The Caine Mutiny (1954)

The Caine Mutiny was a nominee for Best Picture of 1954, and it's a very intriguing look at what constitutes leadership in times of crisis. It's the fictional story of a naval mine sweeper during World War II and what happens to its crew after the arrival of a new captain. A series of strange events leads several of the officers, in particular, to suspect that the captain is mentally unstable, a belief that leads to one of them taking command of the ship during a typhoon. The film ends with the court martial of that man, who is accused of mutiny by the captain.

Humphrey Bogart plays Captain Queeg, actually Lt. Commander Queeg, he of the infamous silver balls that he takes out of his pocket whenever he is under stress or must make a tough decision. (Could there be a more obvious symbol than a pair of balls that a man takes out of his pants pocket?) After taking the command of the Caine, Queeg attempts to impose some discipline on a crew that has become rather lax after years of being on the second-rate ship. He becomes obsessed with shirts being tucked in, for example, and he attempts to rewrite events so that he comes out looking guilt-free when he is to blame for a blunder. The most infamous event, of course, is the alleged theft of a quart of strawberries. So paranoid does Queeg become with finding the "guilty" party that every member of the crew has to surrender his keys to be checked. It's that sense of absurdity of behavior that leads his officers to question his reasoning ability.

The key moment, though, is during a storm when Queeg keeps giving out orders to the helmsman that could lead to the ship's destruction. Lt. Maryk (ably played by Van Johnson), fearing for the safety of the men on board, takes over command of the ship. Queeg charges Maryk with mutiny, and they both wind up at the proceedings of the court martial. It's during the court scenes that Bogart is at his best. He is pretty tame for much of the film, only showing a few moments of excitement, a flash here and there of emotion, but once he takes the stand, it becomes pretty clear very soon to everyone why Maryk reacted the way that he did.

There's a silly subplot involving a romance between one of the new ensigns and a nightclub singer, someone the ensign feels his mother might not approve of. There's also a rather condescending speech by Jose Ferrer's Lt. Greenwald that seems to support Queeg's position as captain. I found it rather insulting, frankly, to think that after the testimony in court, the lawyer who represented Maryk would still be so obviously opposed to his actions. I suspect it was a scene added to placate those who wanted to have some passing reference to respect of authority included.

I enjoyed the scenes on board the Caine. I can't vouch for their authenticity, of course, having never been in the Navy myself, but if they do approximate what life is like for the sailors, it's an interesting world out at sea. I think that's one of the appeals of this film. Its evocation of the ways that these men must live their lives, particularly when they are under the command of one person whose decisions must be followed and those decisions are questionable, is a key to the movie's overall success.