Tuesday 20 November 2012

Movie: 'The Caine Mutiny' (1954)

The main difficulty in reviewing 'The Caine Mutiny' (or TCM) is that it is a mere shadow in comparison with its source novel. This fact is inevitable when you consider the length of the milestone written work, and how much detail must be lost in translation to the screen. The character who suffers the most in this respect is the protagonist of the novel, Willie Keith, who is purely one of an ensemble here on the screen. But who is Willie Keith, and what is the movie about?

'The Caine Mutiny' follows the officers and crew of the archaic American destroyer/mine sweeper 'Caine' in World War II under the command of Captains De Vriess and latterly Queeg. Queeg swiftly becomes erratic and unstable upon assuming command and is ultimately relieved of duty by the executive officer Maryk, this being the mutiny of the title. Following the mutiny a court martial takes place and is by far the most well executed portion of the film. The narrative is told nominally from the viewpoint of Ensign Willie Keith, fresh out of officers school, and secondly from the views of Maryk and communications officer Keefer, the last of which ultimately backs out and betrays the mutineers after instigating the whole endeavour.

The novel is a masterpiece, but the movie seems rather tame in comparison. Perhaps the casting is partly at fault and perhaps condensing a masterwork into two hours is simply not a good idea to begin with. It certainly seems as if we are supposed to accept Humphrey Bogart's Queeg's descent into nuttiness rather too hastily and we quickly march into Keefer's (Fred MacMurray) supine plotting to remove the inept and cowardly commander without anywhere near the required amount of setup and character building. This film would seem to be built on the idea that people will already know the story and so little background is required. They were wrong. From the first the two year narrative of the story is shredded under the confines of movie making and we gain no sense of characters being people at all. Bogart sketches in Queeg as best he can - and I do believe he was miscast - but the descent is simply sudden instead of a gradual lunacy leaping into view and Ensign Keith can be considered to be a cardboard cutout as played by a wooden Robert Francis. The whole character of Keith is awkward in fact as he is robbed of almost all of his personal story, with but a remnant of his romance left. That remnant should really have been excised too, simply to reinforce the guiding tale of Queeg and the rusty ship Caine but instead it pops in melodramatically from time, with too little time to be endearing and too much time to be emotional scenery. Van Johnson as Maryk is the standout success, Fred MacMurray is slimey as Keefer, and Lee Marvin jumps out as a crewman in one of his earliest roles. Coming a close second in the acting stakes is Jose Ferrer as Maryk's defense counsel, even if he does ham it up a little.

Considering the movie as a whole, it's solid and unremarkable. The seagoing shots are good and the trial sequence is exceptional but the pacing overall is rather dull and the progression in story rapid while being dragged under by Keith's melodrama. Apparently Bogart campaigned mightily for the role of Queeg but he doesn't seem to know where to go with it and remains simply Bogart with a cowardly streak and the movie suffers more than a little for that. His eccentricities in the book don't seep through to the screen sufficiently for us to believe he needs to be relieved and so the drama is lessened, especially in that critical corresponding scene where Maryk does that necessary deed. It is simply a flat film until we leave the Caine, albeit a well visualised flat film. The director is notable mainly for being one of the Hollywood Ten, and is far more fascinating for that than for this movie.

It's solid, it's flat, it's now happily sunk. I heartily recommend the Pulitzer prize winning novel by Herman Wouk of 1952 before watching this and then you may well agree with me! If so or if not, please feel free to comment and say so.

ODLB.

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