The Caine Mutiny

"As big as the ocean!"

1954 2h 4m EN

👍

7.2

SOLID

★7.2TMDB · 385

DramaWar

Synopsis

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When a US Naval captain shows signs of mental instability that jeopardize his ship, the first officer relieves him of command and faces court martial for mutiny.

“As big as the ocean!”

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Cast

Humphrey Bogart
Lt. Cmdr. Philip Francis Queeg
Robert Francis
Ens. Willis Seward 'Willie' Keith
Van Johnson
Lt. Stephen Maryk
Fred MacMurray
Lt. Thomas 'Tom' Keefer
May Wynn
May Wynn
Katherine Warren
Mrs. Keith
Jerry Paris
Ens. Barney Harding
José Ferrer
Lt. Barney Greenwald

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Edward Dmytryk
Writers: Stanley Roberts
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $2.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $22M — a 10.9× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

72 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Edward Dmytryk, shot by Franz Planer. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Max Steiner. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Henry Batista shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Humphrey Bogart and Robert Francis and Van Johnson carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "As big as the ocean!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Edward Dmytryk directs. Franz Planer behind the camera. Max Steiner scores. Henry Batista cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $2.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Grossed $22M — a 10.9× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
372 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
4Directed by Edward Dmytryk, shot by Franz Planer. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Max Steiner. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Henry Batista shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Humphrey Bogart and Robert Francis and Van Johnson carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "As big as the ocean!".
9IMDB entry: tt0046816 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 21 themes, including "mutiny", "post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd)", "war ship", "paranoia".
11Released under 13 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Franz Planer
Original score: Max Steiner
Editing: Henry Batista
Production design: Rudolph Sternad
Costume design: Jean Louis
Makeup / hair: Clay Campbell
Runtime: 124 min · 2h 4m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $2,000,000
Box office: $21,750,000
Return: 1088% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: The Caine Mutiny (1954)

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Edward Dmytryk

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2026-09-07
★ 7/10
If you ever saw Trevor Howard's "The Gift Horse" from 1952, then you'll get a idea about the USS "Caine" - a ramshackle old ship captained by "DeVriess" (Tom Tully) in what you might call a relaxed fashion. Unexpectedly, he gets a promotion and the ship is taken over by the fastidious "Queeg" (Humphrey Bogart) who takes an whole different approach to sailors with their shirts hanging out. This culture clash grates with executive officer "Maryk" (Van Johnson); the well-heeled new boy "Keith" (Robert Francis) and "Keefer" (Fred MacMurray) but they have to rub along with the man as he seems determined to force this ship to raise it's game and become battle-ready. The thing with their new captain, though, is that his behaviour is starting to become erratic. He fixates on minutiae, obessess with discipline and seems to have only a limited grasp of the plot amidst a violent typhoon - and that controversially forces the hand of his number two and lands them all in a court martial. Their actions haven't gone unnoticed by the judge advocate's department and with nobody very enthusiastic to defend them, it falls to "Greenwald" (José Ferrer) to step in. He makes it clear that he has little respect for any of them, but he's all they've got so fingers crossed... The first half hour of this film is, I think, unneccessarily slow but once we've got the characters established and the plot starts to thicken then there are opportunities for Bogart, Johnson and Ferrer to show something of their mettle. The former treads on psychologically imbalanced eggshells with considerable skill whilst the Johnson displays his conflicted position confidently - and both with subtlety and humanity. This isn't just a maritime courtroom drama, nor just a wartime story, it's one that deals explicitly with the impact of prolonged exposure to combat and stress on a person's mental health and also of the lack of understanding by a land-lubbing medical profession that operated exclusively within the scope of it's textbooks and consulting rooms. The last ten minutes show off both Bogart and Ferrer at their best, but the whole simmering story is well worth watching to see loyalties and friendships tested on screen whilst thoughts provoked off it.

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