The Caine Mutiny (DVD, 2007, Collector's Edition)

This DVD is the Collector's Edition of the now classic Humphrey Bogart performance of the paranoid late-WWII Navy Captain Queeg who took over the helm of a dilapidated mine sweeper: the Caine. The story is about his inability to gain the respect of his rule-bending crew (played in supporting roles by Claude Akins, Robert Francis, Van Johnson, Fred MacMurray, E.G. Marshall, and Lee Marvin) due to what MacMurray is convinced are obsessive & clinically paranoid behaviors.

Wealthy, young Ensign Keith (Francis), fresh out of the naval academy, is surprisingly assigned to the Caine, a dump of a ship with a lax captain & totally undisciplined crew. When the rusty capt. is replaced by Queeg (Bogie), the green Ensign is pleased by the new man at the helm's immediate displays of strict rule-following & disciplinary consequences for rule-breaking. As Queeg instructs the eager Ensign to take unpopular roles in cleaning up the Caine's crew, the Lieutenant's (MacMurray) armchair psychoanalytic suspicions grow & fuel the lazy crew's criticism of their new captain.

During a treacherous storm at sea, Captain Queeg freezes. Influenced by the Lieutenant's psycho-theory that the captain is nuts, the crew stages a controversial mutiny--taking control over the ship in order to save it from sinking in the storm. Afterwards, 2 of the crew face being court-martialed for mutiny. They are defended by a reluctant but shrewd military lawyer (José Ferrer).

Director Dmytryk's adaptation & direction of Herman Wouk's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel brings out one of Bogart's greatest performances as a character who bears little resemblance to any of his previous ones. The whole ship crew deliver terrific supporting performances. All of these elements combining together is what makes "The Caine Mutiny," an all time seafaring, late WWII classic.