The unheroic courage of duty

Rating: 10/10 (4 November 1998)

Edward Dmytryk's film is far superior to Herman Wouk's 1951 novel. The _Caine_'s foundering in the storm remains as exciting as anything created by special effects studios. Except for an embarrassingly stiff performance by Robert Francis--the "drop-dead gorgeous" love interest--the acting is brilliant: Bogart in his most surprising role as a creepy and infective neurotic; Fred MacMurray as Keefer, unerringly catching the sophisticated condescension of the intellectual toward "the uniforms that guard us while we sleep"; the under-appreciated Van Johnson as the First Mate of the _Caine_, who accepts responsibility for the mutiny; and Jos* Ferrer as Greenwald. The speech in which he exposes Keefer is unforgettable, redefining cowardice for all time. The film's theme is that it takes enormous personal courage to carry out one's duty, although this duty is not always clear-cut nor particularly heroic. Since Herman Wouk is an Orthodox Jew, a philosophy of the _mitzvot_, God's commandments, may be hinted at here.