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Ai Sydney Theatre
"1H1. CAINE MUTINY
COURT
MARTIAL"
ROM the poor attendances, during
F the Sydney season, at "The Caine
Mutiny Court Martial", one can but
assume that the citizens of this city
are not interested In good theatre
as Buch. They will go if the cast Includes
famous and sensational top
names of the screen and stage—just
to say that they have seen such and
such an actor or actress. But when a
play, however well produced, has an
all male cast and develops round such a
dull subject as a U.S. Navy court
martial, well, who would want to see
such a play. The citizens of this city
of two million people would rather
see the cavortings and moonings of
the girl with the million dollar legs
or the lassie with the sextilllon dollar
bosom...
This should be enough to Indicate
that I enjoyed "The Caine Mutiny
Court Martial" and felt a little
ashamed of a majority of my fellow
Sydneyltes.
The mutiny, supposed to have
taken place on board a U.S. Navy
destroyer-minesweeper during World
War II, is purely fictitious. The Captain
is suspected by his subordinates
of being mentally deranged and his
unreliable behaviour during a storm
at Bea encourages the second in command
to relieve him of control of the
ship. The court martial is the only
part of the Btory treated in the stage
version of what has already been a
novel and a successful film.
Sensible production, a high standard
of acting and simple, "effective
staging would satisfy the most exacting
of our critics. With Lee Tracy
ip a sensitive and superbly graded
performance as Commander Queeg,
and Ron Randell as Lieutenant
Greenwald, the play had two star
performers. Add to that the strong,
incisive support of Henry Gilbert as
Commander Challee and Jeffrey Lynn
as Lieutenant Maryk, and the various
appearances of Kfen Wayne, Alistair
Roberts, James Haggert, Ivor Bromley
and Charles McCallum and you
have a play notable for the characterization
of Queeg In particular, and
for the dramatic impact of the trial
in general.
"The Caine Mutiny Court Martial"
played at the Palladium Theatre
until last Saturday.
—D.R:W.
$