Nominee
This film left me with the occasional memorable moment but overall, I must admit, very lukewarm. As in most classic films of the 1950's The Caine Mutiny is very heavily plot driven and unfortunately I only liked about 40% of it.
The movie is comprised of two story lines one being a muddled love story of a young Ensign, Willie Seward Keith. This literally does nothing for the movie as a whole, and the mother vs. girlfriend plot is overly simplistic and repetitive throughout. Not to mention most of the dialogue in these scenes is just bland and nonsensical. The better part is the actual mutiny on board the minesweeper. As the crew grows weary of the crazed whims of Captain Queeg a moral obligation to duty is placed against the protection of their own lives. However once we leave the ship and progress into the court room scenes, I found much of the content maddening. None of the witnesses ever explicate on the circumstances that led to their mutiny. And although I recognize the film means to highlight the problematic nature of loyalty versus necessity of survival, that should not mean it gets to disregard the obvious. However, the actual scenes on board the Caine, most notably the strawberry sequence, are particularly memorable, and actually quite enjoyable.
Also the actors involved do a solid job in their representation of the characters. With Humphrey Bogart leading as the imbalanced Captain Queeg, he gives his usual strong performance While Jose Ferrer, Van Johnson, and Fred MacMurray highlight the complicated nature of their predicament with keen understanding.
Overall: Its not a bad watch, but its just not a great one either. I would say you could cut half the movie and just watch the parts with good ol' Bogey. Also be wary of snacking on strawberries. Until next time, Happy Watching!
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