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The Caine Mutiny Court Martial
Herman Wouk Full Length, Drama male (6 non-speaking) Simple set The Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about a court martial has been adapted by the author into suspenseful evening of theatre. A young lieutenant is relieved his captain of command in the midst of a typhoon on the grounds that the captain, Queeg is a psychopath in crisis and commanded the ship and its crew to destruction. Naval tradition is against him, but testimony eventually reveals a deva
102 pages, Paperback
First published April 20, 1954
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226 people want to read
About the author
Herman Wouk
165 books1,430 followersHerman Wouk was a bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning Jewish American author with a number of notable novels to his credit, including The Caine Mutiny, The Winds of War, and War and Remembrance.
Herman Wouk was born in New York City into a Jewish family that had emigrated from Russia. After a childhood and adolescence in the Bronx and a high school diploma from Townsend Harris High School, he earned a B.A. from Columbia University in 1934, where he was a member of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity and studied under philosopher Irwin Edman. Soon thereafter, he became a radio dramatist, working in David Freedman's "Joke Factory" and later with Fred Allen for five years and then, in 1941, for the United States government, writing radio spots to sell war bonds. He lived a fairly secular lifestyle in his early 20s before deciding to return to a more traditional Jewish way of life, modeled after that of his grandfather, in his mid-20s.
Wouk joined the United States Navy and served in the Pacific Theater, an experience he later characterized as educational; "I learned about machinery, I learned how men behaved under pressure, and I learned about Americans." Wouk served as an officer aboard two destroyer minesweepers (DMS), the USS Zane and USS Southard, becoming executive officer of the latter. He started writing a novel, Aurora Dawn, during off-duty hours aboard ship. Wouk sent a copy of the opening chapters to Irwin Edman who quoted a few pages verbatim to a New York editor. The result was a publisher's contract sent to Wouk's ship, then off the coast of Okinawa. The novel was published in 1947 and became a Book of the Month Club main selection. His second novel, City Boy, proved to be a commercial disappointment at the time of its initial publication in 1948.
While writing his next novel, Wouk read each chapter as it was completed to his wife, who remarked at one point that if they didn't like this one, he'd better take up another line of work (a line he would give to the character of the editor Jeannie Fry in his 1962 novel Youngblood Hawke). The novel, The Caine Mutiny (1951), went on to win the Pulitzer Prize. A huge best-seller, drawing from his wartime experiences aboard minesweepers during World War II, The Caine Mutiny was adapted by the author into a Broadway play called The Caine Mutiny Court Martial, and was later made into a film, with Humphrey Bogart portraying Lt. Commander Philip Francis Queeg, captain of the fictional USS Caine. Some Navy personnel complained at the time that Wouk had taken every twitch of every commanding officer in the Navy and put them all into one character, but Captain Queeg has endured as one of the great characters in American fiction.
He married Betty Sarah Brown in 1945, with whom he had three sons: Abraham, Nathanial, and Joseph. He became a fulltime writer in 1946 to support his growing family. His first-born son, Abraham Isaac Wouk, died in a tragic accident as a child; Wouk later dedicated War and Remembrance (1978) to him with the Biblical words, "He will destroy death forever."
In 1998, Wouk received the Guardian of Zion Award.
Herman Wouk died in his sleep in his home in Palm Springs, California, on May 17, 2019, at the age of 103, ten days before his 104th birthday.
Herman Wouk was born in New York City into a Jewish family that had emigrated from Russia. After a childhood and adolescence in the Bronx and a high school diploma from Townsend Harris High School, he earned a B.A. from Columbia University in 1934, where he was a member of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity and studied under philosopher Irwin Edman. Soon thereafter, he became a radio dramatist, working in David Freedman's "Joke Factory" and later with Fred Allen for five years and then, in 1941, for the United States government, writing radio spots to sell war bonds. He lived a fairly secular lifestyle in his early 20s before deciding to return to a more traditional Jewish way of life, modeled after that of his grandfather, in his mid-20s.
Wouk joined the United States Navy and served in the Pacific Theater, an experience he later characterized as educational; "I learned about machinery, I learned how men behaved under pressure, and I learned about Americans." Wouk served as an officer aboard two destroyer minesweepers (DMS), the USS Zane and USS Southard, becoming executive officer of the latter. He started writing a novel, Aurora Dawn, during off-duty hours aboard ship. Wouk sent a copy of the opening chapters to Irwin Edman who quoted a few pages verbatim to a New York editor. The result was a publisher's contract sent to Wouk's ship, then off the coast of Okinawa. The novel was published in 1947 and became a Book of the Month Club main selection. His second novel, City Boy, proved to be a commercial disappointment at the time of its initial publication in 1948.
While writing his next novel, Wouk read each chapter as it was completed to his wife, who remarked at one point that if they didn't like this one, he'd better take up another line of work (a line he would give to the character of the editor Jeannie Fry in his 1962 novel Youngblood Hawke). The novel, The Caine Mutiny (1951), went on to win the Pulitzer Prize. A huge best-seller, drawing from his wartime experiences aboard minesweepers during World War II, The Caine Mutiny was adapted by the author into a Broadway play called The Caine Mutiny Court Martial, and was later made into a film, with Humphrey Bogart portraying Lt. Commander Philip Francis Queeg, captain of the fictional USS Caine. Some Navy personnel complained at the time that Wouk had taken every twitch of every commanding officer in the Navy and put them all into one character, but Captain Queeg has endured as one of the great characters in American fiction.
He married Betty Sarah Brown in 1945, with whom he had three sons: Abraham, Nathanial, and Joseph. He became a fulltime writer in 1946 to support his growing family. His first-born son, Abraham Isaac Wouk, died in a tragic accident as a child; Wouk later dedicated War and Remembrance (1978) to him with the Biblical words, "He will destroy death forever."
In 1998, Wouk received the Guardian of Zion Award.
Herman Wouk died in his sleep in his home in Palm Springs, California, on May 17, 2019, at the age of 103, ten days before his 104th birthday.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
February 25, 2015
The is the play version of the trial from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Though it is the fulcrum of the dauntingly long book, it was too short for me to get the full impact of the history and gravity of the story, which I only got a flavor of from the famous movie. It feels like cheating by reading a Cliff Notes version of a classic. Otherwise, the distillation comes across fine in the audiobook version I experienced.
The court martial has us rooting for the defendant Lieutenant Stephen Maryk for usurping command of the minesweeper Caine from Commander Queeg in the middle of a typhoon in the Pacific Theater during World War 2. His lawyer Lieutenant Greenwald uses a lot of tricks to draw out the history of Queeg’s paranoid and tyrannical command and evidence of his incompetence and cowardice. Here we get some of the chilling a vision of a man leaking insanity under a façade of control that Humphrey Bogart portrayed so iconically in the movie, rambling and ranting, sweating and clicking steel balls in his hand out of nervousness. Wouk is so brilliant when he turns the table on us and gets us to side with Greenwald in blaming the effete communications officer and budding novelist Keefer for an unnecessary mutiny. This ending feels too abrupt in the play version. To find honor in Queeg and fault in Keefer for manipulating Maryk needs more of the backstory and immersion of the events to work well for me.
The court martial has us rooting for the defendant Lieutenant Stephen Maryk for usurping command of the minesweeper Caine from Commander Queeg in the middle of a typhoon in the Pacific Theater during World War 2. His lawyer Lieutenant Greenwald uses a lot of tricks to draw out the history of Queeg’s paranoid and tyrannical command and evidence of his incompetence and cowardice. Here we get some of the chilling a vision of a man leaking insanity under a façade of control that Humphrey Bogart portrayed so iconically in the movie, rambling and ranting, sweating and clicking steel balls in his hand out of nervousness. Wouk is so brilliant when he turns the table on us and gets us to side with Greenwald in blaming the effete communications officer and budding novelist Keefer for an unnecessary mutiny. This ending feels too abrupt in the play version. To find honor in Queeg and fault in Keefer for manipulating Maryk needs more of the backstory and immersion of the events to work well for me.
July 1, 2023
Somehow Herman Wouk made a 2 hour 2 act play as rich as the book. The original book was amazing. One senses that Lt Greenwald for the defense was a stand in for Wouk. But maybe So was the no-account author, Tom K. There’s a fair amount t of sophistry in it too. The thing is meticulously balanced, so that there is no exact answer. Until one finds — as is emphasized more in this play — that Tom has in a way engineered the whole thing. Contributed to the mine sweeper and a good enough captain being out of commission at just the moment of the war in the Pacific that it should have been in service. . . Wouk in his original book impressed me with his wisdom, that I think in someway stemmed not only from his individual brain, but from the culture he remained rooted in, the Jewish, and perhaps even Orthodox, faith. I’ve always wanted another book from Wouk that gave the same sense of discovery, verisimilitude, wisdom, and surprise, that the original gave me. I’ve not found it. But I have more to go. I will say that his books written as a very old man past his 90s are more retoolings of earlier works than his original works. This of course is not one of those. This one is one of the works that proved his metal, as a writer, after his own service in the Navy in WWII . . . I never found the movie with Humphrey Bogart to measure up to the book tho. I cannot however say what if any difference there is between the movie screenplay, and this stage play, performed as a dramatic reading.
Rest in peace Herman Wouk.
—You did good, and you made me, just a reader out here, miss you, your faith, your contributions, your mind. You breathed life, maybe even soul into this work.
Rest in peace Herman Wouk.
—You did good, and you made me, just a reader out here, miss you, your faith, your contributions, your mind. You breathed life, maybe even soul into this work.
May 6, 2024
ENGLISH: I've watched this play for the first time in a Spanish translation, in the RTVE archive. It is a typical trial play (in this case court-martial), where the watcher wishes to discover how the defense will be able to prove the innocence of its defendant, in the face of harassment by the accuser. The play is very interesting and captures the attention of the audience. The ending is ambiguous.
ESPAÑOL: He visto esta obra por primera vez en el archivo de Estudio-1. Es una típica obra de juicio (en este caso consejo de guerra) que presenta el interés de averiguar cómo conseguirá la defensa demostrar la inocencia de su defendido, frente al acoso del acusador. La obra es muy interesante y se apodera de la atención del espectador. El final es ambiguo.
ESPAÑOL: He visto esta obra por primera vez en el archivo de Estudio-1. Es una típica obra de juicio (en este caso consejo de guerra) que presenta el interés de averiguar cómo conseguirá la defensa demostrar la inocencia de su defendido, frente al acoso del acusador. La obra es muy interesante y se apodera de la atención del espectador. El final es ambiguo.
April 1, 2012
A well-crafted, potboiler of a play, in which the big unearthed secret actually colors the entire trial preceding it, taking men who are supposed to be G.I. Joe heroes, and turning them into everything that's wrong with American culture during the 1940s and beyond.
In terms of its bare-bones, reads and is staged like a trial atmosphere, The Caine Mutiny could bore on to tears if they're looking for more theatrical flair. That being said, the court martial and the personalities surrounding it make for engaging reading (and I assume, viewing). Though it may not transcend its time period, in terms of its direct concerns, Wouk's worries about what we are able to accoplish due to the entitlement of being American -- well, those ring as true today as they did when the play was written.
In terms of its bare-bones, reads and is staged like a trial atmosphere, The Caine Mutiny could bore on to tears if they're looking for more theatrical flair. That being said, the court martial and the personalities surrounding it make for engaging reading (and I assume, viewing). Though it may not transcend its time period, in terms of its direct concerns, Wouk's worries about what we are able to accoplish due to the entitlement of being American -- well, those ring as true today as they did when the play was written.
October 4, 2021
Amazing and a must read! Great dialogue, plot development, and complex characters.
Now, I need to go read the rest of the story in The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk.
Now, I need to go read the rest of the story in The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk.
September 27, 2025
The Caine Mutiny, by Herman Wouk
A different version of this note and thoughts on other books are available at:
- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list... and http://realini.blogspot.ro/
The Caine Mutiny is a fabulous, mesmerizing chef d’oeuvre that I nearly missed, overwhelmed initially by its size.
I was extremely lucky to try a second time and this is when I became enraptured and could not stop reading.
The author has been experiencing some of the events related in the book, notwithstanding his clarification in the preface that all characters are fictional and nothing of the kind happened in real life.
Willis Seward Keith is the hero, albeit there are at least twenty important personages that the reader gets to meet over hundreds of pages of exquisite writing.
For the first few chapters, we follow his misadventures in Navy school, the relationship that is beginning with May and the complicated one that he has with his mother, that influences him so much.
Willie is assigned to the destroyer mine sweeper Caine, that appears to be old and in really bad shape.
The commander is William de Vriess and knowing from the title that a mutiny will take place, I thought he is the negative personage that will dominate the book.
But he is not, for he is replaced by Philip Queeg, who is the ultimate demon for many chapters, only for the author to invite a different perspective at different moments, when the paramount fact that he fought for his country is highlighted.
Pretty soon it becomes evident that the captain would justify the title, with various mistakes that are committed from his debut as commanding officer.
When trying to leave harbor, his command of the ship is so lousy that they hit the boat nearby and get grounded in the sand.
Later on, his psychological issues become apparent when the officer is reprimanding a sailor for his untucked shirt tails.
For while he was dealing with this rather unimportant element, the ship was set on course to cut off its own net line.
Which of course he denied for a long time and when summoned to give explanations to higher authorities he explained with false accusations, saying that the Caine is in awful shape- well, the ship was not new- and the crew could not respond to demands.
When they enter San Francisco, the captain proves again he cannot handle the ship and loses crates with alcohol that he had smuggled and forced the officers to sell to him and later on he would make Willie to pay for, once it was lost in the ocean.
Queeg proves to be a coward, for he always runs to the side of the ship that is not exposed to enemy fire, allows boats that are supposed to be close to his ship to lose way and then refuses to use artillery on the ship, gaining him the nickname “Yellowstain”.
His punishments are irrational and excessive, when he commits one sailor to the ship for six months, only because he was reading some comics while on duty, then he creates havoc just because some strawberries where eaten by mess hall men.
At the equator, he did not allow men to use water, in impossible circumstances and all these mad orders caused the writer on the ship, Thomas Keefer to say that the captain is mentally ill and influences Stephen Maryk, the executive officer into taking action.
In the first instance, Maryk writes a log into which he has collected all the absurd, mad acts of the captain and then convinces Keefer to come along to talk to the admiral about the madness of the captain.
They withdraw after Keefer makes the point that in the navy, officers and the high command do not take these matters lightly and they will side with the captain and end the future career of Maryk, who wants to remain within after the war.
Alas, the ship is caught right near the center of a typhoon, in which several other ships sunk and the captain is taking all the wrong, extremely dangerous for the crew decisions, forcing Maryk to take command.
I did not see any other way out, even if Herman Wouk is a great author and makes points from different perspectives.
This is not spoiler, I think, given that the mutiny is prophesized from the title and a mutiny bios followed by a trial.
An important character appears at this stage and he is the lawyer that is reluctant initially to defend Maryk.
Greenwald is his name and he will rewrite the narrative of Caine, captain Queeg in a sort of an anticlimax moment.
The captain is examined by a panel of psychiatrists that declare he is not medically ill, even if a good counselor can throw some other light on that.
There is no more space to write about the love story that is going through a good number of ups and downs and surprises.
This is a phenomenal book and one of my favorites!!
A different version of this note and thoughts on other books are available at:
- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list... and http://realini.blogspot.ro/
The Caine Mutiny is a fabulous, mesmerizing chef d’oeuvre that I nearly missed, overwhelmed initially by its size.
I was extremely lucky to try a second time and this is when I became enraptured and could not stop reading.
The author has been experiencing some of the events related in the book, notwithstanding his clarification in the preface that all characters are fictional and nothing of the kind happened in real life.
Willis Seward Keith is the hero, albeit there are at least twenty important personages that the reader gets to meet over hundreds of pages of exquisite writing.
For the first few chapters, we follow his misadventures in Navy school, the relationship that is beginning with May and the complicated one that he has with his mother, that influences him so much.
Willie is assigned to the destroyer mine sweeper Caine, that appears to be old and in really bad shape.
The commander is William de Vriess and knowing from the title that a mutiny will take place, I thought he is the negative personage that will dominate the book.
But he is not, for he is replaced by Philip Queeg, who is the ultimate demon for many chapters, only for the author to invite a different perspective at different moments, when the paramount fact that he fought for his country is highlighted.
Pretty soon it becomes evident that the captain would justify the title, with various mistakes that are committed from his debut as commanding officer.
When trying to leave harbor, his command of the ship is so lousy that they hit the boat nearby and get grounded in the sand.
Later on, his psychological issues become apparent when the officer is reprimanding a sailor for his untucked shirt tails.
For while he was dealing with this rather unimportant element, the ship was set on course to cut off its own net line.
Which of course he denied for a long time and when summoned to give explanations to higher authorities he explained with false accusations, saying that the Caine is in awful shape- well, the ship was not new- and the crew could not respond to demands.
When they enter San Francisco, the captain proves again he cannot handle the ship and loses crates with alcohol that he had smuggled and forced the officers to sell to him and later on he would make Willie to pay for, once it was lost in the ocean.
Queeg proves to be a coward, for he always runs to the side of the ship that is not exposed to enemy fire, allows boats that are supposed to be close to his ship to lose way and then refuses to use artillery on the ship, gaining him the nickname “Yellowstain”.
His punishments are irrational and excessive, when he commits one sailor to the ship for six months, only because he was reading some comics while on duty, then he creates havoc just because some strawberries where eaten by mess hall men.
At the equator, he did not allow men to use water, in impossible circumstances and all these mad orders caused the writer on the ship, Thomas Keefer to say that the captain is mentally ill and influences Stephen Maryk, the executive officer into taking action.
In the first instance, Maryk writes a log into which he has collected all the absurd, mad acts of the captain and then convinces Keefer to come along to talk to the admiral about the madness of the captain.
They withdraw after Keefer makes the point that in the navy, officers and the high command do not take these matters lightly and they will side with the captain and end the future career of Maryk, who wants to remain within after the war.
Alas, the ship is caught right near the center of a typhoon, in which several other ships sunk and the captain is taking all the wrong, extremely dangerous for the crew decisions, forcing Maryk to take command.
I did not see any other way out, even if Herman Wouk is a great author and makes points from different perspectives.
This is not spoiler, I think, given that the mutiny is prophesized from the title and a mutiny bios followed by a trial.
An important character appears at this stage and he is the lawyer that is reluctant initially to defend Maryk.
Greenwald is his name and he will rewrite the narrative of Caine, captain Queeg in a sort of an anticlimax moment.
The captain is examined by a panel of psychiatrists that declare he is not medically ill, even if a good counselor can throw some other light on that.
There is no more space to write about the love story that is going through a good number of ups and downs and surprises.
This is a phenomenal book and one of my favorites!!
October 25, 2013
Herman Wouk wrote this play based on the ending of his novel The Caine Mutiny (and the play opened with Henry Fonda playing the defense lawyer Greenlaw!) and he maintains the heart of the story. However, it isn't as compelling as the full length movie (and I assume novel).
November 28, 2022
Coming back to this after many years, I'd forgotten how uncompromisingly moral Herman Wouk's play is: in our post-modern culture in which values have been seemingly relegated to the dustbin, it's a privilege to see a work that reminds us that, yes, people's actions do mean something: that there are ideals and ideas that stand above the mere tokens of "winning" and "succeeding."
The frame for this exploration of right and wrong is a military trial, the court-martial of Lt. Stephen Maryk, the young executive officer of the minesweeper Caine, stationed in the South Pacific during the latter months of World War II. Maryk is accused of mutiny: during a typhoon, he seized command of the ship from his commander, Philip Francis Queeg. Maryk's contention is that Queeg was mentally unfit to run the ship; that the ship was out of control and that Queeg's orders were inappropriate and potentially lethal to the crew. Queeg denies the charge, relying on his 15 years of experience in the Navy (with a spotless record), and intimating that Maryk and some of his cronies on the Caine had it in for their tough and tenacious commanding officer.
Defending Maryk is Lt. Barney Greenwald, a lawyer-turned-pilot who has recently been wounded and is serving time during his recovery as defense counsel. Greenwald tells his client from the outset that he doesn't approve of what he did, but that he will nevertheless do his best to win the case. The prosecutor is John Challee, an old friend of Greenwald's and an impressive attorney in his own right.
The play charts, straightforwardly, the progress of the case, with Challee presenting his side in Act One and Greenwald delivering the defense in Act Two. The story is very familiar--and, in any case, easy enough to predict from the outset--and so the suspense lies not in whether Maryk will be acquitted but how: Wouk has masterfully crafted the thing like the best courtroom thriller, building to a terrific climactic sequence in which Queeg testifies for the defense, called to the stand by Greenwald essentially to prove that the tyrannical commander is indeed unfit for command. And then Wouk caps it with a coda that is a surprise--Greenwald reveals what's been going on behind his mercurial and enigmatic actions, and we learn who the real heroes of this particular mutiny and court-martial actually are.
This is, above all else, a play that explores and values principles, that understands that problems aren't black and white and that being victorious and being right aren't the same thing at all.
The frame for this exploration of right and wrong is a military trial, the court-martial of Lt. Stephen Maryk, the young executive officer of the minesweeper Caine, stationed in the South Pacific during the latter months of World War II. Maryk is accused of mutiny: during a typhoon, he seized command of the ship from his commander, Philip Francis Queeg. Maryk's contention is that Queeg was mentally unfit to run the ship; that the ship was out of control and that Queeg's orders were inappropriate and potentially lethal to the crew. Queeg denies the charge, relying on his 15 years of experience in the Navy (with a spotless record), and intimating that Maryk and some of his cronies on the Caine had it in for their tough and tenacious commanding officer.
Defending Maryk is Lt. Barney Greenwald, a lawyer-turned-pilot who has recently been wounded and is serving time during his recovery as defense counsel. Greenwald tells his client from the outset that he doesn't approve of what he did, but that he will nevertheless do his best to win the case. The prosecutor is John Challee, an old friend of Greenwald's and an impressive attorney in his own right.
The play charts, straightforwardly, the progress of the case, with Challee presenting his side in Act One and Greenwald delivering the defense in Act Two. The story is very familiar--and, in any case, easy enough to predict from the outset--and so the suspense lies not in whether Maryk will be acquitted but how: Wouk has masterfully crafted the thing like the best courtroom thriller, building to a terrific climactic sequence in which Queeg testifies for the defense, called to the stand by Greenwald essentially to prove that the tyrannical commander is indeed unfit for command. And then Wouk caps it with a coda that is a surprise--Greenwald reveals what's been going on behind his mercurial and enigmatic actions, and we learn who the real heroes of this particular mutiny and court-martial actually are.
This is, above all else, a play that explores and values principles, that understands that problems aren't black and white and that being victorious and being right aren't the same thing at all.
July 15, 2025
Watching Run Silent, Run Deep set me off on another naval mutiny kick. I first studied this compact drama in the fall of my Freshman year, when Professor Jeb was doing his best to turn an English 110 course into a lecture series on the moral complexities of command at sea. Having the helm, he succeeded; Billy Budd will no doubt follow here in short order.
I've done nothing in my life since leaving Jeb's classroom that rivals commanding a minesweeper, but I do think a few years in the service has changed my perspective some. I'm more sympathetic to Greenwald than before, and his biting speech at the end hit home this time in a way it didn't eight years ago (damn). I wouldn't be surprised if in a few more years I'll have come around all the way to his point of view. Call it part maturity, part self-preservation.
Best line:
"What do you do if you really get a Queeg?"
"You fight the war."
Many officers are Queegs - or some variation of him. If annoying abnormality was enough to depose an officer, we'd have only a handful in Intelligence.
I've done nothing in my life since leaving Jeb's classroom that rivals commanding a minesweeper, but I do think a few years in the service has changed my perspective some. I'm more sympathetic to Greenwald than before, and his biting speech at the end hit home this time in a way it didn't eight years ago (damn). I wouldn't be surprised if in a few more years I'll have come around all the way to his point of view. Call it part maturity, part self-preservation.
Best line:
"What do you do if you really get a Queeg?"
"You fight the war."
Many officers are Queegs - or some variation of him. If annoying abnormality was enough to depose an officer, we'd have only a handful in Intelligence.
November 29, 2019
If you've ever watched the Caine Mutiny movie, you are familiar with the story. A small Navy ship in World War II, the USS Caine, during the height of a typhoon, the executive officer Ensign Willis Keith, relieves his Captain, Lt. Commander Phillip Queeg, to save the ship. The movie was based on Herman Wouk's book, as is the Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, which is a two act play the Wouk wrote to adapt the novel for the theater. The Court-Martial play focuses only on the end of the story, the court-martial of Ensign Keith, and effectively summarizes the events that led to the mutiny in the court proceedings. This is a wonderful adaptation of the story and captures the drama of the courtroom, but also the events on the ship. If you've never seen the movie (and shame on you if you haven't!) then this is a great, short (only 2 hours long) dramatization that completely captures the essence of Wouk's work.
July 27, 2021
When Lt Stephen Maryk refused a direct order from Lt Cmdr Philip Queeg, apparently jeopardising the crew of the 'U.S.S. Caine' in a time of war, he fully expects to be court martialled. But was his decision correct?
Wouk's taut play reveals the men behind the Second World War and, although fictional, was successful because Wouk's novel was the first written about the War. Very thought provoking.
Wouk's taut play reveals the men behind the Second World War and, although fictional, was successful because Wouk's novel was the first written about the War. Very thought provoking.
December 15, 2020
Excellent audiobook of the staged play. Well acted, compelling and riveting. Get it for a drive; it's approximately 2 hrs of listening entertainment.
I use Overdrive (App) for most of the audiobooks I listen to while driving or working in the yard. All you need is a library card and you're good to go.
I use Overdrive (App) for most of the audiobooks I listen to while driving or working in the yard. All you need is a library card and you're good to go.
August 24, 2019
Great production
This was a great production and a great slice of the whole story of Captain Queeg & the Caine. I had to read the book in high school & really didn't get the whole picture until hearing this production. I would encourage anyone to give this version a try.
This was a great production and a great slice of the whole story of Captain Queeg & the Caine. I had to read the book in high school & really didn't get the whole picture until hearing this production. I would encourage anyone to give this version a try.
September 8, 2024
A fun and compelling legal drama. I listened to the LA Theaterworks recording, which is great. It might be a little stiff to watch, but as an audio drama there was great tension and suspense. The coda at the end is wild.
December 24, 2024
I wanted to like it more than I did. It’s a dry court room drama and I didn’t care for the message in the final scene. It might play better with a military audience.
13m, courtroom set room set then final party.
13m, courtroom set room set then final party.
June 8, 2025
Sharply paced and furiously balanced, this thing sails right along. Hard to beat a courtroom drama that never lulls or goes over the top. Even when it rages at full volume, it's the big reveal that makes the tiny saga work. Great stuff.
February 7, 2019
I sat down and read this play in one sitting and really enjoyed it. I've seen the movie and liked it so I just grabbed the play at the library. Glad I found it. The ending is great.
May 9, 2021
Compelling play, deep themes. In time of war, how do you decide when the greater good trumps law and order?
October 20, 2021
I found 90 percent of the play pretty boring, with the extreme exception of a riveting final scene.
Maybe it plays better than it reads.
Maybe it plays better than it reads.
March 31, 2022
Very well put together , a 2 hour production
October 5, 2023
One would think with how many plays I read in a week that I like plays.
One would be wrong.
One would be wrong.
September 1, 2024
Knew the story but this short play made the book come to life. Made the mutiny decision even more complex and far from clear-cut. A good read.
November 12, 2024
A well crafted legal drama that makes me want to do some mutiny and get away with it
December 12, 2024
Is a good play I enjoyed the performances the layers were just wonderful. A short little part of history .
December 26, 2025
A great production.
February 3, 2020
The Caine Mutiny Court- marshal opened on October 12, 1953 with Lloyd Nolan playing Captain Queeg and Henry Fonda as the defense attorney. Sometimes actors in films or plays do not do justice to the written word. After reading the play and having only seen the film, I found that the written play did not capture the disintegration of the Captain during the trial. I will never forget Humphrey Bogart fingering the balls in his hand and attempting to control his paranoid disorder. To partially explain why the film may have had more power than the word is that the Court-martial play is only a part of the 1951 Pulitzer Prize–winning novel by Herman Wouk. I think the film fleshed out the drama with more of the book. I still liked the play, but the film is amazing!! Kristi & Abby Tabby
June 28, 2020
Classic and holds up well 50+ years later.
January 4, 2023
Wow - this is a really great play! I hadn't heard of it before but was really impressed by it. The content is extremely thought-provoking. This would be a great one for a lit class to discuss. I audiobooked it, but there wasn't an audiobook to choose from on Goodreads yet, and I was too lazy to add one. the narrators/actors were excellent.
May 2, 2016
I should have probably not listened to this one and go for the real thing, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Caine Mutiny. The price of short cuts?
It is well done, and well played, but I believe that so many of the nuances are getting lost in the translation to a play or a movie. And there are some great ideas, but the implementation is lacking because it is so short. I might still go to the origin in the future, but I have now all the spoilers, and the blame is on me. So I guess my best advice is to read the book and skip this one. 2.5 stars, and I feel pretty generous.
It is well done, and well played, but I believe that so many of the nuances are getting lost in the translation to a play or a movie. And there are some great ideas, but the implementation is lacking because it is so short. I might still go to the origin in the future, but I have now all the spoilers, and the blame is on me. So I guess my best advice is to read the book and skip this one. 2.5 stars, and I feel pretty generous.
January 30, 2016
This is a harrowing, wonderful play! I’ve read it before, perhaps in high school, and I’ve seen the movie based on it several times. According to Imdb, to get permission to use ships, the movie production crew had to say there had never been a mutiny, when there was, over many of the same issues Maryk and the crew mutinied.
I borrowed this from my local public library.
I borrowed this from my local public library.
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