THE CAINE MUTINY
DIRECTED BY EDWARD DMYTRYK
PRODUCED BY STANLEY KRAMER
COLUMBIA PICTURES CORPORATION
Information from IMDb
Plot Summary
During the Second World War, onboard a small insignificant ship in the U.S. Pacific Fleet,
an event occurs unlike any that the United States Navy has ever experienced.
A Ship's Captain is removed from his command by his Executive Officer
in an apparent outright act of mutiny.
As the trial of the mutineers unfold, it is then learned that the Captain of the ship was mentally unstable,
perhaps even insane.
The Navy must then decide: was the Caine Mutiny a criminal act?
Or an act of courage to save a ship from destruction at the hands of her Captain.
Written by Anthony Hughes
Full Cast
Humphrey Bogart ... Lt. Cmdr. Philip Francis Queeg
José Ferrer ... Lt. Barney Greenwald (as Jose Ferrer)
Van Johnson ... Lt. Steve Maryk
Fred MacMurray ... Lt. Tom Keefer (as Fred Mac Murray)
Robert Francis ... Ens. Willie Keith
May Wynn ... May Wynn
Tom Tully ... Comdr. DeVriess
E.G. Marshall ... Lt. Comdr. Challee
Arthur Franz ... Lt. JG H. Paynter Jr.
Lee Marvin ... Meatball
Warner Anderson ... Capt. Blakely
Claude Akins ... Seaman Lugatch aka 'Horrible'
Katherine Warren ... Mrs. Keith (as Katharine Warren)
Jerry Paris ... Ens. Barney Harding
Steve Brodie ... Chief Budge
David Alpert ... Engstrand (uncredited)
Don Anderson ... Radarman (uncredited)
Herbert Anderson ... Ens. Rabbit (uncredited)
James Best ... Lt. JG Jorgensen (uncredited)
Whit Bissell ... Lt. Comdr. Dickson M.D. (uncredited)
Robert Bray ... Court-Martial Board Member (uncredited)
James Conaty ... Dignitary on Dais at Graduation Ceremony (uncredited)
Ted Cooper ... Sergeant-at-Arms (uncredited)
Don Dillaway ... George - Chauffeur (uncredited)
Don Dubbins ... Seaman 1st Class Urban (uncredited)
Johnny Duncan ... Sailor (uncredited)
James Edwards ... Whittaker (uncredited)
Ben Harris ... Navy Desk Clerk (uncredited)
Sam Harris ... Graduation Ceremony Attendee (uncredited)
Joe Haworth ... Ens. Carmody (uncredited)
Roy Jenson ... Sailor (uncredited)
Todd Karns ... Petty Officer 1st Class Stillwell (uncredited)
Don Keefer ... Court Stenographer - Yeoman 1st Class (uncredited)
Edward Laguna ... Winston (uncredited)
Frank Losee Jr. ... Sailor (uncredited)
Dayton Lummis ... Uncle Lloyd (uncredited)
Kenneth MacDonald ... Court-Martial Board Member (uncredited)
Paul McGuire ... Court-Martial Board Member (uncredited)
Tyler McVey ... Court-Martial Board Member (uncredited)
Patrick Miller ... Movie Operator (uncredited)
Richard Norris ... Court-Martial Board Member (uncredited)
Barry Norton ... Ship's Officer (uncredited)
Steve Pendleton ... Court-Martial Board Member (uncredited)
Jay Richards ... Sailor (uncredited)
Gene Starns ... Bosun's Mate (uncredited)
Bert Stevens ... Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
James Todd ... Comdr. Kelvey (uncredited)
John Tomeck ... Court-Martial Board Member (uncredited)
Writing Credits
Stanley Roberts (screenplay)
Michael Blankfort (additional dialogue)
Herman Wouk (based upon the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by)
Original Music
Max Steiner
Cinematography
Frank Planer
Trivia
When Humphrey Bogart broke bread into small pieces to symbolize the deteriorating state of Queeg's mental condition, a military advisor on the set told him that no naval officer would eat bread that way.
Richard Widmark was chosen for the lead role, but producer Stanley Kramer wanted Humphrey Bogart.
Actress May Wynn (real name: Donna Lee Hickey) adopted the name of her character in this movie, May Wynn, as her stage name, and made eight more films under that name. In the novel, May Wynn is itself a stage name.
An October 1952 New York Times item revealed that there were two scripts prepared for Stanley Kramer, one that included "Willie" and "May's" romance and another, shorter version that only included action on the Caine and the court-martial.
Director Edward Dmytryk noted in his autobiography that Wouk's initial contribution to the script was "a disaster" and that Stanley Roberts then took over the rewrite; Wouk is only credited on screen as the author of the novel on which the film is based. Dmytryk also stated that he was unaware of studio head Harry Cohn's strict insistence that Columbia films run no longer than 2 hours and indicated that Roberts quit over the stipulated cuts required to bring the screenplay down to fit the time requirement. The final screenplay was trimmed by nearly fifty pages by writer Michael Blankfort, who is credited on screen with "additional dialog."
To capture the excitement of the typhoon scene, the filmmakers originally intended to steer the ship (a replica of the USS Caine) into an actual gale for the bad-weather footage. It was eventually decided that the typhoon would be artificially created in a studio by special effects technician Lawrence W. Butler.
Columbia Pictures was determined to hire Humphrey Bogart for the top role of Capt. Queeg, and Bogart was enthusiastic about playing it, but the Columbia brass did not want to pay him his top salary. Bogart was rather miffed at this, complaining to wife Lauren Bacall, "This never happens to Gary Cooper, or Cary Grant or Clark Gable, but always to me." Bogart correctly figured that Harry Cohn and company knew that Bogart wanted to play the part so fervently that he would agree to take less money rather than surrender the part to someone else.
Humphrey Bogart's tour-de-force performance in the climactic courtroom scene was so powerful that it completely captivated the onlooking film technicians and crewmen. After the scene's completion, the company gave Bogart a round of thunderous applause.
Producer Stanley Kramer and director Edward Dmytryk cast Lee Marvin as one of the USS Caine's supporting sailors, not only for his knowledge of ships at sea but for his acting talent. Throughout the production, Marvin served as an unofficial technical advisor to the filmmakers. Sometimes a shot would be set up, only to be criticized by Marvin as being inauthentic.
Stanley Kramer gave Fred MacMurray a prominent role in this movie during a difficult period in the actor's life - his wife had just died - and work was a needed distraction for him.
Despite the accolades and impressive box-office receipts, director Edward Dmytryk felt that the film could have been even better. In "Stanley Kramer: Filmmaker" by Donald Spoto, Dmytryk said, "...it's a disappointment in my career, to tell the truth. I insist it could have been a classic ... but Kramer, who (with Dore Schary) is the most publicity-conscious man in the industry, got high-handed with Harry Cohn, and in fact had to toe the line ... Stanley Roberts' original script was about 190 pages, even without the romantic subplot ... It should have remained that - a three and one-half or four-hour picture - and it would have been more logically developed, the characters would have been further fleshed out. It would have been perfect."
Preparations for filming took 15 months. The length of time it took to make the film, unusually long at the time, was due in part to the unwillingness of the US Navy to endorse the film. Without the Navy's endorsement, it would have been impossible for the filmmakers to use naval equipment and personnel. The Navy was concerned that the film's subject dealt with a mutiny, and that audience would feel that it was a true story. But the filmmakers reached a compromise upon agreeing to include the comment in the opening titles that there has never been a mutiny on a US Navy vessel.
The following is engraved on a plaque in the officers' wardroom. The lines on the plaque are centered: U.S.S. CAINE DMS 18 / This ship is named for / Arthur Wingate Caine / Commander U.S. Navy / who died of wounds received / in running gun battle / between submarine and / vessel he commanded, / U.S.S. Jones. / The submarine was sunk in / the engagement.
The USS Caine was played by the Navy destroyer-minesweeper USS Thompson.
One of the biggest hits in Columbia's history, raking up a box office gross of $8.7 million in its first run.
The abortive visit to Adm. William F. Halsey was filmed on the USS Kearsarge (CV 33) which, at the time, had been decommissioned for extensive modernization work.
This marked a spectacular comeback for director Edward Dmytryk, formerly one of the "Hollywood Ten" who had been jailed for contempt of Congress and for lying under oath while being investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee because of his former membership in the American Communist party. Such was the effectiveness of the film that Dmytryk even received a DGA nomination.
Additional (and uncredited) dialog was provided by blacklisted writer Michael Blankfort.
Most of the Hollywood studios wouldn't touch Herman Wouk's best-seller because they knew that the only way they could make the film would be with the full cooperation of the Department of Defense, which would insist on making sweeping changes to the film (the DOD was openly critical of Wouk's depiction of the Navy). Undeterred, independent producer Stanley Kramer optioned the novel for $60,000. Once the novel won the Pulitzer Prize, the DOD had to soften its attitude towards the novel, given its huge popularity. It eventually approved Kramer's submitted screenplay treatment in 1952.
While there never was a "Caine" in the US Navy, there WAS a DMS-18 (the hull number of the Caine). It was the Hamilton, converted from a destroyer in 1942.
When Ens. Willis Seward Keith went away with May to Yosemite, they witnessed the famous Fire Fall. At 9:00 each evening in Camp Curry, the crowd which had gathered for the nightly campfire program, would fall silent. A man would call out to the top of Glacier Point "Let the Fire Fall!", and a faint reply could be heard from the top of the mountain. Then a great bonfire of red fir bark would be pushed evenly over the edge of the cliff, appearing to the onlookers below as a glowing waterfall of sparks and fire. In 1968 the Park Service Director decided that the Firefall tradition should come to an end. He reasoned that since it was just a man-made attraction, and one which caused a great deal of congestion in the park, as well as damage to the meadows from the trampling of onlookers, that it wasn't worth continuing. He went as far as to point out that it caused the unnatural and unnecessary removal of red-fir bark from the park grounds.
"The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial" opened at the Plymouth Theater on January 20, 1954, and ran for 415 performances starring Henry Fonda and Lloyd Nolan.
The scars on Van Johnson's face in this film are real, not makeup. While filming A Guy Named Joe, Johnson was in an automobile accident and thrown through the car's windshield. The plastic surgery of the day could not totally remove his scars. In all his later films he wore heavy makeup to hide them but felt that, in this film, they added to his character's appearance.
There was considerable opposition to the casting of Humphrey Bogart, since he was much older than Captain Queeg was supposed to be. In addition, Bogart was already seriously ill with espohagal cancer, although it would not be diagnosed until January 1956.
In the novel the Caine is a World War I vintage "flush deck" destroyer with 4 smokestacks. Since ships of this type were very scarce after World War II, the producers used a more modern World War II vintage ship with two smokestacks. When Ensign Keith is first being transported to the Caine, the Caine is docked in-bound of another double-stacker destroyer, but a wide shot makes it appear like it's just one four-stacker ship docked, thus providing a brief reference to the novel's Caine.
This film gave aspiring actor (and Humphrey Bogart fan) Maurice Micklewhite the inspiration for his screen name, Michael Caine.
This movie's opening prologue states: "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. The time - World War II . . . "
The typhoon referenced in the film and court martial was an actual typhoon known as "Typhoon Cobra," which struck Adm. William F. Halsey's Task Force 38 on 17 December 1944. As correctly stated in the film the actual storm did result in the sinking of three ships - the destroyers Spence, Hull and Monaghan.
José Ferrer's role as the defense attorney was played on stage by Henry Fonda. Ferrer would later play defense attorney Abe Fortas to Fonda as Clarence Earl Gideon in Gideon's Trumpet.
Lee Marvin, who served in the United States Marine Corps and knew a great deal about ships at sea, served double duty by also lending his expertise on military matters.
One of 1954's biggest money makers, second only to White Christmas, which featured José Ferrer's wife, Rosemary Clooney.
Captain Queeg's portrayal parallels that of the captain of the USS Hull, one of three destroyers lost during Typhoon Cobra ("Halsey's Typhoon") in December, 1944. Lieutenant Commander Joseph Marks was a veteran of Atlantic convoys, but he alienated the crew shortly after he took command by doing such things as forbidding social conversations between officers and enlisted men and canceling shore leave for minor infractions. While there was no mutiny on the Hull, Marks was found by a court of inquiry to have been too inexperienced in command to properly tend to his ship's safety. The storm and its impact is well described in "Halsey's Typhoon" by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin.
Goofs
Anachronisms
When singing in the nightclub, supposedly in 1944, May Wynn sings into a 1950s-design hand-held microphone.
During the trial, part of a calendar is visible on the back wall. It shows April beginning on a Wednesday, August on a Saturday, and December on a Tuesday. The trial is taking place presumably in 1944 or early 1945. These dates did not fall on these days of the week in either of these years; the last time this had happened was in 1942. The next time it happened was 1953 - the year the film was shot.
At the Navy administration building in San Francisco where the trial takes place, most of the automobiles shown are post-war. Among these are a 1949 or 1950 Ford, some early 1950's GM cars (perhaps Chevrolets or Pontiacs), and what looks like an early 1950s Plymouth.
When Keefer, Keith and Maryk are riding up the aircraft elevator on the carrier, F9F Panther jets are clearly visible in the background sitting in the hanger bay. The F9F Panther did not enter fleet use until 1949.
The Gun Control Radar on the Caine was not available until the 1950s.
The lettering on the CV 33 is yellow. During WWII, it is supposed to have been dark gray.
Lt. Barney Greenwald arrives to the court building in a post-war Jeep.
Willie witnesses a Firefall on his trip to Yosemite. The Firefall was suspended at the onset of World War II, and except for one night in 1943 (before the scene is set), was not re-established until after the end of the war.
Although taking place circa 1944, all the women's fashions and hairstyles are strictly in the 1954 mode, which was strikingly different.
Continuity
The position of Queeg's hands changes between shots while he's sitting in the wardroom.
During the typhoon sequence, distant shots show the Caine model missing the forward stack and foremast before the close-up shots showing the actual collapse of both structures.
In the shots of the Caine towing the target, the sky is clear; but in the shots of warships shooting at the target, the sky is overcast.
Before going to Yosemite, as Willie is talking with his mother, their positions change from being in close to being at arm's length.
When Ens. Willis Seward Keith's mother places a $100.00 bill in his pocket for spending money, you can see the edge sticking out. After he turns to leave, the money is not sticking out anymore.
During the first officers' meeting scene with Captain Queeg, Seaman 1st Class Urban enters the wardroom. As the POV switches from behind Queeg to in front of him, we see his left arm on the table (from behind) then on the arm of the chair (from in front) repeatedly.
Just before the Caine runs over the target towline, Queeq is on the bridge chewing out Willie and Keefer due to "Horrible" having his shirt untucked. The film shifts to show the target being run over, then immediately goes back to Queeg and company on the bridge - "Horrible's" shirt is suddenly neatly tucked in. (Seconds before, Queeq had even ordered him not to tuck it in.)
Before the paravane is dropped overboard, the Jones is #383. After the paravane is recovered, the Jones is #378.
Factual errors
When the Caine is first seen, it has the very large peacetime numbers on the side of the ship, but it should have the much smaller war-time numbers on the side of the ship, as it does later in the film.
Admiral's Flagship, hull #33, was the Kearsarge. The Kearsarge was not commissioned until March of 1946. As the movie takes place during World War II, the ship didn't exist.
Maryk, Keefer, and Keith go to a carrier as Admiral Halsey's flagship. While the carrier Enterprise did serve as Halsey's flagship early in the war, his flagship by this time was the USS New Jersey, a battleship.
Captain Queeg, played by 53-year-old Humphrey Bogart, is clearly far too old to have been from the graduating class of 1936. In actual fact, the character of Queeg was only supposed to be about thirty.
When the three officers go to see Admiral Halsey, they board the aircraft carrier Kearsarge, which was commissioned in 1946. Furthermore, Halsey's 3rd Fleet flagship was the battleship New Jersey.
Revealing mistakes
When the Caine is accompanying the landing craft during the invasion, the teletype instructions shown state, "...1000 yards 'OF' shore..." in error, and should read, "...1000 yards 'OFF' shore..."
The Jones, the ship the Caine is trying to beat back into port, is plainly shown trailing behind the Caine, as seen from the latter's port side. Yet when Maryk tells Keith, "The Jones never saw the day she could beat us," the two men are looking forward off the port side, which indicates that the Jones had to be ahead of the Caine. Also, no ship is seen behind them, though the Jones and several others had been shown behind just moments before
Filming Locations
Ahwanee Hotel, Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park, California, USA
Los Angeles, California, USA
Naval Station Treasure Island, San Francisco, California, USA
Pearl Harbor, O'ahu, Hawaii, USA
Yosemite National Park, California, USA
