The Caine Mutiny (1954)
There was a great deal of interest right from the start in making a film of Herman Wouk’s 1951 novel The Caine Mutiny. Several studios tried to get a project off the ground, but always came up against the same stumbling block: the US Navy.
Like a lot of boaty types, the US Navy takes a dim view of mutiny, and they demanded major changes to this story of a mutiny on board a Navy vessel. Without these changes, there would be no Navy approval of the film, meaning no help, and no access to ships or other equipment for filming.
It was only after the novel won the Pulitzer Prize that the Navy began to relent, and even then, the filmmakers had to agree to place a disclaimer at the start of the movie, making it absolutely clear that There has never been a mutiny in a ship of the United States Navy.
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