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==Plot==
==Plot==
Young [[Ensign (rank)|Ensign]] Willie Keith (Robert Francis), new to the Navy, reports to the aging, battle-scarred [[Destroyer minesweeper|minesweeper]] USS ''Caine'' long commanded by salty veteran William De Vriess (Tom Tully) with whom Keith quickly clashes although he also befriends [[executive officer]], Stephen Maryk (Van Johnson), and communications officer, Thomas Keefer (Fred MacMurray). De Vriess is soon [[:File:Queeg_A.jpg|relieved]] by Phillip Francis Queeg (Humphrey Bogart), a career officer assuming his first command, who immediately attempts to instill strict discipline on the ''Caine's'' slovenly crew.
Young Willie Keith (Robert Francis) reports to the [[Destroyer minesweeper|minesweeper]] USS ''Caine'' commanded by William De Vriess (Tom Tully) and also meets [[executive officer]] Stephen Maryk (Van Johnson), and communications officer Thomas Keefer (Fred MacMurray). De Vriess is soon relieved by Phillip Francis Queeg (Humphrey Bogart) who immediately attempts to instill strict discipline on the ''Caine's'' crew..


After a day of gunnery target towing, Queeg orders a turn to head back to [[Pearl Harbor]] but then becomes distracted berating Keith and Keefer over a crewman's appearance ignoring the helmsman's repeated warnings that the ship would steam over the towline setting the target adrift. Queeg tries to cover up the incident while Keith and Keefer become increasingly alarmed by Queeg's behavior.
After a day of gunnery target towing, Queeg orders a turn to head back to [[Pearl Harbor]] but then becomes distracted berating Keith and Keefer over a crewman's appearance ignoring the helmsman's repeated warnings that the ship would steam over the towline setting the target adrift. Queeg tries to cover up the incident.


Later in combat, Queeg abandons under fire a group of amphibious assault landing craft long before reaching their designated departure point and instead drops a yellow dye marker leaving the landing craft to fend for themselves. Afterwards Queeg asks his officers for their support, but they remain silent and nickname him "Old Yellow Stain" implying cowardice.
Later in combat, Queeg abandons under fire a group of landing craft long before reaching their designated departure point and instead drops a yellow dye marker leaving the landing craft to fend for themselves. Afterwards Queeg asks his officers for their support, but they remain silent and nickname him "Old Yellow Stain" implying cowardice.


When a quart of strawberries go missing from the officers' mess, Queeg is convinced that a sailor has made a duplicate key to the food locker and orders the crew strip searched to find it. Although Maryk, Keefer, and Keith learn from Ensign Harding (Jerry Parrs) that he told the captain that the mess boys had eaten the strawberries, Queeg insists on searching for the key.
When strawberries go missing from the officers' mess, Queeg is convinced that a sailor has made a duplicate key to the food locker and orders the crew strip searched to find it. Although Maryk, Keefer, and Keith learn from Harding (Jerry Parrs) that he told the captain that the mess boys had eaten the strawberries, Queeg insists on searching for the key.


Keefer encourages Maryk to consider relieving Queeg on the basis of mental incapacity under "Article 184" of [[United States Navy Regulations|Navy Regulations]].<ref>United States Navy Regulations (1990), Chapter 10, "Precedence, Authority and Command", Section 4 "Succession to Command", Article 1088 "Relief of a Commanding Officer by a Subordinate", p. 94 Washington, DC: Department of the Navy</ref>{{refn|"It is conceivable that most unusual and extraordinary circumstances may arise in which the relief from duty of a commanding officer by a subordinate becomes necessary, either by placing the commanding officer under arrest or on the sick list. Such action shall never be taken without the approval of the Commandant of the Marine Corps or the Chief of Naval Personnel, as appropriate, or the senior officer present, except when reference to such higher authority is undoubtedly impracticable because of the delay involved or for other clearly obvious reasons." (excerpt)|group=N}} First remaining loyal to Queeg, Maryk eventually starts a log documenting the captain's behavior. Keefer finally convinces Maryk and Keith to join him in personally presenting the case to remove Queeg to Admiral [[William F. Halsey, Jr.]] but upon reaching his flagship, Keefer realizes that Queeg's actions could be interpreted as attempts to instill discipline thus leaving them open to a charge of conspiring to [[mutiny]]. As they leave without seeing Halsey, an aide tells them that a [[typhoon]] is approaching and the fleet getting underway.
Keefer encourages Maryk to consider relieving Queeg on the basis of mental incapacity under "Article 184" of [[United States Navy Regulations|Navy Regulations]]. Maryk eventually starts a log documenting the captain's behavior. Keefer finally convinces Maryk and Keith to join him in personally presenting the case to remove Queeg to Admiral [[William F. Halsey, Jr.]] but upon reaching his flagship, Keefer realizes that Queeg's actions could be interpreted as attempts to instill discipline thus leaving them open to a charge of conspiring to [[mutiny]]. As they leave without seeing Halsey, an aide tells them that a [[typhoon]] is approaching and the fleet getting underway.
[[File:Strawberry investigation - Caine Mutiny.jpg|thumb|The "strawberry investigation."]]
⚫
At the height of the storm Maryk urges the captain to reverse course into the wind and take on ballast, but Queeg steadfastly refuses. Maryk relieves Queeg with the concurrence of Keith. The ''Caine'' survives and returns to San Francisco where Maryk and Keith face court-martial. Barney Greenwald (Jose Ferrer) becomes Maryk's defense counsel.


⚫
At the court martial, Keefer denies ever observing signs of mental illness in Queeg or counseling Maryk to relieve him. While a Navy psychiatrist testifies Queeg is not mentally incapacitated for command, he admits Queeg suffers from a strongly [[paranoia|paranoid]] personality. Under Greenwald's intense cross-examination, Queeg manifests his paranoid behavior and Maryk is acquitted.
⚫
[[File:Queeg_B.jpg|thumb|right|Queeg and Maryk during the typhoon]]At the height of the storm Maryk urges the captain to reverse course into the wind and take on ballast, but Queeg steadfastly refuses. With the ship appearing to founder, Maryk relieves Queeg with the concurrence of Keith, then the [[officer of the deck]]. The ''Caine'' survives and returns to San Francisco where Maryk and Keith face court-martial. Barney Greenwald (Jose Ferrer), a Naval aviator and lawyer, reluctantly becomes Maryk's defense counsel.


⚫
Keefer appears at a celebration of the ''Caine''{{'s}} officers. So does a drunk Greenwald, who berates the officers for not appreciating Queeg's long and arduous service career and failure to support him when he asked. He denounces Keefer as the real "author" of the mutiny, a man who "hated the Navy", and manipulated others while keeping his own hands clean, and throws champagne in Keefer's face. The officers depart, leaving Keefer alone in the room. Keith is assigned to a new ship that turns out to be commanded by De Vriess.
⚫
At the court martial, Keefer denies ever observing signs of mental illness in Queeg or counseling Maryk to relieve him. While a Navy psychiatrist testifies Queeg is not mentally incapacitated for command, he admits Queeg suffers from a strongly [[paranoia|paranoid]] personality. Under Greenwald's intense cross-examination, Queeg manifests his paranoid behavior. The Court closes, Maryk is acquitted.

⚫
Keefer appears at a celebration of the ''Caine''{{'s}} officers. So does a drunk Greenwald, who berates the officers for not appreciating Queeg's long and arduous service career and failure to support him when he asked. He denounces Keefer as the real "author" of the mutiny, a man who "hated the Navy", and manipulated others while keeping his own hands clean, and throws champagne in Keefer's face. The officers depart, leaving Keefer alone in the room. Keith is assigned to a new ship that turns out to be commanded by De Vriess who invites him "take her out".


==Cast==
==Cast==
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===Casting and director===
===Casting and director===
[[File:Van johnson in the caine mutiny.jpg|thumb|Van Johnson as Maryk]]Stanley Kramer and Columbia Pictures intended from the start of the fifteen-month preproduction process to cast Humphrey Bogart in the rôle of Captain. Queeg.<ref name="TIME">"Cinema: The Survivor", TIME Magazine, June 7, 1954</ref> [[Dick Powell]] campaigned for the role as well,<ref name="tcmarticle">McGee, Scott [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/25162/The-Caine-Mutiny/articles.html "The Caine Mutiny" (TCM article)]</ref> and [[Richard Widmark]] was considered for the part.{{cn|date=April 2016}}
[[File:Van johnson in the caine mutiny.jpg|thumb|Van Johnson as Maryk]]Stanley Kramer and Columbia Pictures intended to cast Humphrey Bogart as Captain Queeg. [[Columbia Pictures]] president [[Harry Cohn]] knew Bogart wanted the part and took advantage of that fact, and Bogart eventually settled for much less than his usual $200,000 salary. "This never happens to [[Gary Cooper|Cooper]] or [[Cary Grant|Grant]] or [[Clark Gable|Gable]], but always to me," Bogart complained to his wife, [[Lauren Bacall]].<ref name="tcmarticle">McGee, Scott [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/25162/The-Caine-Mutiny/articles.html "The Caine Mutiny" (TCM article)]</ref>


⚫
[[Van Johnson]] was loaned to Columbia by MGM, where he was under contract. Being cast as Maryk was a breakthrough for the actor, who felt that he had been in a "rut" by being typecast in light rôles. During the filming of the scene off Oahu in which Maryk swims fully clothed to retrieve a line, his life was saved when a Navy rifleman shot a shark who was approaching Johnson.<ref name="Johnson bio">{{cite book|last1=Davis|first1=Ronald L.|title=Van Johnson: MGM's Golden Boy|date=2016|publisher=University Press of Mississippi|isbn=9781496803856|pages=159–161|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RG2PFR0tFSAC&pg=PA159|accessdate=4 March 2016}}</ref> [[Lee Marvin]] was cast as one of the sailors, not only for his acting, but also because of his knowledge of ships at sea. Marvin had served in the [[U.S. Marines]] from the beginning of American involvement in [[World War II]] through the [[Battle of Saipan]], in which he was wounded. As a result, he became an unofficial technical adviser for the film.<ref name="tcmarticle" />
[[Columbia Pictures]] president [[Harry Cohn]] knew Bogart wanted the part and took advantage of that fact, and Bogart eventually settled for much less than his usual $200,000 salary. "This never happens to [[Gary Cooper|Cooper]] or [[Cary Grant|Grant]] or [[Clark Gable|Gable]], but always to me," Bogart complained to his wife, [[Lauren Bacall]]. "Damn it, Harry knows I want to play it and will come down in my price rather than see them give it to somebody else." <ref name="Kanfer">Kanfer, Stefan (2011). ''Tough Without a Gun: The Life and Extraordinary Afterlife of Humphrey Bogart''. New York: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. Chapter 7, Section iii, Kindle Locations 3313-3315; 3351; 3389</ref>

Bogart later wrote: "Queeg was not a sadist, not a cruel man, but was a very sick man. I don't know whether he was a schizophrenic, a manic depressive or a paranoiac—ask a psychiatrist—but I do know that a person who was any one of those things works overtime at being normal. In fact he's super normal until pressured. And then he blows up. I personally know a Queeg in every studio."<ref name="Kanfer" /> The ''[[Hollywood Reporter]]'' later judged Bogart's "infinitely pathetic performance" as Queeg to be "a high point in the history of screen acting."<ref name="Kanfer" />

⚫
[[Van Johnson]] was loaned to Columbia by MGM, where he was under contract. Being cast as Maryk was a breakthrough for the actor, who felt that he had been in a "rut" by being typecast in light rôles. During the filming of the scene off Oahu in which Maryk swims fully clothed to retrieve a line, his life was saved when a Navy rifleman shot a shark who was approaching Johnson.<ref name="Johnson bio">{{cite book|last1=Davis|first1=Ronald L.|title=Van Johnson: MGM's Golden Boy|date=2016|publisher=University Press of Mississippi|isbn=9781496803856|pages=159–161|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RG2PFR0tFSAC&pg=PA159|accessdate=4 March 2016}}</ref> [[Fred MacMurray]] had spent his early career impersonating genial, all-American types but reversed course in 1944 by playing a heel in the classic film noir [[Double Indemnity (film)|''Double Indemnity'']]. At the age of forty-six he was again cast against type in the unsympathetic rôle of Keefer, a weak man with a glib tongue and a façade of good fellowship but ever an agent provocateur who persistently labels Queeg a "classic paranoid" and "Freudian delight" who "crawls with clues" while also encouraging Maryk to seize control of the ''Caine''.<ref name="Kanfer" />[[File:Strawberry investigation - Caine Mutiny.jpg|thumb|The "strawberry investigation."|left]][[Lee Marvin]] was cast as one of the sailors, not only for his acting, but also because of his knowledge of ships at sea. Marvin had served in the [[U.S. Marines]] from the beginning of American involvement in [[World War II]] through the [[Battle of Saipan]], in which he was wounded. As a result, he became an unofficial technical adviser for the film.<ref name="tcmarticle" />


Before choosing Dmytryk for ''The Caine Mutiny,'' Kramer had hired the director for three low-budget films. He had previously been [[Hollywood blacklist|blacklisted]], and the success of the film helped revive Dmytryk's career. {{citation needed|date=September 2015}}
Before choosing Dmytryk for ''The Caine Mutiny,'' Kramer had hired the director for three low-budget films. He had previously been [[Hollywood blacklist|blacklisted]], and the success of the film helped revive Dmytryk's career. {{citation needed|date=September 2015}}


''The Caine Mutiny'' would be the first rôle in Robert Francis's short four-film career as he was killed when the private plane he was piloting crashed shortly after take off from [[Bob Hope Airport|Burbank airport]] in California on July 31, 1955.<ref>[[Robert Osborne|Osborne, Robert]] outro, TCM broadcast</ref>
''The Caine Mutiny'' would be the first part in Robert Francis's short four-film career as he was killed when the private plane he was piloting crashed shortly after take off from [[Bob Hope Airport|Burbank airport]] in California on July 31, 1955.<ref>[[Robert Osborne|Osborne, Robert]] outro, TCM broadcast</ref>


[[May Wynn]] is the last surviving cast member.{{citation needed|date=February 2016}}
[[May Wynn]] is the last surviving cast member.{{citation needed|date=February 2016}}


===Navy involvement===
===Navy involvement===
The [[United States Department of the Navy|Navy]] was initially uncomfortable with both the portrayal of a mentally unbalanced man as the captain of one of its ships and the word "mutiny" in the film's title. Rear Admiral Robert Hickey, the Navy's Chief of Information, wrote to producer Stanley Kramer: "I believe your production would plant in the minds of millions the idea that life in the Navy is akin to confinement in a psychiatric institution."<ref name="tcmarticle" /> As negotiations began with the Navy, Kramer said his first job was to get across the idea that the day of saccharine "Navy-Blue-and-Gold" movies was over and that "white could be made to look much whiter by having some black in the picture for contrast"—e.g., that "the bleak story of Captain Queeg constituted an effective counter-point to the development of Willie Keith and his comrades." As for the legitimacy of the characters in the film, Admiral [[William Fechteler]], the [[Chief of Naval Operations]] from 1951 to 1953, observed that in his thirty years of service in the Navy he had "met every character" in the ''Caine Mutiny'', just "not congregated on the same ship".<ref>Hill, Gladwin "In the Legendary Wake of 'The Caine Mutiny' ", The New York ''Times'', October 11, 1953, Section 2, p. x5</ref>
The [[United States Department of the Navy|Navy]] was initially uncomfortable with both the portrayal of a mentally unbalanced man as the captain of one of its ships and the word "mutiny" in the film's title. After Stanley Roberts' shooting script was completed and approved by the Navy, the Department agreed to cooperate with [[Columbia Pictures]] by providing access to its ships, planes, combat boats, [[Pearl Harbor]], the port of [[San Francisco]], and [[Naval Station Treasure Island|U.S. Naval Station Treasure Island]] for filming. Dmytryk recalled in his memoir that after "noisy" protests from the Navy subsided, the film production received wholehearted cooperation.<ref name="Dmytryk memoir" />
[[File:MacMurray - Caine Mutiny.jpg|thumb|Fred MacMurray as Keefer]]
[[File:MacMurray - Caine Mutiny.jpg|thumb|Fred MacMurray as Keefer]]
After Stanley Roberts' shooting script was completed and approved by the Navy, the Department agreed to cooperate with [[Columbia Pictures]] by providing access to its ships, planes, combat boats, [[Pearl Harbor]], the port of [[San Francisco]], and [[Naval Station Treasure Island|U.S. Naval Station Treasure Island]] (site of the court martial) for filming. Dmytryk recalled in his memoir that after "noisy" protests from the Navy subsided, the film production received wholehearted cooperation.<ref name="Dmytryk memoir" />


As one of the conditions for its cooperation with making the film, the Navy required that a disclaimer be included that the story of the film was fictional, that there had never been a ship named USS ''Caine,'' and that no Navy captain had been relieved of command at sea under Articles 184–186 (now §1088). To this end an epigraph appears on screen immediately following the opening credits that reads: "There has never been a mutiny in a ship of the United States Navy. The truths of this film lie not in its incidents, but in the way a few men meet the crisis of their lives."<ref name=tcmarticle/> This statement is not completely accurate, however, as in 1842 an incipient mutiny was quashed on board the US Navy Brig [[USS Somers (1842)#The .22Somers Affair.22|USS ''Somers'']] resulting in the court martial of its captain.<ref>Cooper, James Fenimore. "The Cruise of the Somers: Illustrative of the Despotism of the Quarter Deck and the Unmanly Conduct of Commander Mackenzie". New York: J. Winchester, 1844.</ref><ref>Howe, David [http://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/s/somers-essay-on-legal-aspects-of-somers-affair.html "Essay on the Legal Aspects of Somers Affair and Bibliography"] Naval History and Heritage Command</ref><ref>Anthony, Irving. "Mutiny on the USS Somers," 17, no.1 ''Sea Classics'' (Jan. 1984): 18-22, 78-79.</ref>{{refn|The only court martial and convictions for mutiny under the modern Naval Regulations came not at sea, but after a deadly munitions explosion on July 17, 1944 at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine in Port Chicago, California that killed 320 sailors and civilians and injured 390 others.<ref>"AT LEAST 350 DEAD AS MUNITIONS SHIPS BLOW UP ON COAST; Two Vessels Being Loaded at Port Chicago Explode, Killing Virtually All at Spot". The New York ''Times'', July 19, 1944, p. 1</ref> Hundreds of US Navy servicemen subsequently refused to resume loading munitions on ships owing to the unsafe conditions, an action which became known as the [[Port_Chicago_disaster#Port_Chicago_mutiny|Port Chicago Mutiny]] resulting in the conviction in November, 1944 of fifty of these sailors (called the [[Port_Chicago_disaster#Port_Chicago_50|"Port Chicago 50"]]) by court martial held at [[Treasure Island]] and who were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 8 to 15 years.<ref>"50 GET MUTINY TERMS; Sentences of Negroes in Navy Range form 8 to 15 Years". The New York ''Times'', November 19, 1944, p. 29</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Allen|first=Robert L.|authorlink=Robert L. Allen|year=2006|title=The Port Chicago Mutiny|publisher=[[Heyday Books]]|location=[[Berkeley, California|Berkeley, CA]]|isbn= 978-1-59714-028-7|oclc=63179024|url=https://books.google.com/?id=2jl6cyAy6u8C}}</ref>|group=N}}
An epigraph appears on screen immediately following the opening credits that reads: "There has never been a mutiny in a ship of the United States Navy. The truths of this film lie not in its incidents, but in the way a few men meet the crisis of their lives."<ref name=tcmarticle/> This statement is not completely accurate, however, as in 1842 an incipient mutiny was quashed on board the US Navy Brig [[USS Somers (1842)#The .22Somers Affair.22|USS ''Somers'']] resulting in the court martial of its captain.<ref>Anthony, Irving. "Mutiny on the USS Somers," 17, no.1 ''Sea Classics'' (Jan. 1984): 18-22, 78-79.</ref>


Location filming took place at [[Royce Hall]] at the [[University of California, Los Angeles]]; at [[Treasure Island (California)|Naval Station Treasure Island]] in [[San Francisco]]; at [[Naval Station Charleston]], South Carolina; [[Pearl Harbor]], on [[Oahu]] in [[Hawaii]], and at [[Yosemite National Park]] in California.{{cn|date=April 2016}}
Location filming took place at [[Royce Hall]] at the [[University of California, Los Angeles]]; at [[Treasure Island (California)|Naval Station Treasure Island]] in [[San Francisco]]; at [[Naval Station Charleston]], South Carolina; [[Pearl Harbor]], on [[Oahu]] in [[Hawaii]], and at [[Yosemite National Park]] in California.{{cn|date=April 2016}}


===Music===
===Music===
This was the last of a number of Bogart films scored by composer [[Max Steiner]], mostly for [[Warner Bros.]] The main title theme, ''The Caine Mutiny March'', was included in [[RCA Victor]]'s collection of classic Bogart film scores, recorded by [[Charles Gerhardt (conductor)|Charles Gerhardt]] and the [[National Philharmonic Orchestra]]. Steiner's ''March'' theme was recycled by Columbia three years later as part of the [[stock music]] used in that studio's 1957 WWII Navy drama, ''[[Hellcats of the Navy]]'', which starred future US President [[Ronald Reagan]] and his wife, [[Nancy Reagan|Nancy Davis]].<ref>[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050500/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ql_1 ''The Caine Mutiny'' Music Credits] IMDb</ref><ref>[http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/1056390/Hellcats-Of-The-Navy-Movie-Clip-Admiral-Nimitz.html ADM Nimitz opening remarks to ''Hellcats of the Navy'' with ''The Caine Mutiny March'' as background music] Turner Classic Movies</ref>
This was the last of a number of Bogart films scored by composer [[Max Steiner]], mostly for [[Warner Bros.]] The main title theme, ''The Caine Mutiny March'', was included in [[RCA Victor]]'s collection of classic Bogart film scores, recorded by [[Charles Gerhardt (conductor)|Charles Gerhardt]] and the [[National Philharmonic Orchestra]].<ref>[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050500/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ql_1 ''The Caine Mutiny'' Music Credits] IMDb</ref>


The lyrics of the song, "Yellowstain Blues," which mocked Queeg's perceived cowardice during the landing incident, were drawn from ''[[The Caine Mutiny]],'' the novel by Herman Wouk on which the film was based.<ref>Wouk, Herman. ''The Caine Mutiny''</ref>
The lyrics of the song, "Yellowstain Blues," which mocked Queeg's perceived cowardice during the landing incident, were drawn from ''[[The Caine Mutiny]],'' the novel by Herman Wouk on which the film was based.<ref>Wouk, Herman. ''The Caine Mutiny''</ref>
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==Reception==
==Reception==
The film got a major pre-release boost three weeks before its premiere when Bogart as Queeg appeared on the cover of the June 7, 1954 issue of [[Time Magazine|TIME]]. The accompanying cover story ("Cinema: The Survivor") praised Bogart's portrayal of Queeg as "a blustering, secretive figure in Navy suntans, who brings the hollow, driven, tyrannical character of Captain Queeg to full and invidious life, yet seldom fails to maintain a bond of sympathy with his audience. He deliberately gives Queeg the mannerisms and appearance of an officer of sternness and decision, and then gradually discloses him as a man who is bottling up a scream, a man who never meets another's eyes. In the courtroom scene, Bogart's Queeg seems oblivious of his own mounting hysteria. Then, suddenly, he knows he is undone; he stops and stares stricken at the court, during second after ticking second of dramatic and damning silence."<ref name="TIME"/>


The film premiered in [[New York City]] on June 24, 1954, and went into general release on July 28. Made on a budget of $2 million, it was the [[1954 in film|second-highest grossing film of 1954]], earning $8.7 million in [[Gross rental|theatrical rentals]] in the United States.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Steinberg |first1=Cobbett |title=Film Facts|year=1980 |publisher=Facts on File, Inc. |location=New York |isbn=0-87196-313-2 |page=22 }}</ref> It was the most successful of Kramer's productions some of which had previously lost money, and put his entire production company as well as Columbia Pictures in the black.<ref name="Dmytryk memoir">{{cite book|last1=Dmytryk|first1=Edward|title=Odd man out : a memoir of the Hollywood Ten|date=1996|publisher=Southern Illinois Univ. Press|location=Carbondale [u.a.]|isbn=9780809319992|pages=186–190|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mPZGLABnGbQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+caine+mutiny&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjg_rOUgqjLAhXEtYMKHW7JAo84FBDoAQgsMAE#v=onepage&q=the%20caine%20mutiny&f=false|accessdate=4 March 2016}}</ref>
The film premiered in [[New York City]] on June 24, 1954, and went into general release on July 28. Made on a budget of $2 million, it was the [[1954 in film|second-highest grossing film of 1954]], earning $8.7 million in [[Gross rental|theatrical rentals]] in the United States.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Steinberg |first1=Cobbett |title=Film Facts|year=1980 |publisher=Facts on File, Inc. |location=New York |isbn=0-87196-313-2 |page=22 }}</ref> It was the most successful of Kramer's productions some of which had previously lost money, and put his entire production company as well as Columbia Pictures in the black.<ref name="Dmytryk memoir">{{cite book|last1=Dmytryk|first1=Edward|title=Odd man out : a memoir of the Hollywood Ten|date=1996|publisher=Southern Illinois Univ. Press|location=Carbondale [u.a.]|isbn=9780809319992|pages=186–190|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mPZGLABnGbQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+caine+mutiny&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjg_rOUgqjLAhXEtYMKHW7JAo84FBDoAQgsMAE#v=onepage&q=the%20caine%20mutiny&f=false|accessdate=4 March 2016}}</ref>
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In his book ''American Literature on Stage and Film'', historian Thomas S. Hischak says that Dmytryk handled both the action sequences and character portrayals deftly, and calls Queeg's breakdown during the trial "the stuff of movie legend."<ref name="Hischak" />
In his book ''American Literature on Stage and Film'', historian Thomas S. Hischak says that Dmytryk handled both the action sequences and character portrayals deftly, and calls Queeg's breakdown during the trial "the stuff of movie legend."<ref name="Hischak" />

In his treatise ''"Captain Bligh" as Mythic Cliché: The Films'', noted South Pacific historian [[Greg Dening]] contrasts the character of the mutiny in Dmytryk's 1954 film to that in the 1935 Hollywood epic about another Naval mutiny in the South Pacific, director [[Frank Lloyd|Frank Lloyd's]] Academy Award winning (Best Picture) [[Mutiny_on_the_Bounty_(1935_film)|''Mutiny on the Bounty'']].

"Dmytryk had just been allowed to work again after his imprisonment, recantation, and naming names," noted Dening of the formerly blacklisted [[Hollywood_blacklist#The_Hollywood_Ten_and_other_1947_blacklistees|"Hollywood Ten"]] director. "The 'Captain Bligh' of the ''Caine Mutiny'' was Capt. Queeg (Bogart), a weak, pathetic, and paranoid character. The 'Fletcher Christian' was Lt. Keefer (MacMurray) who was written into the script as an intellectual by Hollywood standards who persuaded the innocent Lt. Maryk (Johnson) to depose Queeg." In the screenplay, Keith, the ''Caine's'' still inexperienced "ninety day wonder" junior Ensign, remarks about the "by the book" new captain after the officers' first wardroom meeting with Queeg that "he's certainly Navy" compared to the laid back De Vriess to which Keefer mockingly replies, "Yea, so was Captain Bligh."<ref>Roberts, Stanley. ''The Caine Mutiny'' screenplay, Scene 13</ref>

In the end Keefer is accused by Lt. Greenwald (Ferrer) that by his cunning cowardice he was the true cause of the mutiny. Dening states that unlike in ''Mutiny on the Bounty'' there "were no heroic mutineers" in ''The Caine Mutiny.'' "The message instead was that legitimate professional authority in a weak Queeg was calling for help and was betrayed by self-interested liberals who had no loyalties to institutions," he concludes. "Keefer could have been a hero like 'Roger Byam' had he made his deferences to the institution's hegemony, scotched his own cynicism, and been more trusting of power's good will."<ref>Dening, Greg (1998) ''"Captain Bligh" as Mythic Cliché: The Films'' in the anthology ''Screening the Past: Film and the Representation of History'' (Tony Barta, Ed.), Chapter 2, p.25. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers</ref>


==Awards and honors==
==Awards and honors==

Revision as of 12:34, 13 April 2016

The Caine Mutiny
original film poster
Directed byEdward Dmytryk
Screenplay byStanley Roberts
Michael Blankfort
Produced byStanley Kramer
StarringHumphrey Bogart
José Ferrer
Van Johnson
Fred MacMurray
Robert Francis
CinematographyFranz Planer
Edited byHenry Batista
William A. Lyon
Music byMax Steiner
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
  • June 24, 1954 (1954-06-24) (US)
Running time
124 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2 million[1]
Box office$21,800,000[2]

The Caine Mutiny film is a 1954 American fictional Navy drama set in the Pacific during World War II. Directed by Edward Dmytryk and produced by Stanley Kramer, it stars Humphrey Bogart, José Ferrer, Van Johnson, and Fred MacMurray, and is based on The Caine Mutiny, the 1951 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel written by Herman Wouk. The film depicts the events on board a fictitious World War II U.S. Navy destroyer minesweeper and a subsequent mutiny court-martial.

The film received Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor (Humphrey Bogart), Best Supporting Actor (Tom Tully), Best Screenplay, Best Sound Recording (John P. Livadary), Best Film Editing, and Best Dramatic Score (Max Steiner).[3] It was the second highest-grossing film in the United States in 1954.[4]

Dmytryk was nominated for a Directors Guild Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures.

Plot

Young Willie Keith (Robert Francis) reports to the minesweeper USS Caine commanded by William De Vriess (Tom Tully) and also meets executive officer Stephen Maryk (Van Johnson), and communications officer Thomas Keefer (Fred MacMurray). De Vriess is soon relieved by Phillip Francis Queeg (Humphrey Bogart) who immediately attempts to instill strict discipline on the Caine's crew..

After a day of gunnery target towing, Queeg orders a turn to head back to Pearl Harbor but then becomes distracted berating Keith and Keefer over a crewman's appearance ignoring the helmsman's repeated warnings that the ship would steam over the towline setting the target adrift. Queeg tries to cover up the incident.

Later in combat, Queeg abandons under fire a group of landing craft long before reaching their designated departure point and instead drops a yellow dye marker leaving the landing craft to fend for themselves. Afterwards Queeg asks his officers for their support, but they remain silent and nickname him "Old Yellow Stain" implying cowardice.

When strawberries go missing from the officers' mess, Queeg is convinced that a sailor has made a duplicate key to the food locker and orders the crew strip searched to find it. Although Maryk, Keefer, and Keith learn from Harding (Jerry Parrs) that he told the captain that the mess boys had eaten the strawberries, Queeg insists on searching for the key.

Keefer encourages Maryk to consider relieving Queeg on the basis of mental incapacity under "Article 184" of Navy Regulations. Maryk eventually starts a log documenting the captain's behavior. Keefer finally convinces Maryk and Keith to join him in personally presenting the case to remove Queeg to Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr. but upon reaching his flagship, Keefer realizes that Queeg's actions could be interpreted as attempts to instill discipline thus leaving them open to a charge of conspiring to mutiny. As they leave without seeing Halsey, an aide tells them that a typhoon is approaching and the fleet getting underway.

The "strawberry investigation."

At the height of the storm Maryk urges the captain to reverse course into the wind and take on ballast, but Queeg steadfastly refuses. Maryk relieves Queeg with the concurrence of Keith. The Caine survives and returns to San Francisco where Maryk and Keith face court-martial. Barney Greenwald (Jose Ferrer) becomes Maryk's defense counsel.

At the court martial, Keefer denies ever observing signs of mental illness in Queeg or counseling Maryk to relieve him. While a Navy psychiatrist testifies Queeg is not mentally incapacitated for command, he admits Queeg suffers from a strongly paranoid personality. Under Greenwald's intense cross-examination, Queeg manifests his paranoid behavior and Maryk is acquitted.

Keefer appears at a celebration of the Caine's officers. So does a drunk Greenwald, who berates the officers for not appreciating Queeg's long and arduous service career and failure to support him when he asked. He denounces Keefer as the real "author" of the mutiny, a man who "hated the Navy", and manipulated others while keeping his own hands clean, and throws champagne in Keefer's face. The officers depart, leaving Keefer alone in the room. Keith is assigned to a new ship that turns out to be commanded by De Vriess.

Cast

Humphrey Bogart as Queeg

Cast notes:

Production

Script

Herman Wouk had already adapted his novel as a stage play, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, which premiered on Broadway in January 1954 and ran for more than a year. The play was directed by Charles Laughton and was a critical as well as a commercial success.[5] Wouk was initially selected to write the screenplay, but director Dmytryk thought his work was not successful. He replaced the novelist with Stanley Roberts, an experienced screenwriter. Roberts later quit the production after being told to cut the screenplay so the film could be kept to two hours. The 50 pages worth of cuts were made by Michael Blankfort, who received an "additional dialog" credit.[6]

The film differs from the novel, which focused on the Keith character, who became secondary in the film. focusing instead on Queeg.[5] Kramer "mollified the Navy" by modifying the Queeg characterization to make him less of a madman, as portrayed by Wouk, and more a victim of battle fatigue.[7]

Studios did not want to purchase the film rights to Wouk's novel until cooperation of the U.S. Navy was settled.[8] Independent producer Stanley Kramer purchased the rights himself for an estimated $60,000 – $70,000. The Navy's reluctance to cooperate led to an unusually long pre-production period of fifteen months. Principal photography took place between June 3 to August 24, 1953 under the initial working title of Authority and Rebellion.[9]

Casting and director

Van Johnson as Maryk

Stanley Kramer and Columbia Pictures intended to cast Humphrey Bogart as Captain Queeg. Columbia Pictures president Harry Cohn knew Bogart wanted the part and took advantage of that fact, and Bogart eventually settled for much less than his usual $200,000 salary. "This never happens to Cooper or Grant or Gable, but always to me," Bogart complained to his wife, Lauren Bacall.[6]

Van Johnson was loaned to Columbia by MGM, where he was under contract. Being cast as Maryk was a breakthrough for the actor, who felt that he had been in a "rut" by being typecast in light rôles. During the filming of the scene off Oahu in which Maryk swims fully clothed to retrieve a line, his life was saved when a Navy rifleman shot a shark who was approaching Johnson.[7] Lee Marvin was cast as one of the sailors, not only for his acting, but also because of his knowledge of ships at sea. Marvin had served in the U.S. Marines from the beginning of American involvement in World War II through the Battle of Saipan, in which he was wounded. As a result, he became an unofficial technical adviser for the film.[6]

Before choosing Dmytryk for The Caine Mutiny, Kramer had hired the director for three low-budget films. He had previously been blacklisted, and the success of the film helped revive Dmytryk's career. [citation needed]

The Caine Mutiny would be the first part in Robert Francis's short four-film career as he was killed when the private plane he was piloting crashed shortly after take off from Burbank airport in California on July 31, 1955.[10]

May Wynn is the last surviving cast member.[citation needed]

Navy involvement

The Navy was initially uncomfortable with both the portrayal of a mentally unbalanced man as the captain of one of its ships and the word "mutiny" in the film's title. After Stanley Roberts' shooting script was completed and approved by the Navy, the Department agreed to cooperate with Columbia Pictures by providing access to its ships, planes, combat boats, Pearl Harbor, the port of San Francisco, and U.S. Naval Station Treasure Island for filming. Dmytryk recalled in his memoir that after "noisy" protests from the Navy subsided, the film production received wholehearted cooperation.[11]

Fred MacMurray as Keefer

An epigraph appears on screen immediately following the opening credits that reads: "There has never been a mutiny in a ship of the United States Navy. The truths of this film lie not in its incidents, but in the way a few men meet the crisis of their lives."[6] This statement is not completely accurate, however, as in 1842 an incipient mutiny was quashed on board the US Navy Brig USS Somers resulting in the court martial of its captain.[12]

Location filming took place at Royce Hall at the University of California, Los Angeles; at Naval Station Treasure Island in San Francisco; at Naval Station Charleston, South Carolina; Pearl Harbor, on Oahu in Hawaii, and at Yosemite National Park in California.[citation needed]

Music

This was the last of a number of Bogart films scored by composer Max Steiner, mostly for Warner Bros. The main title theme, The Caine Mutiny March, was included in RCA Victor's collection of classic Bogart film scores, recorded by Charles Gerhardt and the National Philharmonic Orchestra.[13]

The lyrics of the song, "Yellowstain Blues," which mocked Queeg's perceived cowardice during the landing incident, were drawn from The Caine Mutiny, the novel by Herman Wouk on which the film was based.[14]

Soundtrack

The original soundtrack album for The Caine Mutiny was never officially released, and is very rare. Perhaps a dozen copies survive. RCA Victor planned an LP release with musical excerpts on the first side and the complete dialogue of the climactic court-martial scene on side two. But Herman Wouk believed that including this scene was an infringement on his recently opened Broadway play dealing with the court-martial. He threatened to prohibit Columbia Pictures from making any further adaptations of his work. According to Wouk, "Columbia head Harry Cohn looked into the matter, called me back, and said in his tough gravelly voice, 'I've got you beat on the legalities, but I've listened to the record and it's no goddamn good, so I'm yanking it.'"[citation needed]

Reception

The film premiered in New York City on June 24, 1954, and went into general release on July 28. Made on a budget of $2 million, it was the second-highest grossing film of 1954, earning $8.7 million in theatrical rentals in the United States.[4][15] It was the most successful of Kramer's productions some of which had previously lost money, and put his entire production company as well as Columbia Pictures in the black.[11]

Director Edward Dmytryk felt The Caine Mutiny could have been better than it was and should have been three and a half to four hours long to fully portray all the characters and complex story, but Columbia's Cohn insisted on a two-hour limit.[6] Reviewing the film in the New York Times, Bosley Crowther wrote that the job of condensing Wouk's novel to two hours had been achieved "with clarity and vigor, on the whole." His reservations concerned the studio's attempt to "cram" in "more of the novel than was required" such as the "completely extraneous" love affair between Keith and May Wynn that Crowther found to be a plot diversion that weakened dramatic tension. Although he doubted whether the novel had a structure suited for film, he noted that Roberts had "endeavored to follow it faithfully." The result, he argued, was that the court-martial became "an anticlimax" as it repeated Queeg's visible collapse seen in the typhoon but still considered the core of the film "smartly and stingingly played" and "though somewhat garbled" was still "a vibrant film."[16]

In his book American Literature on Stage and Film, historian Thomas S. Hischak says that Dmytryk handled both the action sequences and character portrayals deftly, and calls Queeg's breakdown during the trial "the stuff of movie legend."[5]

Awards and honors

The film received Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor (Humphrey Bogart, losing to Marlon Brando for On the Waterfront), Best Supporting Actor (Tom Tully), Best Screenplay, Best Sound Recording (John P. Livadary), Best Film Editing, and Best Dramatic Score (Max Steiner).[3]

Dmytryk was also nominated for a Directors Guild Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures.

American Film Institute Lists

Influence

On actors

  • When Maurice Micklewhite first became an actor he adopted the stage name "Michael Scott". He was later told by his agent that another actor was already using the same name, and that he had to come up with a new one immediately. Speaking to his agent from a telephone box in Leicester Square in London, Micklewhite looked around for inspiration, noted that The Caine Mutiny was being shown at the Odeon Cinema, and adopted the name Michael Caine. Caine has often joked in interviews that, had he looked the other way, he would have ended up as "Michael One Hundred and One Dalmatians."[22]

In television

  • Vince Gilligan used a clip of the film in Breaking Bad episode 5.02 ("Madrigal", 2012), and has stated that The Caine Mutiny was one of his favorite movies as a child.[23]
  • The British science-fiction sitcom Red Dwarf is about a huge spaceship which is run by a bumbling, possibly senile, computer called Holly. In one episode, Holly is apparently replaced by a back-up computer called Queeg.[24] Whereas Holly is easy-going, Queeg is authoritarian and by-the-book. In another episode, the character of Rimmer takes to rolling a pair of steel bearings in his hand to deal with stress, such as is done in The Caine Mutiny by Queeg.
  • In Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, members of the human resistance serve aboard the submarine USS Jimmy Carter. It is piloted by a reprogrammed Terminator that has been named "Queeg" by the crew.[25]

See also

References

Explanatory notes

Citations

  1. ^ Tranberg, Charles (2014) Fred MacMurray: A Biography, Bear Manor Media
  2. ^ Box Office Information for The Caine Mutiny. The Numbers. Retrieved April 15, 2013
  3. ^ a b "The 27th Academy Awards (1955) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-20. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ a b 'The Top Box-Office Hits of 1954', Variety Weekly, January 5, 1955
  5. ^ a b c Hischak, Thomas S. (2012). American literature on stage and screen 525 works and their adaptations. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. pp. 35–36. ISBN 9780786492794. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  6. ^ a b c d e McGee, Scott "The Caine Mutiny" (TCM article)
  7. ^ a b Davis, Ronald L. (2016). Van Johnson: MGM's Golden Boy. University Press of Mississippi. pp. 159–161. ISBN 9781496803856. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  8. ^ TCM Notes
  9. ^ TCM Overview: The Caine Mutiny, Turner Classics Movies (TCM)
  10. ^ Osborne, Robert outro, TCM broadcast
  11. ^ a b Dmytryk, Edward (1996). Odd man out : a memoir of the Hollywood Ten. Carbondale [u.a.]: Southern Illinois Univ. Press. pp. 186–190. ISBN 9780809319992. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  12. ^ Anthony, Irving. "Mutiny on the USS Somers," 17, no.1 Sea Classics (Jan. 1984): 18-22, 78-79.
  13. ^ The Caine Mutiny Music Credits IMDb
  14. ^ Wouk, Herman. The Caine Mutiny
  15. ^ Steinberg, Cobbett (1980). Film Facts. New York: Facts on File, Inc. p. 22. ISBN 0-87196-313-2.
  16. ^ Crowther, Bosley (June 25, 1954). "The Caine Mutiny (1954) The Screen: 'Caine Mutiny' Arrives; Vibrant Depiction of Novel Is at Capitol". New York Times. Retrieved April 6, 2015. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  17. ^ AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies Nominees
  18. ^ AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains Nominees
  19. ^ AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes Nominees
  20. ^ AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) Ballot
  21. ^ AFI's 10 Top 10 Ballot
  22. ^ "Michael Caine (I)". The Guardian. London. 1998-11-06. Retrieved 2010-05-25.
  23. ^ Nelson, Erik (2012-07-23). "Vince Gilligan: I've never Googled "Breaking Bad"". Salon.com. Retrieved 2012-08-03.
  24. ^ "Red Dwarf Series II Writing". reddwarf.co.uk. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  25. ^ rockknj (March 23, 2009). "Terminator, "Today is the Day, Part 2": Never trust a captain named Queeg". NJ.com. Retrieved 2009-05-02.
  26. ^ Drury, Bob (2007). Halsey's Typhoon - The True Story of a Fighting Admiral, an Epic Storm and an Untold Rescue. Atlantic Monthly Press. p. 286. ISBN 978-1-59887-086-2.

External links

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