Mutiny on the Bounty (CBPH)

A radio dramatization of the true story of the mutiny on board the HMS Bounty. Captain Bligh was apparently a tyrannical, capricious, and egotistical leader, though modern authors and filmmakers have painted him a bit more sympathetically than he appears in this version. Acting lieutenant Fletcher Christian was a primary target for Bligh's cruelty and led a rebellion, setting the captain adrift in an overcrowded, open boat, with almost no hope of making land.

This is a great story, but only an okay dramatization. My opinion may be colored by a general lack of appreciation for Orson Welles. I acknowledge that he has a good voice, but increasingly in his career it becomse apparent that the number one fan of Orson Welles voice was Orson Welles.

Welles ends with a speech in praise of ham radio operators and talks with Dorothy Hall, a ham radio operator who helped the residents of Pitcairn Island during a "recent" (1938) epidemic. Though hammy (get it?), it's an interesting way of drawing a line between the story and the present day. Knowing where Christian ultimately ended up landing the Bounty, we can read about the fate of the mutineers and, through the magic of Google Earth, look at their remote island home.

Campbell's Playhouse #6
Mutiny on the Bounty
13 January1939
19390113(006)_CBPH_MutinyOnTheBounty.mp3

CBS net. Sponsored by: Campbell's Soup. Burgess Meredith, Carl Frank, Dorothy Hall, Edgar Barrier, Ernest Chappell (announcer), Frank Readick, Joseph Cotten, Memo Holt, Myron McCormick, Orson Welles (host), Ray Collins (narrator), Richard Wilson, William Alland. 

Pitcairn Island, where the Bounty's mutineers ended up. Look how far out I had to zoom to get geographical context. It's almost literally in the middle of nowhere. French Polynesia is about 1/2 the distance between Pitcairn and Australia. If you search it up on Google Maps you will get some beautiful pics of the island, and if you switch to Google Earth view you will get another perspective on how far removed the island is from any major land mass.