The Caine Mutiny

[zaika]

I'm watching The Caine Mutiny right now...and they're in the heat of battle...and everyone has white stuff on their faces. What is that??? Anyone know what I'm talking about?

 

[Corto]

I'm watching The Caine Mutiny right now...and they're in the heat of battle...and everyone has white stuff on their faces. What is that??? Anyone know what I'm talking about?

It's anti-flash cream. It was designed to prevent burns from explosions.

 

[zaika]

thank you very much! i figured it might be something like that, but thought i'd ask.

do they not use it anymore?

 

[Corto]

do they not use it anymore?

I honestly have no idea, but I'm betting they don't.

Did you read the book? The novel is AMAZING. Total page-turner.

 

[zaika]

this movie is the first i've ever heard of the story. but if the book is as riveting as the film, then it's on my to-read list.

 

[dhermann1]

A little shameless self promotion . . .

Too bad you weren't in New York last December. I played the presiding officer, Capt Blakeley, in a community theater production of The Caine Mutiny Court Martial. The play covers only the trial, so the first two thirds of the movie are not included. You get the story entirely through testimony. It's a great court room drama. Here is yours truly, in full WW II US Navy Captain's uniform. This was taken with a genuine 1942 vintage Graphlex camera, using a Polaroid film pack, and the image was scanned. I love this shot. I look so SERIOUS!!! BTW, the 'stache went bye bye as soon as we closed. Too scatchy.

We all learned a lot doing the play. I googled the events depicted, which were all very real. There was indeed a typhoon on 17 December 1944, and 3 destroyers along with 800 men were lost. A great tragedy. But no mutiny. That was fiction.
Here is our heroic crew:

 

[zaika]

hey! THAT'S why the title was so familiar. i remember you posting those pics in december! lol i would have totally gone to see it!

 

[michmoore]

Jose Ferrer is excellent as the JAG. I do feel like this movie might have been the inspiration for "A Few Good Men" and maybe "Crimson Tide", also. The scene where Capt. Queeg is on the stand sure does remind me of the scene with jack nicholson in "A Few Good Men".

Here is an interesting tidbit. The actor,Robert Francis, who played Ensign Keith, died in a plane crash in 1955. He had only been in 4 films. I always think that he looks like Larry Mullen, Jr. of U2 whenever I see Caine Mutiny.

 

[archbury918]

Caine Mutiny

The flash cream you mention was intended to minimize burns from incoming fire. I would think that with the potentential of today's weaponry, its superfluous in applying something for preventing burns.

The book was written by Herman Wouk, 'Winds of War' fame.

And I agree about the similarity between Bogart's and Nicholson's 'critical mass' breakdowns.

Mike

 

[ethanedwards]

Maurice Micklewhite chose 'Michael Scott' as his stage name, but another Equity actor already had this. So, he picked Michael Caine instead- because of this film, 'the Caine Mutiny'. Not a lot of people know that.......(sorry!)fftopic:

 

[zaika]

no kidding? i thought of him when i saw the movie listed. lol

 

[hargist]

I attended film school at the University of Southern California and was lucky enough to take a class taught by the director of The Caine Mutiny, Eddie Dmytryk. The class was called Functions of a Director, and it consisted of watching Eddie's films while he talked about the process of making them.

It was really an honor to be taught by him. He was one of Hollywood's great directors and he made a lot of classic noir films like Murder My Sweet and Crossfire. Unfortunately, he also had the dubious distinction of being one of the original Hollywood Ten who were accused of being Communists and blacklisted. Eventually his career recovered, but he was very bitter about that and didn't like to talk about it.

Still, his resume is quite impressive: http://imdb.com/title/tt0039286/

 

[dr greg]

not so flash

I always thought anti-flash cream was to prevent skin burns from the muzzle flash of your OWN guns, whereas incoming rounds have no flash preceding them, and if they do hit you and fire breaks out, you have more to worry about than acquiring an unwanted tan.
Any old navy hands out there to clear this up?

 

[Diamondback]

Doc, I'm not a squid, but that was my read as well. Considering the fireball that comes out the muzzle of a battleship or heavy-cruiser main gun when fired... heck, even a little 5"/38 on a destroyer'll do it if you're too close!

For those who haven't, I'll see about finding a pic of an Iowa firing and edit it in later.

 

[ethanedwards]

There's some firsthand information here from a WW2 veteran,regarding
the use of anti-flash equipment.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/24/a4621024.shtml