This is subversive

Rating: Null/10 (21 February 2000)

Though I am approximately as old as this film, I had not ever seen it, for one reason or another, in all that time. I had seen the later version, the TV performance of the stage play, but, though I am a devoted fan of Bogart's, I had not seen this film.
I now wish I could still make that claim. Not because Bogart's performance disappoints, it surely does not. Nor for the courtroom interplay, for at least a hint of it remains. Rather, I was left with a very uncomfortable feeling of having had my opinion manipulated and having honor besmirched, in the interest of justifying an action in which none of the participants can emerge unsullied. I suppose there had to be heroes, even if manufactured.
Viewers will find the foreground filled with the young couple, the purpose of which appears to rig the emotional response to the climactic situation, but which were entirely invented for the film. I found this distracting and textually unfair. That neither actor was particularly convincing in role will not help, though the girl sings nicely and looks only for decency, thus lending a wholesomeness that appeals.
Still, the overall tension and ambiguity of the situation, as originally framed, is muted and distorted in this film. Using Ensign Keith as the point of view distances us from the antagonists, but this is a foggy substitute for putting the audience in the position of sitting on the Court Martial, hearing their words paint the picture of what happened on the USS Caine. We could have had a variation on Rashomon. We don't get it here and we also get a very distorted view of Navy discipline. The ending particularly disappoints, suggesting that what is knavish behavior will be endorsed as being courage.
Watch for Jose Ferrer and Van Johnson, in addition to Bogie, but don't expect sense to be made of what you see. It is not there.