Superb second half, pity about the first hour.

Rating: 6/10 (2 November 2007)

This is a film of two halves. The first half is dreary and below average. The second half is superb.
That excellent second half of the movie concerns the actual mutiny that took place aboard the USS Caine. The principled, anguished officers (played by Van Johnson and Robert Francis) are egged on by their two-faced shyster colleague (Fred MacMurray) to take command of the ship from the increasingly paranoid captain (Humphrey Bogart). Whether they were right to do so is then played out in a superb courtroom drama, where military lawyers (E.G. Marshall and Jose Ferrer) take opposing sides in questioning all involved.
This part of the film - the mutiny and its aftermath - is gripping, brilliantly acted and full of aching moral dilemmas. Bogart, in one of his final screen roles, is absolutely magnificent as the flawed anti-hero, and MacMurray, Marshall and Ferrer also give great performances. Indeed, if the film consisted of just this part of the story it would be one of the best of its kind.
Unfortunately, someone in the production team decided that this drama needed a long introduction, so we have to sit through a meandering first hour before we get to the meat of the movie. Some of this over-long first hour is given to character development, but too much of it concerns unnecessary side-shows like the completely superfluous love affair between Francis's character and his sweetheart back home. The result is that many viewers will have switched off from the movie (either emotionally or literally) before the good stuff begins.
And that's a real shame because this really does mar what could have been a great film. I'm almost tempted to recommend that you should switch on after the first hour and just watch it from there - but that would be to disrespect the film. It is what it is and films should be judged on their entirety, not in segments (however tempting it is to do so).
So, on that basis, The Caine Mutiny deserves a 6, when without the first hour it could have garnered a 9. In production terms, for a film made in 1954, it looks terrific (though the widescreen shots of the ship being tossed on the waves during the typhoon scene lack the reality of more modern effects) and it is the acting of the leads that stays in your mind long after the film is over.
Given what I've said, I suppose the question that matters is: is the latter part of the film good enough to make it worth your while sitting through the slow beginning? And the answer is yes. After all, there are some great actors on display here, and in top form too. At the end of the day, that has to be worth waiting for.