The Caine Mutiny

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Details At A Glance

General		Extras
Category	War	Theatrical Trailer(s)	Yes, 1
Rating		Other Trailer(s)	No
Year Released	1954	Commentary Tracks	None
Running Time	119:33 minutes	Other Extras	Filmographies - Cast & Crew Photo Gallery
RSDL/Flipper	RSDL (69:30)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu	Cast & Crew
Region	2,4	Director	Edward Dmytryk
Studio Distributor	Columbia TriStar	Starring	Humphrey Bogart Jose Ferrer Van Johnson Fred MacMurray Robert Francis May Wynn
RRP	$34.95	Music	Max Steiner

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	No	MPEG	None
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Dolby Digital	5.1
16x9 Enhancement	Yes	Soundtrack Languages	English (Dolby Digital 5.1, 384 Kb/s) French ( Dolby Digital 5.1, 384 Kb/s) German (Dolby Digital 5.1, 384 Kb/s) Italian (Dolby Digital 5.1, 384 Kb/s) Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1, 384 Kb/s)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Macrovision	Yes	Smoking	Yes
Subtitles	English German French Dutch Spanish Italian Portuguese Arabic Czech Danish Finnish Greek Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Icelandic Norwegian Polish Swedish Turkish	Annoying Product Placement	No

Plot Synopsis

Based upon the Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the same name by Herman Wouk, The Caine Mutiny is the story of a war scarred minesweeper with a war weary crew inflicted with a new captain in the form of Philip Queeg (Humphrey Bogart). Queeg turns out to be not only a disciplinarian but also a little off his tree, thanks to perhaps one too many encounters with the enemy. Amongst the crew is a newly minted and idealistic Ensign Willie Keith (Robert Francis in his debut), appalled by the lacklustre attitude of the "Caine" and brightened by the prospect of the new captain - only to have his idealism knocked out of him by the realities of life. Tom Keefer (Fred MacMurray) and the executive officer Steve Maryk (Van Johnson) aim to depose the somewhat irrational captain when his paranoia becomes too obvious, which is ultimately achieved during a rather severe typhoon, when the ship is about to head to the briny deeps. Only problem is Maryk ends up being court-martialled for inciting to mutiny, Keefer does a bunk at the trial leaving it up to gun lawyer Barney Greenwald (Jose Ferrer) to save the day by exposing Queeg.

The subplot here is that Keith is a privileged mummy's boy who is in love with a night club singer May (May Wynn playing herself) but has not got the you-know-what's to come clean to mama.

This film garnered seven Academy Award nominations in 1955 (but came away with none as the gun film that year was On The Waterfront), reflecting the quality of the film for its time. Nowadays it is a little dated, especially highlighted by the rather obvious models used during the typhoon sequence. There is no denying the quality of the acting on display here and while this is not the absolute best Bogart you will ever see, his performance as the paranoid captain is especially convincing (and earned him a Best Actor nomination).

Transfer Quality

Video

Okay, we are talking about a forty six year old film here, so allowances have to be made for the quality of the master, but overall it has to be admitted that Columbia TriStar have done a pretty good job of restoring and remastering the print.

The video transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, presumably a first for the film for home video use in Australia, as it is in the USA.

In general, the transfer is quite sharp throughout, although obviously lacking the definition of more recent films. As is common for war films of the era, real war action footage is inserted into the film, and this is quite noticeably different in sharpness and definition. There is also considerably more grain in the actual war action film as well as stock footage that was used in the film (for example, the ship leaving San Francisco). Shadow detail was in general very good for the age of the film.

Colours are somewhat more problematic in the film, being over rich in tone which results in a somewhat orangy skin tone. This is quite common for colour films of the era and is not a mastering problem. One soon adjusts to this, and overall the colours come up quite bright and vibrant.

There were no MPEG artefacts seen and video artefacts were restricted to some aliasing which probably would not be noticed unless you were looking for it. Obviously for a film of this age we would expect film artefacts, and unfortunately we do get plenty - but overall I was surprised by how clean the transfer was for its age.

The disc is an RSDL disc, with the layer change at 69:30. Unfortunately, it is noticeable and it is mildly disruptive to the film - but a heck of a lot better than getting up and turning the disc over.

Audio

This is a particularly good audio transfer for its age, although a not especially dynamic one.

There are six soundtracks on the DVD, and they are all stated to be Dolby Digital 5.1. The default track is English, with the rest being French, German, Italian and Spanish. I doubt whether they are Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks though for two reasons: my amplifier refused to recognize anything other than pro-logic sound (suggesting Dolby Digital 2.0 sound) and the age of the film (the Region 1 version certainly utilizes only Dolby Digital 2.0 sound). I listened to the English default.

Dialogue was clear and easy to understand at all times.

There did not seem to be any audio sync problems at all with the transfer.

The music score to the film is provided by one of the greats of movie soundtracks, Max Steiner. Unfortunately, this is not one of his more memorable film scores, although it does nothing but support the on-screen action.

This is not an especially well balanced nor detailed soundtrack, but there is nothing really much to complain about. The rear surround channels are not used at all.

The subwoofer is nothing more than a large box filling space somewhere in the home theatre setup for this film.

Extras

Okay - forty six years old so we cannot expect too much can we? And we don't get it either!

Theatrical Trailer

Of reasonably decent quality for its age, presented in full frame with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. Not especially flattering for the film (the colours really come up quite poorly in comparison), and quite short too, but at least it is something. It does come with a choice of German, French, Dutch, Spanish or Italian subtitles.

Photo Gallery

Well at least this is better than the effort with "The Wild One" - this has 50% more unannotated pictures. That makes nine photographs for those who have not checked out that review. Of dubious value it has to be said, especially without any form of notation to indicate the what, why or when thereof.

Filmographies

Unremarkable (and surely incomplete?) filmographies for Humphrey Bogart, Jose Ferrer, Van Johnson and director Edward Dmytryk.

R4 vs R1

The Region 4 release misses out on a Pan and Scan version of the film. Other than that it is only a question of the superior resolution of the PAL system. In this instance I would say the Region 1 version is marginally better, but you sure are not missing out on much if you stick with the Region 4 release.

Summary

It is wonderful that we are starting to get some of the classic films of the forties and fifties and sixties in Region 4, but I would have thought there were a few more obvious candidates than this for release to start the ball rolling. Nonetheless, this is a welcome addition to the Region 4 discography.

A decently remastered video transfer, marred by the inevitable film artefacts and inherent problems with the original film.

A decent enough audio transfer.

A rather poorish collection of extras, that again makes me lament the lack of a short historical perspective of the film from a film historian - after all, it did earn seven Oscar nominations.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Review Equipment

DVD	Pioneer DV-515; S-video output
Display	Sony Trinitron Wega 84cm
Audio Decoder	Built in
Amplification	Yamaha RXV-795
Speakers	Energy Speakers: centre EXLC; left and right EXLR; and subwoofer ES-12XL