tomsters
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.
cinemajesty
At a time, when television took place to invade private homes, Columbia Pictures presented a star vehicle with Humphrey Bogart as hopelessly overwhelmed substitute captain of the mine sweeping navy ship, called "Caine", which will grant him another academy award nomination for an actor in a leading role.At mark 25mins 35sec Bogart introduces the character of Queeg on the ship's deck, already getting hold into spiritual stranglehold of former captain, played by Tom Tully who desperately remarks before leaving ship "Keep the clock running thirty minutes slow to remember of the foul of the crew of the Caine." Screenwriter Stanley Roberts does everything in his power to bring the uncanny feeling of doomed ship's enterprise to the page. Trust has been given by producer Stanley Kramer, at that time still working for his first directing credit, so he passed the directing job to Edward Dymtryk, who has been overstepped by the Academy for a nomination as best director in 1955, which came at no surprise due to the lack of a personal signature towards the picture.The director utilizes craft-fully the given techniques from stunning technicolor imagery paired with restored documentary footage of maneuvering battleships in the Pacific ocean. Clearly helped out by his production designer Rudolph Stenard, creating a color-force out of sandstone, green and blue, and not to forget score composer Max Steiner who elevated the atmosphere of the picture. It has been a promising start for the director, when pitch-perfect beats strike at a training-concluding U.S. Marine ceremony when actor Robert Francis gives inaudible gestures to his fiancée, "I'll see you in ten." At this point, the director's eye approves and he keeps on directing safely in static beautifully balanced color shots and a POV of the movie's youngest character, who boards the Caine at running time mark 07mins 15sec by seeing mother of at the peer and neglecting the fiancée. Character Keith runs promptly into Lt. Tom Keefer, played by magnificent Fred MacMurray, who brings the ship's business down to a punchline,"A ship designed by geniuses, run by idiots." Me in the audience is getting prepared for a pace-holding classic, live-action shots of Navy destroyers crossing the Pacific, but the crew shows their quality completing their first drill with a goof ball procedure. The officers have time to write novels in the mean-time, so the Captain DeVriess gladly gives the command to Bogart's character Cpt. Queeg, who strikes back with fragility to motivate his crew, "There is the right way, the wrong, the Navy way and my way." Editor, Henry Batista, does the job with at times surprising EWS (extreme wide) and MFS (medium-full) shot inter-cutting, but Minutes later gets sloppy straight-angled medium-full and to medium-close-up shots in order to bring the picture of its requested 2-hour deliverable.At of the ACT I provides the audience's eye a relief at a country side, referring to a nowadays vanished life of the U.S. Western Coast in the 1950s, where arguably the strongest moments in "The Caine Mutiny" take place due to a connecting Director-Producer symbiosis and raising production value with interweaving shots of a full-bloom country side, a falling fire from a rock-side building the contrast as Earth & Fire towards the concluding storm scene, where the name-given mutiny takes place in the element Air & Water.Tensions by a performing ensemble cast can be hold to the point of mutiny, even with another playful anecdote on the Cpt. Queeg commanding abilities, when at a officers' briefing, Lt. Keefer coughs into the captain's speech, "Sorry captain that smoke went down the wrong way", followed by an honest close-up of Humphrey Bogart, bringing the fading captain to life. The continuing failing battle assignments somehow, recalls a recent battleship extravaganza from 2012er directed by Peter Berg, which makes me want to watch that movie again, strangely enough due to the 58-year-old Hollywood lifespan in between.Director Dymtryk clearly gets his captain's bug, when towards the end of ACT II, in middle of setting up the mutiny scene, sloppy matte paint and back projection work spoils the picture before presenting another strong scene on the Caine's bridge in the middle of a high sea storm, where Bogart's character gets entangled by their fellow officers. He starts to misjudge the ship's situation. Dutch angle take place for a derailed character, which pushes reminisces to Gregg Toland's Cinematography in "The Third Man", when the show is all over at 1hour 21mins 00sec.ACT III revives the love story between character Keith and his fiancée May with infantile approaches. Supporting actor Jose Ferrer gets brought in as internal affair lawyer faking his right hand injury, who's name is still used to market the movie. His performance limbs back on the expectations. The director loses grip. The pace of the film runs low and overall suspension gets loss. Missing clearly an Hitchcockean factor at the court room sequence.Humphrey Bogart does not stroke a home-run with his performance, but brings his final moments in the court room professional to the finish line referring to an overall statement, "that a captain of any ship must be perfect.". Sealed close-ups, crossed legs, camera pushing in on tighter to a rare extreme-close-up on Bogart's face revealing hints of a green iris in his eyes and sweating lips, covering his breath work professionally and concludes the show as another movie under his rooster.© 2017 Felix Alexander Dausend
Prismark10
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.
elvircorhodzic
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.
