A Product Of Its Time

Rating: 7/10 (19 January 2010)

When watching THE CAINE MUTINY it's very important to remember what was happening in America at the time . 1947 The House Of Un-American Activities started its investigation in to Communist sympathies in Hollywood which led to film makers . Anyone not co-operating to the committee or being suspected of knowing less than they should would very quickly find themselves out of a job or even jailed for contempt of court . One of those film makers jailed was Edward Dmtryk who later directed THE CAINE MUTINY .Knowing this it's obvious what the subtext is . It's a film like SHANE or HIGH NOON where a stand up guy makes a stand and finds himself abandoned by people he considered as friends . This mirrors the experiences those people appearing in front of The House Of Un-American Activities had when they stood up for principles .
The crew of the ship USS CAINE find themselves under the command of Captain Queeg a man who can be expected to install discipline upon a sloppy crew . As the story continues it becomes clear that Queeg is a man who can't see the bigger picture because of small details . The ship cuts its own towline due to Queeg reprimanding a sailor . That's jut the start of the crews troubles since he is a man of petty obsession such as believing there's a copy of a key being used by someone to steal food supplies . Fearful this might lead to disaster Lt Keefer suggests to Lt Maryk and Ensign Keith that there's a calamity in the making and during a typhoon Lt Maryk takes command of the ship in order to save the Caine and the crew . But Maryk finds himself on a mutiny charge , a capital offence and Keefer won't lift a finger to help Maryk . It's a good premise with a good cast . Bogart makes a memorable film character and we can empathise with Maryk's dilemma and feel resentment towards Keefer because we've all experienced that type of betrayal to a small extent
Where the film fails is that the story isn't well told . Much of the character focus is on Ensign Keith played by Robert Francis . Francis is certainly a pretty boy well suited to matinées but Keith is a spectator to events and ultimately a superfluous character . You get the feeling that he's cast to make THE CAINE MUTINY appeal to a prospective female audience and we've got subplots featuring Keith's mother and girlfriend . All this holds up the subtext featuring betrayal of friendship and intelligent points on practicalities on the chain of command . This means THE CAINE MUTINY is a good film but not a great one