Sunday, February 04, 2007
Nordhoff and Hall’s ‘Pitcairn’s Island’
I picked up a second hand copy of Pitcairn’s Island at a local antiquarian book fair.
Not a pristine collectible copy, but since I haven’t read this novel, that is based on the, sometimes conflicting, accounts of the events between 1790 and 1880 on Pitcairn’s Island, it seemed like a good opportunity to read this story.
furthermore...
The trilogy, known as the Bounty Trilogy was written jointly by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. The first book in the series, Mutiny on the Bounty has served as the basic story repeated over the years and made into various films:
- In the Wake of the Bounty was made in 1933 and starred Errol Flynn as Fletcher Christian
- The 1935 film with Charles Laughton (Bligh) and Clark Gable (Christian) was the first popular version.
- 1962 brought the version with Trevor Howard (Bligh) and Marlon Brando (Christian).
- In 1984 came a version simply called The Bounty, with Anthony Hopkins (Bligh) and Mel Gibson (Christian).
As far as I know, no film has been made out of the stories from the other 2 books in the trilogy - Men Against the Sea and Pitcain’s Island.
The edition that I have just purchased was published in 1935 by Chapman and Hall, London. I also own a paperback edition published in 1962 by Little Brown and Co, Boston.