| Collector's Corner May 2008
The Caine Mutiny
- Starring: Humphrey Bogart, José Ferrer,
Van Johnson, Fred MacMurray, Robert Francis, May Wynn, Tom Tully, E.G. Marshall, Lee
Marvin, Claude Akins
- Directed by: Edward Dmytryk
- Theatrical release: 1954
- DVD release: 2007
- Video: 1.85:1 (widescreen)
- Sound: Dolby Digital 1.0
- Released by: Sony Pictures
 Humphrey
Bogart always seemed a strange choice for a leading man. No one other than his four wives
would ever call him handsome. He was balding and physically weak, and his narrow shoulders
sloped. He lisped. A filterless Chesterfield always dangled from his scarred lips, the
smoke floating into his eyes and causing him to squint. On the set, he wore 5"
platform shoes to make his 5’ 8" look like 6’ 1".
These aren’t the things stars are usually made of. Yet
in Entertainment Weekly’s book The Greatest Movie Stars of All Time,
Bogart is their choice for the No.1 greatest movie star, male or female. And Bogart holds
the No.1 slot in the American Film Institute’s 100 Years . . . 100 Stars.
Most critics trying to explain how Bogart’s gifts
trumped his appearance point to Casablanca (1942) or The Treasure of Sierra
Madre (1948), both terrific films that show Bogart at his best. What makes each a
classic is the confluence of a solid story, a character that Bogart has sympathy with, and
a first-rate supporting cast. Bogart’s acting is always better in direct proportion
to the quality of his co-stars.
Bogart also had his share of iconic roles: Sam Spade in The
Maltese Falcon (1941), Philip Marlowe in The Big Sleep (1946), Charlie
Allnut in The African Queen (1951). In all of these, his work is so
transparent that you forget you’re watching an actor. But for its mix of story,
character and cast, I nominate The Caine Mutiny.
Each warship is a tiny autocracy with an absolute dictator.
If you’re lucky, you get an enlightened despot. If you’re not, you can get a
paranoid tyrant with delusions of adequacy. The Caine Mutiny tells the story of the
U.S.S. Caine, a ratty old mine-sweeper in WWII, and its neurotic skipper, Lt. Cmdr.
Philip Francis Queeg (Bogart). Queeg suffers from debilitating paranoia (paranoid
personality disorder, for you fans of the DSM-IV). Each time the pressure rises,
Queeg panics. The slimy Lt. Tom Keefer (Fred MacMurray, playing solidly against type)
starts a rumor among the junior officers that Queeg is sick, then encourages a mutiny.
"Captain Queeg has every symptom of acute paranoia," he says. "It’s
just a question of time before he goes over the line." Finally, during one
life-and-death crisis, Queeg freezes, disassociates from reality, and his paranoia turns
into borderline personality disorder, rendering him incapable of making the decision that
will save his ship and crew. His First Officer, Lt. Steve Maryk (Van Johnson), relieves
him of his command. But that’s only the first half of this film; the second half is a
gripping courtroom drama.
 The Caine Mutiny began life as
a bestselling novel by Herman Wouk. From the day the film rights were sold, actors all
over Hollywood were clamoring for the juicy roles -- to land the role of Queeg, Bogart
even took a reduced salary. But no one knew the problems that would beset the cast. Bogart
was already showing signs of the illness that would kill him just a few years later. Just
before filming started, José Ferrer broke his hand. MacMurray’s beloved wife,
Lillian Lamont, died just weeks after filming started. Robert Francis, who was being
groomed as a Hollywood leading man, died the following year while piloting a small plane.
And Van Johnson, a quintessential Hollywood pretty boy, had been in a terrible car crash a
dozen years before that had nearly scalped him and left him with a steel plate implanted
in his skull. Johnson’s scars were dramatic, but he’d always hidden them under
makeup until producer Stanley Kramer convinced him to expose the damage to the camera for
his role as First Officer Maryk.
This star-crossed ensemble works brilliantly. Bogart
displays the easygoing charm Queeg had needed to make it to the rank of Captain, while the
actor’s illness probably helped him seem genuinely terrified when bad situations
arose. Johnson was always better as a supporting actor than as a leading man, and here he
invests the character of the ship’s second-in-command with dignity and courage.
MacMurray is a trooper and shows, as he had in Double
Indemnity (1944) and would again in The
Apartment (1960), that he has the acting chops to play entirely against his inner
Disney Dad. His final scene is truly disturbing -- even more so than Bogart’s. Ferrer
is powerful as military lawyer Lt. Barney Greenwald, who is very much of the asshole
branch of the legal profession. The somewhat wooden Robert Francis, as Ensign Willie
Keith, is a bit out of his league among these old pros, but never distracts.
Edward Dmytryk won’t be found on any Mount Rushmore of
Hollywood directors, but he wisely stays out of the way of his strong cast and powerful
story while visually keeping the story moving. Max Steiner is on the Mount Rushmore
of film composers, and his score for The Caine Mutiny is up to his usual high
standard. Lawrence Butler’s special effects look powerful from two-thirds of the way
back in a big-screen theater, but will look a tad dated to audiences watching this film at
home who are used to the best current CGI work.
But The Caine Mutiny proves what the filmmakers of
Hollywood’s Golden Age could do with a corking story and strong actors. Their peers
loved the film, nominating it for seven Oscars. Unfortunately, On the Waterfront also
came out in 1954, and for a dozen reasons (see my review
here), no film could beat Brando’s sad palooka.
In early April, I saw The Caine Mutiny on a big
screen in a good theater, then checked that experience against the Sony DVD edition.
Whoever did the remastering for the DVD decided to push the reds way too much, which is a
shame: this film deserves better. At least the "making of" features and
the commentary add a great deal to our enjoyment.
The Caine Mutiny was Bogart’s last great role.
The Chesterfields caught up with him, and he died of throat cancer in January 1957, at the
age of 57.
...Wes Marshall
wesm@hometheatersound.com |
