the broadway production of "the caine mutiny court martial" [...] had henry fonda as greenwald. [...] fonda was a good actor, but to me the greenwald role needed a harsher actor, such as jose ferrer (who damn near steals the film).
I agree that Ferrer's performance was exceptional, but I've gotta wonder ... In the book, Greenwald is a shy, diffident character who's almost apologetic, even as he's defending Maryk in the court-martial (and by being apologetic, he manipulates the trial board masterfully). Now, with Ferrer's voice, I just can't see him playing Greenwald that way -- every time he says anything critical of the Maryk and the rest of the wardroom, it sounds like a formal reprimand directly from the Secretary of the Navy. Which is what the movie needed. It had to be streamlined from the full story, and it's important at that point in the movie, after Keith and Maryk (and even Keefer) have been built up so sympathetically, to show that there's another side to the story.
But I'd love to see how Fonda approached the Greewald character. Too bad Broadway plays generally aren't filmed.
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TorontoJediMaster
12 years ago
I completely agree with your point about how Ferrer played the part versus how Greenwald was written in the book.
I can see Henry Fonda playing Greenwald as very diffident and soft-spoken, yet becoming incisive and forceful and key moments, such as questioning the psychiatrists. (Interesting note, in his biography Fonda recalled that when he served in the Navy during World War II, his first captain -on a destroyer- was like Queeg.)
There WAS a TV-movie The Caine Mutiny Court Martial in 1988 with Eric Bogosian as Greenwald and Jeff Daniels as Maryk.
I heard that recently, David Schwimmer played the part of Greenwald on the stage in London.
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BullSchmidt
12 years ago
There WAS a TV-movie The Caine Mutiny Court Martial in 1988 with Eric Bogosian as Greenwald and Jeff Daniels as Maryk.
Seen it; in fact, I have the DVD. It obviously follows the stage play far more closely than the movie. Bogosian's portrayal of Greenwald isn't as a shy or apologetic person, although he doesn't come off quite as forceful as Ferrer. And Robert Altman, as expected, puts his own interesting view on things.
I don't know why it didn't occur to me earlier to look at the character notes in the stage play. Wouk's description of Greenwald there is, “A lanky lieutenant. His face is stern and abstracted.”
As long as I've got the play open in Kindle, I'll copy/paste something that might be of interest:
The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial had its first performance in the Granada Theatre, Santa Barbara, California, on October 12, 1953. After a tour across the United States it opened in New York at the Plymouth Theatre on January 20, 1954, with the same cast, as follows:
(In order of appearance.)
LT. STEPHEN MARYK John Hodiak
LT. BARNEY GREENWALD Henry Fonda
LT. COM. JOHN CHAULEE Ainslie Pryor
CAPTAIN BLAKELY Russell Hicks
LT. COM. PHILIP FRANCIS QUEEG Lloyd Nolan
LT. THOMAS KEEFER Robert Gist
SIGNALMAN THIRD CLASS JUNIUS URBAN Eddie Firestone
LT. (JR. GRADE) WILLIS SEWARD KEITH Charles Nolte
CAPT. RANDOLPH SOUTHARD Paul Birch
DR. FORREST LUNDEEN Stephen Chase
DR. BIRD Herbert Anderson
STENOGRAPHER John Huffman
ORDERLY Greg Roman
Six MEMBERS OF THE COURT: Larry Barton, Jim Bumgarner, Stephen Scott, Richard Farmer, Richard Norris, Pat Waltz.
Wouk, Herman (2011-09-28). The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial: A Drama In Two Acts . Random House, Inc.. Kindle Edition.
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cross-9
12 years ago
"Jim Bumgarner," listed as a member of the court, changed his name to James Garner, and the rest is history.
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Destinata (3320)
6 months ago
I was about to say. He didn't have a line, so his first experience with acting was learning how to listen. Good actors know how to listen.
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mattohmss
9 years ago
As long as I've got the play open in Kindle, I'll copy/paste something that might be of interest:
The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial had its first performance in the Granada Theatre, Santa Barbara, California, on October 12, 1953. After a tour across the United States it opened in New York at the Plymouth Theatre on January 20, 1954, with the same cast, as follows:
(In order of appearance.)
LT. STEPHEN MARYK John Hodiak
LT. BARNEY GREENWALD Henry Fonda
LT. COM. JOHN CHAULEE Ainslie Pryor
CAPTAIN BLAKELY Russell Hicks
LT. COM. PHILIP FRANCIS QUEEG Lloyd Nolan
LT. THOMAS KEEFER Robert Gist
SIGNALMAN THIRD CLASS JUNIUS URBAN Eddie Firestone
LT. (JR. GRADE) WILLIS SEWARD KEITH Charles Nolte
CAPT. RANDOLPH SOUTHARD Paul Birch
DR. FORREST LUNDEEN Stephen Chase
DR. BIRD Herbert Anderson
STENOGRAPHER John Huffman
ORDERLY Greg Roman
Six MEMBERS OF THE COURT: Larry Barton, Jim Bumgarner, Stephen Scott, Richard Farmer, Richard Norris, Pat Waltz.
Wouk, Herman (2011-09-28). The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial: A Drama In Two Acts . Random House, Inc.. Kindle Edition.
You forgot a few credits.
Produced by Paul Gregory, directed by Charles Laughton (who worked with Herman Wouk on shortening the play and properly adapting it from the novel).
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Doghouse-6
12 years ago
For more than a hint of the approach you suggest, one can look at "12 Angry Men," where Fonda begins as passive yet obstinate, and becomes more and more aggressive as the drama progresses. I can very much imagine him embodying the role as you envision.
I finally got around to reading the novel a couple years back. Whenever I read a work of fiction, I can't help but mentally "cast" it with actors I know, which enables me to "see" them in my mind, and Schwimmer was the one I "cast" as Greenwald. It was only after finishing the book that I learned he'd indeed played the part.
There's so much more to the novel than is contained in either the stage or film adaptations. It really cries out for a full-throated one covering all its aspects (of which the court-martial itself is but a small part); probably best done as an HBO mini-series.
Poe! You are...avenged!
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hisgrandmogulhighness
12 years ago
True . . . however, time contraints would prevent a full-blown rendition of the novel to either stage or screen . . . for the stage it becamme a court room drama . . . the film did a bit more . . . the novel is, of course, very different . . . I guess they went for the meat . . .
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bradford-1
10 years ago
I also have on VHS a TV version of the play which aired live in 1955, I think. Like the stage version, everything occurs in the courtroom. Barry Sullivan plays Greenwald, Frank Lovejoy is Maryk and Lloyd Nolan is Queeg. Franklin J. Schaffer directed. The court's anti-Semitic attitude toward Greenwald is very pronounced, unlike the film.
May I bone your kipper, Mademoiselle?
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hisgrandmogulhighness
10 years ago
How fascinating, must be wonderful to watch . . . I think the film attempted a hybrid version: betwixt the novel and the stage play . . . did it ultimately fail? Depends on how you view these things . . . it's not the fullness of the novel, and it isn't the popular stage play (which received great reviews) . . . or one could claim it's a truncated version of the stage play . . . each has their pluses and minuses . . .
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