Charles Laughton makes his final series appearance in a documentary-style episode drawn from the diary of Captain Bligh of The Bounty. His crew mutinied against him, and on April 28, 1789, cast him and his loyalists adrift in a tiny boat in the Pacific. He and 18 of his men survived for 41 days and rationed food at one ounce of bread per day. They faced harsh weather, rough seas, and difficult navigation… and they got on each others nerves, of course. They landed on some items looking for food and water and returned on their trip. At various times Bligh continues some of the behavior that created conditions of the original mutiny, but he gets the crew back to join him. Eventually they find a place to stay, and Bligh is able to get back to England, and eventually some of the mutineers are brought to justice. Some are never found. Some end up on the very remote Pitcairn Island. The island is so remote in the Pacific, that no one, at that time, would be likely to find them. (The Pitcairn Islands are part of the UK to this day).
Antony Ellis wrote the script and its narration based on Bligh’s actual diary, allowing the drama to be considered a documentary… at least in terms of what Elliott Lewis considered it to be for Suspense.
Why was this on Suspense? It was more likely that this was a way to attract Laughton to the show and get the favorable publicity around his appearance. Is it really suspenseful? Somewhat, but it’s not the kind of script that would draw one to the series. It’s yet another one that should not be the first episode you give to a new listener.
Wikipedia has a summary of the mutiny, how and why it happened, and its aftermath https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutiny_on_the_Bounty
The 1935 MGM motion picture with Charles Laughton as Bligh, likely his most notable role, won him great accolades. It can be viewed at the Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/mutiny-on-the-bounty-1935
The script Listen, Young Lovers was originally scheduled for this date. It was held for two weeks and broadcast on 1954-05-31.
The rehearsal and recording of the dramatic portions was held on Sunday, May 9, 1954. It began at 11:00am. Recording started at 3:30pm and ended at 4:00pm.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP540517
This link goes to the alternative cloud service for downloading as we await the impending Internet Archive restoration from DDoS attack
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/pdgogk0athr6l/Suspense_-_Revenge_of_Captain_Bligh
The program can be streamed on YouTube
https://youtu.be/ti-x99ntfmU
THE CAST
CHARLES LAUGHTON (Captain William Bligh), Ben Wright (Midshipman Hayward), Bill Johnstone (Hallett), Charles Davis (Able Seaman Hall), Joseph Kearns (Quarter Master), Antony Ellis (Seaman Cole / Voice), Larry Thor (Narrator)
COMMERCIAL: Tom Holland (Hap), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Sylvia Simms (Operator)
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