A Very Good Film on men at War and Their Miserys

Rating: 8/10 (10 October 2006)

When the USS Caine's Captain shows some sort of mental disorder that puts the ship in danger during a typhoon the second in command officer takes over command and faces a court martial for mutiny. Such is in a few words the story based on Herman Wouk's famous novel brought to the screen skillfully by director Edward Dmytryk.
"The Caine Mutiny" turned to be a very good film that could be divided in two parts: the first one at sea where Commander Queeg (Humphrey Bogart) develops his emotional instability due to past stressing war actions that made him a sick man and his officers debate on what the correct decision should be; the second one deals with the Court Martial that Lt. Meryk (Van Johnson) has to face for taking over the ship's command. Both put together add to make this most interesting movie complete.
A highlight of the film is the very well selected cast. Bogart delivers a fine performance as the troubled Quegg very different from most of his other appearances in the screen. Van Johnson is good as the officer who has to make the big decision knowing what the consequences can be for him. Josè Ferrer shows his undeniable acting class as Johnson's attorney. But what really surprised me was Fred MacMurray's outstanding acting as the selfish and unreliable Lt. Tom Kieffer who encourages the mutiny but lacks the guts to sustain his position in Court; I never thought of MacMurray as much more than a correct actor but somehow he manages to build here a classic performance, probably his best ever. The scene where a drunk Ferrer confronts him for his behaviour and throws his drink at his face is memorable.
The romantic affair between Robert Francis (one of the Caine's young officers) and May Wynn doesn't do much for the movie but it doesn't hurt it either.
All in all, this is good cinema and a must enjoyable film to see every once in a while.