh and Mel Gibson as an ambiguous
Christian. Of the three Bounty films, this is probably the most historically
accurate, and it's certainly the one with the greatest psychological depth.
It was largely filmed in Moorea's Opunohu Bay.
Another Nordhoff and Hall novel, The Hurricane, has been brought to
the silver screen twice. John Hall's 1937 film portrays a young couple
fleeing a despotic governor. In 1978 Dino de Laurentiis reshot The Hurricane
on Bora Bora, with Mia Farrow and Trevor Howard. The resort built to
house de Laurentiis' crew still exists as the Sofitel Marara.
British novelist W. Somerset Maugham also had close ties to the South
Pacific. In 1943 Albert Lewin filmed The Moon and Sixpence, Maugham's
fictionalized account of Paul Gauguin's life in Polynesia. The nonconformist
painter's incompatibility with French colonial life provided Maugham
with a pretext to explore the role of the artist in society. Another
famous Maugham story, Rain, set in Samoa, has been made into a movie
several times.
Other well-known authors who have popularized the legend of Tahiti
include Herman Melville, Pierre Loti, Robert Louis Stevenson, Jack London,
Rupert Brooke, and James A. Michener. Their stories, plays, and films
have helped create the myth of a South Seas paradise. And even today,
Tahiti and Polynesia beckon to romantics wishing to live their share
of the dream.
