Capsizing a captain

Rating: 9/10 (12 February 2014)

I saw "The Caine Mutiny" recently after many years – now I can appreciate more fully why it had left such a lasting impression, it is an intense drama, brilliantly acted by a dream cast, with characters of surprising depth for a glossy, studio war film of the early 1950's.
Based on the book by Herman Wouk, the story follows Ensign "Willie" Keith, played by Robert Francis, as he joins the USS Caine as a junior officer. He meets the executive officer, Lieutenant Steve Maryk, played by Van Johnson, and Lieutenant Tom Keefer, played by Fred MacMurray – both actors delivering close to career best performances.
Ensign Keith also meets the captain, Commander DeVriess, played by Tom Tully. Thinking the ship sloppy, Keith is much happier when DeVriess is replaced by Lieutenant Commander Queeg, played in a show-stopping performance by Humphrey Bogart.
However it soon becomes evident that Queeg has issues, and it doesn't take long for the officers to realise that he is on the verge of a breakdown. At the urging of Keefer, Maryk, who is more sympathetic to Queeg, starts to take note of the captain's erratic behaviour, Things come to a head during a typhoon when Maryk takes command to save the ship after Queeg seems incapable of making decisions.
The films ends with the court martial of Maryk for mutiny where he is defended by Barney Greenwald, played by Jose Ferrer in another of the film's powerhouse performances.
Humphrey Bogart is mesmerising as Queeg. Although the trial scene is the one everyone remembers, the one in the boardroom where he asks the other officers for help shows how complete a portrayal it is.
Surely Van Johnson as Steve Maryk never gave a better performance. Maryk has similarities to Doug Roberts from Thomas Heggen's "Mister Roberts". Both Heggen and Wouk served in the US navy in WW2 and drew their characters from men they knew. Steve Maryk is brave and efficient, he is as Keefer says when introducing him to Keith, "Steve's our fireball, the guy who gets things done; there's one on every ship".
Of all the characters, it is possibly Fred MacMurray as Keefer who is the most intriguing. Big, cynical and articulate, he has a negative slant on just about everything, especially the navy, but his bluster masks weakness, which Maryk and Keith discover to their cost. His last scene standing alone in the elegant hotel room is one of MacMurrays finest – after work like that, no wonder he became bored playing the father on "My Three Sons".
The film stands up well today, despite the studio tank effects during the typhoon, which don't capture the weight of the real ocean. However real ships, were used extensively, and the film has considerable scope and size.
In the end though, it is the vivid, very human characters that make this film so compelling even after 60 years.