Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Picture 1954

The Contenders:

The Caine Mutiny
The Country Girl
On the Waterfront (winner)
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
Three Coins in the Fountain

Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Actor 1954

The Contenders:

Humphrey Bogart: The Caine Mutiny
Bing Crosby: The Country Girl
Marlon Brando: On the Waterfront (winner)
Dan O’Herlihy: Robinson Crusoe
James Mason: A Star is Born

Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Adapted Screenplay 1954

The Contenders:

The Caine Mutiny
The Country Girl (winner)
Rear Window
Sabrina
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

Watching Oscar: The Caine Mutiny

Film: The Caine Mutiny
Format: DVD from Rockford Public Library on laptop.

I’ve come to the realization that when it comes to war movies, my favorites are either prison pictures or naval pictures. Oh, I don’t have a real problem with aerial combat or tank battles, or guys slogging it out through hedgerows. But when I think about the war films that really get me going, they tend to revolve around POWs or take place on ships. Maybe it’s got something to do with the principles being confined in some way—the limited space for people to move around evidently ramps up the drama for me. Such is the case with The Caine Mutiny, one of my absolute favorite war films.

Our evident main character is poor little rich boy Willie Keith (Robert Francis), fresh out of officer training and raring to go with his naval career. On the one hand he is romancing nightclub singer May Wynn (playing a character of the same name), and constantly badgered by his connected and influential mother (Katherine Warren). While he’d love to be assigned to a major ship of the line, Keith is instead sent to the Caine, a battle-scarred minesweeper desperately in need of rest and refit. He discovers a crew that is superficially lax but actually efficient and well-trained under the command of Commander DeVriess (Tom Tully).