The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial

The last film of a world cinema. A last film unworthy of its budget, scope, setting and ambition, but not in quality. The problem isn't that it reeks of theatre stage, or that it comes across as an underfunded TV production from the 1990s that would use some leftover sets and props from Law & Order. No, the biggest problem is that it's about the hundred and sixty-first adaptation of a classical naval mutiny drama (and that's still wiping out all those admitted and unacknowledged variations on the Caine/Bounty plot), and one that brings nothing of its own to the table; you absolutely don't recognize Friedkin in any of it. It's not interesting in its own right, it's not different from the other variations. Which is not to say that this version is worse or better. It's a good TV adaptation, of a good courtroom drama with a good cast. (2023.10.06)