‘The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial’ Review: William Friedkin’s Final Film Does Honor To Herman Wouk’s Classic Military Story – Venice Film Festival
deadline.comThe plan was for renowned director William Friedkin to be appearing at the Venice Film Festival presenting the out of competition World Premiere of his latest production, an adaptation of Herman Wouk’s 1954 play The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial.
Unfortunately Friedkin died August 7th, but the show goes on anyway. What Venice witnessed is a solid, no-frills, new film that Friedkin had said he always wanted to make.
While it won’t stand on the same level of some of its director’s most vividly great achievements like his Oscar winning The French Connection, horror classic The Exorcist, or underrated (at the time at least) and ambitious Sorcerer, this version which he also adapted himself is a welcome addition to his filmography.
Often staged beginning on Broadway in 1954 with Henry Fonda and a star cast, it has gone through many other theatrical and television productions over the years, and of course a Stanley Kramer-produced film version (winning multiple Oscar nominations including Best Picture), also in 1954 that used Wouk’s 1951 novel as its source material and was much more than the courtroom-bound drama Wouk would himself adapt for the stage.
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