The Caine Mutiny

The Caine Mutiny (original title: The Caine Mutiny ) is a 1954 American drama film produced by Stanley Kramer, directed by Edward Dmytryk and with Humphrey Bogart, José Ferrer, Van Johnson and Fred MacMurray as main actors. The script is based on the novel of the same name by Herman Wouk, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1952.

Set in World War II, the film recounts the unleashing of a mutiny on a United States Navy ship, the USS Caine, and the consequent court martial to which it is submitted to two officers of the same.

Plot

During World War II, the USS Caine, a US Navy minesweeper, receives its new commanding officer: Captain Queeg (Humphrey Bogart). The crew, accustomed to the orders of the previous commander, work in a relaxed way. The new captain is determined to impose a rigid discipline on his ship for this, which causes discontent that is evident when the captain later makes mistakes and he, realizing it, once asks for their help in this regard and is not given. give. In addition, the members of the crew, especially the lieutenant and novelist Keefer, will soon become suspicious of the mental health of the new captain, who is neurotic and indecisive during the fight and fears for the safety of the ship and for their lives when finally his Captain suffers a crisis of command during a typhoon.

That's why a mutiny breaks out under the command of the substitute Maryk to save the ship on the grounds that the captain is ill. Back in the United States, the crew is put on trial for it and they try to find out who was to blame for what happened. Keefer, who did not participate in the riot, does not defend the rioters as he should on the stand and writes a book on the riot. Even so, the defense, led by Greenwald, who only reluctantly defends the case, manages to prove that the captain was ill by pressing him regarding his actions on the stand and thus obtains an acquittal, while Keefer has been able to sell the book.

However, Greenwald privately blames the crew for what has happened and accuses them of mobbing the captain, which led to his subsequent conduct and the crisis of command he experienced. He also makes it clear that he only defended the crew because the real culprit, Keefer, who had no part in the mutiny, had not been charged. Greenwald accuses him of being the man who organized the mutiny, because he hated the Navy and wanted to write a novel about it later and sell it in order to make a lot of money and prestige. For this he, knowing of the wrong conduct of the crew, planted the suggestion that Queeg was sick so that they would mutiny when the moment came when the captain's crisis occurred, and stay on the sidelines to get away with it, which which also happened. That is why Greenwald then throws a glass of drink in his face for what he did and leaves. The other officers, embarrassed by what they did, leave as well, leaving Keefer alone.

Cast

• Humphrey Bogart - Captain Philip Francis Queeg
• José Ferrer - Lieutenant Barney Greenwald
• Van Johnson - Lieutenant Steve Maryk
• Fred MacMurray - Lieutenant Tom Keefer
• Robert Francis - Ensign Willis Seward Keith
• May Wynn - May Wynn
• Tom Tully... Captain DeVriess
• E.G. Marshall - Lieutenant Commander Challee
• Arthur Franz - Lieutenant
• Lee Marvin - Meatball
• Warner Anderson - Captain Blakely
• Claude Akins- Horrible.
• Katherine Warren - Mrs. Keith.

Comments

Despite the war setting, Edward Dmytryk's film doesn't deal with any battle and doesn't even feature the enemies the Allied Navy is facing. It is, rather, a story of a moral order, and what it stages is the legitimacy of some officers to mutiny.

What should officers do when they find their captain losing his sanity from time to time, haunted by paranoid ghosts? Where are the borders between immediate loyalty to a command and the responsibility of looking after a crew? To what extent and at what times can one question not only the ordinances, but also the authority of the person in charge of a company?

All these issues are dealt with by The Caine Mutiny. The adventure is told from the experiences of a young officer, a lieutenant from a wealthy family who, after having made a brilliant academic career, joins the minesweeper on his first mission.

The film is an adaptation of the novel by Herman Wouk and whose theatrical version had been a success in 1953 with Henry Fonda in the role of the neurotic captain. The novel, logically, delves deeper into the psychology of characters and situations, especially the interesting transformation of the young officer Willie Keith since his mother leaves him at the midshipman school until he ends up as the last commander of the Caine; The film also does not contemplate the process suffered by the main instigator in the shadow of the mutiny -Officer Thomas Keefer-, since he must assume command of the ship after being acquitted in court. Then -and only then- he understands the immense "solitude of command" and the "narrow path of fair decisions and good luck, bordering a bleak abyss of possible mistakes" which a Captain faces; Fate will also give him a trial by fire -a kamikaze that crashes into the Caine- which, like Lord Jim, will make him jump off the ship unnecessarily and carry his act of cowardice forever.

Actor Michael Caine took his stage name from the title of this film.

In the first chapter of Gabriel García Márquez's book Tale of a Castaway, mention is made of this film.

Awards

She was nominated for seven Oscars:

• Best movie 1954
• Best script 1954
• Best actor 1954
• Best cast actor 1954
• Best assembly 1954
• Best music 1954
• Best sound 1954