Mostly unconvincing Hollywood treatment of psychosis is over the top. Characters are really stereotypes moved around to dramatise the plot. The acting fortunately saves the film from being boring. Van Johnson solid as always but beside whom Bogart appears over-dramatic. (viewed 10/16)

If you are in the navy and your terminally stressed-out captain, during a typhoon, alternates between paralysis and giving lunatic orders calculated to make the ship highly liable to founder, do you not relieve him of his command ? What else could you possibly do ? Drown along with the rest of the crew ? Perhaps there would still be a court-martial.Most reviewers seem to be in two minds about this movie. Virtually all are agreed that the romance is completely irrelevant, and belongs somewhere else, if anywhere. Most consider it otherwise well-acted, at least by Bogart, MacMurray and Van Johnson. Most consider the end scene with Jose Ferrer turning up drunk and jingoistic to be embarrassing. For some reason it nevertheless seems kind of interesting and memorable. I remember my mother talking about it in 1955. It's dated, and yet it isn't, and still seems strangely effective.

* Yet the real moral of the story is that an articulate disgruntled crew member (officer or enlisted) who is not happy with the commander can be detrimental to morale by convincing others to agree with him. Keefer uses Captain Queeg's ball-bearings as a sign of insanity when they were really just a harmless nervous habit no worse than Keefer's smoking cigarettes. The captain offered the young officers a chance to discuss their feelings of his command and offer suggestions but perhaps brainwashed by Keefer's psychobabble refused to do so. Unlike the previous easy-going skipper Queeg was a by the book man but that should have been accepted and respected. Has those officers supported and respected Queeg instead of heeding Keefer things would have worked out.

Humphrey Bogart gives another top rated powerful performance in this classic drama with a first rate professional cast including Fred MacMurray, Van Johnson, Jose Ferrer, E.G. Marshall, Tom Tully, Lee Marvin, Robert Francis, Claude Atkins, and Arthur Franz.All of these are excellent performances but pale in comparison with Humphrey Bogart's. He is totally believable as Captain Queeg, who is guilty of mutiny. Was he insane or just misunderstood? Queeg's final crack up on the witness stand at Lt. Maryk's court martial is justifiably famous, and is among the great scenes in cinema. It is now impossible for any character in any film to play with a pair of steel balls and not think of Bogart. Look for Lee Marvin, Jerry Paris and Claude Akins in supporting roles. This is excellent entertainment and should not be missed.Humphrey Bogart absolutely dominates the screen with one of the finest performances of his career. Most of the fan and critic polls I have seen over the years of the greatest movie stars of all time invariably place Bogart in the number one spot, and when you see him in this role it is easy to see why. Yet you contrast this film with THE MALTESE FALCON or THE BIG SLEEP, and you realize that he had a capacity to play a surprisingly wide range of roles.Conclusion - Film acting simply doesn't get better than this. Classic!