Mutiny Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		2.0
Audio		2.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		2.5

Mutiny Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 11, 2020

It may seem just a little odd that, considering the fact the so many epochal battles the United States of America have fought in the two centuries plus since its founding have been the source for so many memorable films, that two relatively early showdowns, namely the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, should have been so ill served by filmmakers. In that regard, the War of 1812 may come off even "worse" than the Revolutionary War, and even some diehard film fans might be hard pressed to come up with any films that feature that particular combat. That said, the War of 1812 is more or less a "McGuffin" in this enterprise, which is more of a potboiler whose main interest may be some of its "meta" aspects rather than the film itself. That includes the fact that this was a "comeback" effort of sorts for director Edward Dmytryk after his run in with the House UnAmerican Activities Committee. Suffice it to say that Mutiny, while certainly not horrible by any stretch of the imagination, did little to light Dmytryk's once Academy Award nominated career back on fire.

Mutiny in its own rather weird way is almost a ménage à trois, although some might jokingly suggest that the central couple in the film is actually two men, Captain James Marshall (Mark Stevens), and ex-Captain Ben Waldridge (Patric Knowles). Waldridge is a duplicitous first mate in the film, who, under the sway of greedy seductress Leslie (Angela Lansbury), plots a mutiny in order to requisition a fortune in gold bullion that Marshall is attempting to get from France back to the United States in order to help the war effort. As such, the film is kind of a turgid melodrama rather than an action spectacular, but there are occasional sea battles (typically featuring perhaps slightly comical looking miniatures). The best thing about Mutiny is Angela Lansbury's nicely shaded performance.

Mutiny Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Mutiny is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of VCI Entertainment and MVD Visual with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. The cover of this release states that it is the result of a 4K restoration from the 35mm film negative, but for those getting their hopes up with regard to that verbiage, I'd simply suggest taking a look at the screenshots accompanying this review for a reality check. This is a badly damaged and intermittently badly faded looking affair. Scratches are rampant, and often long lasting, traversing the entirety of the frame. Some of the color actually looks reasonable, but fluctuations are extremely wide, and other moments look purplish or brown, and some of the darkest scenes are littered with crush. This is another VCI release where there is grain, but it's almost like a static background at times.

Mutiny Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Mutiny features an LPCM 2.0 Mono track which seems to be pretty hot, something that can lead to a bit of distortion, especially in some of the sound effects during battle or the more bombastic orchestral cues in the score. The track also suffers from the audio equivalent of the damage seen on the video side of things, with pops, cracks, outright dropouts and the like. Optional English subtitles at least help to elide some of the less clear moments.

Mutiny Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The following supplements are available under the Extras menu, as well as a Play Matinee Version under the Play Menu, which plays both of these before moving on to the main feature. I could not get the Popeye cartoon to play correctly when I attempted to access it under the Extras menu; the disc simply stopped and exited me to the player menu. The cartoon played fine as part of the Play Matinee Version option.

• Warner Pathe Newsreel (1080p; 11:09) might be a little less "news", and a little more Warner PR, given what's covered, but there is some fun footage from the 24th Academy Awards, where not exactly by coincidence Warner's A Streetcar Named Desire took home several statuettes.


• Popeye Cookin' with Gags (1080p; 6:34)

Mutiny Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Fans of Angela Lansbury may want to check out this kind of peculiar "war film", but they should carefully parse the screenshots to see what they're getting, while keeping in mind the audio is in about the same condition.