The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial

Another well-made adaptation, but the updating to the present day leads to changes that do not really help, first of all because the context is no longer really defined by wartime conditions, secondly because the war that formed the setting of the original novel, play and film was not just any war, and thirdly because this means that the final scene ends up being significantly altered in a way that dramatically alters the meaning and impact (and, compared with the 1988 version, this one doesn’t really succeed in forming an effective contrast between the courtroom scene when Queeg exposes his instability and the party scene, this contrast being what really sets up the central question of the film in the viewer’s mind). With that in mind, it is rather incredible that the film was released on Paramount+ on 6 October 2023 and on Showtime on 8 October 2023, considering the events of the day that fell between these two dates.