The Caine Mutiny (1954)

• Year: 1954
• Released: 24 Jun 1954
• Country: United States
• Adwords: Nominated for 7 Oscars. 13 nominations total
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046816/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_caine_mutiny
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-caine-mutiny
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: Not Rated
• Genre: Drama, War
• Runtime: 124 min
• Writer: Stanley Roberts, Michael Blankfort, Herman Wouk
• Director: Edward Dmytryk
• Cast: Humphrey Bogart, José Ferrer, Van Johnson
• Keywords: world war ii, paranoia, novelist, u.s. navy, courtroom drama,

	7.7/10
	63/100

The Caine Mutiny Storyline

The spoiled newly graduated Ensign Willie Keith is assigned to the sloppy minesweeper USS Caine commanded by Comdr. DeVriess and befriends Lt. Steve Maryk and Lt. Tom Keefer. Comdr. DeVriess is popular with the officers and crew but Keith does not like him. Keith likes when DeVriess is replaced by the veteran Lt. Cmdr. Philip Francis Queeg, who demands discipline on board. But soon Kefer notes that Queeg is paranoid and coward and induces Maryk and Keith to meet Admiral Halsey and to disclose Queeg’s behavior and paranoia. However, Keefer backs down when they are ready to meet Halsey afraid of being misunderstood and punished. Later a typhoon hits the USS Caine, Queeg freezes in the wheelhouse and Maryk relieves Queeg of command, supported by Keith. They have to face a court-martial for mutiny and only the lawyer Lt. Barney Greenwald accepts to defend them in court.

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The Caine Mutiny Movie Reviews

Conflicted emotions and loyalties, a conflicted captain, and a conflicted movie…

Director Edward Dmytryk and screenwriter Stanlet Roberts, adapting Herman Wouk’s novel, certainly didn’t set out to make an anti-Navy movie concerning a junkyard Naval ship beset with a paranoid captain, and indeed their “simple” dedication at the end is to the entire United States Navy, yet the plot mechanisms are slanted in that direction even if the handling is not. Beginning the picture with a green “Princeton tiger” and Naval Academy grad attempting to woo a band singer before duty calls was a safe, stolid move, yet Wouk’s story manages to cut much wider and deeper than the Hollywood generalities, and once his plot gets cooking the film is vastly entertaining. Humphrey Bogart is the new by-the-books captain aboard a Naval bottom-feeder, quickly driving his crew and his vessel into the ground with his idiosyncratic behavior. Dymtryk is careful while introducing all the different personalities aboard ship, and he doesn’t want us to miss a trick, yet in the film’s final stages (after the court martial, when defense attorney José Ferrer has his say), the tone of the picture does an about-face and hopes to show us all sides of the situation. The filmmakers want to have their cake and eat it too, and the resulting epilogue goes down like bad medicine. Still, the performances are first-rate, particularly by Bogart and, in perhaps his finest acting turn, Van Johnson. *** from ****

wonderful film BUT very different from the book

As far as war movies are concerned, this is among the very best because it focuses so well on characterizations. Although Bogart was excellent in the film, I found myself most satisfied with two characters–Jose Ferrer as the prosecutor and especially Fred McMurray as the Mr. Know-it-all who pushes the 2nd in command to mutiny–only to ultimately shows his cowardice and leave the 2nd in command holding the blame. I’ve known people like McMurray’s character and so it was really nice to see this portrayal. As far as characterizations go, about the only film I can think of that gets it better is TWELVE ANGRY MEN.

One important note: The book is very different from the movie in that Queeg, though a poor leader, was NOT incapacitated by fear and self-doubt. The crew taking control of the ship was NOT warranted, as it clearly was in the movie. My advice is to read the book and see the movie–they’re both exceptional but different.

Uneven, but interesting and has its merits

My main draw for seeing The Caine Mutiny was Humphrey Bogart, who I like a lot particularly in Casablanca, The African Queen and Treasure of the Sierra Madre. After finally seeing it, The Caine Mutiny is my definition of an interesting but uneven movie.

I have to say The Caine Mutiny is a well made movie. The cinematography shows a lot of skill, and the settings and costumes are very nice to look at. There is also a wonderful music score from the legendary Max Steiner that enhances the mood of the film very well.

Bogart himself is marvellous as a complex albeit rather unsympathetic character, while I personally don’t cite The Caine Mutiny amongst his best films, I would do so amongst his best performances.

Fred McMurray and Van Johnson are also very good, alongside Bogart’s their characters are among the most interesting of the film, particularly McMurray. Jose Ferrer doesn’t show up until towards the end, and while the drunken rant left much to be desired written quality-wise Ferrer does do what he can with the role.

The Caine Mutiny is also beautifully directed.

The film’s story is an interesting one, especially with the courtroom scenes, however it is not always a very exciting one. I felt it dragged towards the end, and the scenes with May Wynn and Robert Francis were rather dull and stilted.

Script-wise, there is some thoughtful, intelligent and meaningful dialogue there, but there is also the duller scenes with Wynn and Francis and the drunken rant that did let it down. Most of the characters are well-written, particularly Bogart’s and McMurray’s, but some like Tom Tully’s for example didn’t engage me.

Again, most of the performances were fine, however I think Tom Tully struggled with a rather bland character, and May Wynn and Robert Francis’s characters are not only dull but they also manage to be equally so.

Overall, interesting but uneven film. Worth seeing for Bogart, the score and the courtroom scenes but a few other bland performances and some dull scenes and pacing brought it down. 6/10 Bethany Cox