The Caine Mutiny (1954)

Well made, well acted. one big flaw. The Captain was sick and after all the abuse he put the other officers and crew through, but the time he asked the other officers for help, who would have trusted him? To be fair, the other officers could have relieved him of command at that point. They probably should have been reprimanded for not doing so at that time and not during the storm, when in the court ruling he is found to be sick. being sick and in so a danger to the ship and everyone on it. not penalised, not so easy to have that done without going through what they did do through anyways, a mutiny trial. So why is the lawyer upset? Doesn't make sense to me. Queeg was sick, asking for help or not. When the biggest, baddest school bully comes up to you to ask for help, what do you do when he has never been proved trust worthy before? And yet the film goes out of its way to vilify the innocent mutineers.

The Caine Mutiny is regarded as a classic thriller of a mutiny aboard a naval ship in World War II that turns into a court room saga. In fact 'A Few Good Men' is really an updated remake.The destroyer Caine is a small creaky old ship whose rather relaxed captain is replaced by Captain Queeg (Humphrey Bogart) a disciplinarian. As time goes on he upsets both his officers and crew and shows signs of paranoia, stress and even cowardice.Lieutenant Thomas Keefer (Fred MacMurray) who was a writer before being called up notices the signs of mental illness and tries to convince Executive Officer Steve Maryk (Van Johnson) to do something about it. Maryk refuses at first but finally takes over command when in a storm Queeg nearly capsizes the ship.Maryk and some of the other officers stand trial for mutiny and they are reluctantly defended by Lieutenant Barney Greenwald (Jose Ferrer) only after other military lawyers have turned them down.Of course it is not going to take much for Greenwald to expose Queeg's instability, under intense pressure Queeg takes out his stress balls. However Greenwald reserves his ire after the trial on Keefer for engineering the mutiny so one day he can publish a book about it and Maryk as well as others for not helping Queeg when he asked for help and it was clear he had seen too much of war.The film loses focus often when it concentrates on an irrelevant love story between an Ensign and his girlfriend. The film also has an uneven tone, not helped by the musical score.However Bogart delivers another 'against type' performance. His Queeg starts out confidently before spiralling downwards. There is solid support from Van Johnson and Fred McMurray whose character really is cynical and slippery, therefore rightly exposed at the end of the movie.

THE CAINE MUTINY is an extremely tense war drama based on several personal drama elements, conflict of male temperament, courage, duty and cowardice. A completely irrelevant romance pervaded the story. It does not cause a lot of damage, but it complicates the scenario. The plot is located on the Pacific battleground of World War II and describes the mutiny of the crew of the US destroyer-minesweeper USS Caine provoked by new and mentally unbalanced captain.This is an intriguing film, which in some parts causes anxiety. Characterization is good and relations between the protagonists are quite complex. Set design is quite expensive, considering that it does not help the credibility of the story. The music is pretty powerful trump card. The picture and staff were at times impressive. Theatricality at the end of the film is quite a surprise, the existence of a sort of anticlimax also.Van Johnson as Lieutenant Steve Maryk is the prime suspect and savior at the same time. He is alarmed officer who attempted to solve a complex problem. Fred MacMurray as Lieutenant Tom Keefer is fascinating as dwelt type of villain and an epitome of cowardice. Humphrey Bogart as Lieutenant Commander Philip Francis Queeg is the most complex character in the film. Quite a mysterious protagonist, who is lost in his own paranoia and hysteria. Robert Francis as Ensign Willis Seward "Willie" Keith is a romantic ensign who has a problem with his superiors. Very bad characterization, especially considering how much attention was given to the relationship between the mother and the son, who were eventually left undefined. José Ferrer as Lieutenant Barney Greenwald is quite interesting in the role of lawyer. I have impression that he was a lawyer to everyone in this film. The protagonist who brings understanding and insight into the story in a rather...strange wayGood war atmosphere does not guarantee a good movie, but this war drama is worth watching.

The Caine Mutiny, while little remembered today, is a great example of how a stellar book can be adapted into a great movie. Featuring an excellent cast and an engaging story, all while looking visually spectacular, The Caine Mutiny is an underrated classic from the 1950's.The movie stars Robert Francis as Willie Keith, an ensign who is assigned tho the USS Caine. There, he meets Lieutenant Commander William De Vriess, Executive Officer Steve Maryk, and Communications Officer Tom Keefer. Shortly thereafter, De Vriess is replaced by the hard-nosed yet uneasy looking Captain Queeg. Keefer suspects the captain may be paranoid and is unsuitable to run the ship. Maryk becomes irritated by this suggestion, yet soon realizes it after Queeg orders everyone on the ship to search for a quart of frozen strawberries at 1 A.M. Maryk relieves Queeg of command during a storm, and is put in a court-martial.The film is well shot, especially the exterior of the ship during the storm, and the Technicolor works in favor of the film, providing a more beautiful setting to the film. The setting allows the viewer to be drawn in easily to the movie, its characters, its story, and is never dull, even in the prolonged court scene, always remaining interesting until the credits roll.Queeg is easily the most interesting character. Queeg seems to be a man who puts morale as a top priority, yet is shown to be mentally unbalanced and has showings of paranoia. Yet at the same time, he never truly loses his sanity, and retains enough of a normal attitude to look normal to outsiders.This is why the role works so well. There's such a fine line on his paranoia that he really could just be eccentric, and not paranoid. However, his breakdown while being cross-examined in the court proves his paranoia to be indeed true.An interesting parallel brought up at the end is how similar Keefer is to Queeg. Keefer is shown to be a coward, bringing up Queeg's paranoia, and yet doesn't act on it, reaping the benefits when Maryk is at the court-martial, and lies on the stand about Queeg's behavior, effectively proving he's as cowardly as Queeg is paranoid.The Caine Mutiny is an excellent film, and strangely, is largely forgotten. The only thing that even bogs down the movie slightly is the romance between Willie and May. Otherwise, the movie is a testament to film adaptations of books, and is a definite must-watch for any movie fan.