Caught (1949)

Dreadfully Boring

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Copyright 15 February 1949 by Enterprise Productions, Inc. (in notice: 1948). An MGM picture. U.S. release: April 1949. New York opening at the Capitol: 17 February 1949. U.K. release: 25 July 1949. Australian release: 1 December 1949. Sydney release at the St James: 2 November 1949. 8,032 feet. 89 minutes.SYNOPSIS: A poor girl who dreams of money and luxury, marries a psychotic millionaire.NOTES: James Mason's first Hollywood film. However he doesn't come in until half-way. The film was originally released world-wide by MGM. Subsequently it was re-issued by independent exchanges. It opened in London at the Empire, Leicester Square, on 25 July 1949. The British Censor gave the film an "A" certificate and cut the length to 7,896 feet — a loss of over a minute.COMMENT: Any film directed by Max Ophuls is must viewing — and this one follows directly after his American masterpiece, Letter from an Unknown Woman. Oddly enough, the film was not appreciated by contemporary critics to nearly the same extent. They were frightened off by the novelettish subject matter, despite the realistic yet stylish treatment accorded to it by Ophuls, his technicians, his players, and not least screenwriter Arthur Laurents.The writing with its careful filling-in of background, the realistic sets, the stylish deep-focus photography, and the believable performances transcend the film's dime-novel genesis. The characters are sharply etched and fascinatingly played. Barbara Bel Geddes is winning and sympathetic as the credible but by no means admirable gold-digger. A difficult role which she plays both with charm and total conviction.Robert Ryan has a more tailor-made part as the psychotic millionaire. Yet despite his familiarity, he still succeeds in dominating every scene in which he appears, giving a fascinating portrayal of a self-centered ego that feeds not only on those around but on himself. At times ingratiating, at times sullen and morose, at times eccentric and psychotic, Ryan like Bel Geddes gives a rounded interpretation of a fully three-dimensional character. The other players, having less to do with the action, are conceived in more simple terms. Chief of these of course is James Mason, who plays the slum doctor in his usual vigorous style, perhaps blurring some of the nuances and subtleties intended by the scriptwriter in the process. Quinada is dedicated and altruistic, yet at the same time a mean man with a buck, a workaholic who is human enough to feel tired, depressed, angry, even selfish and unsympathetic. Oddly enough, Mason's brusque, brisk performance tends to over-emphasize the negative aspects of the character, so that as a foil and a contrast to Robert Ryan's vicious millionaire, he is not wholly engaging. This is what causes the film to lose a fair amount of its tension. The plot and the requirements of the Hays Office are not wholly to blame.Outstanding among the support players, Curt Bois brings a fascinating credibility — even sympathy — to his role of a vicious pimp. Natalie Schafer, Frank Ferguson and Art Smith contribute their usual effective characterizations.Thanks to Lee Garmes' camera-work and appropriately atmospheric lighting, and the superb sets ranging from mansions to mean hovels designed by Frank Sylos, the film is always most attractive to look at. The fluid and inventive camera, the tight compositions and taut pace, stamp it firmly as the work of a master European director. No gangsters — but film noir at its most expressive.

The least typical of Max Ophuls' masterpieces, "Caught" is a Women's Picture, written with a steely edge by Arthur Laurents. Barbara Bel Geddes is outstanding as the girl who marries money in the shape of Robert Ryan's sociopath multi-millionaire, modeled so we are told on Howard Hughes, but he treats her with such contempt she runs away and gets a job as a receptionist to James Mason's struggling doctor. It's a triangle quite unlike other triangles in the movies of the time; there is a psychological depth at play here rare in a genre picture of its kind and both Mason and Ryan are superb while Ophuls' framing of the characters greatly enhances the relationships between them, (the distance between Ryan and Bel Geddes in his mansion, the close proximity between Mason and Bel Geddes in the office scenes).In lesser hands this might have simply been novelettish but it isn't the superficiality of the material that interests Ophuls but how he can manipulate the material so the film is all of a piece. The least typical of Ophuls, I said; perhaps not. Shot after wonderful shot reveals this to be the work of one of cinema's great stylists and it really shouldn't be missed.

Poor innocent model Leonora Eames (Barbara Bel Geddes) meets arrogant volatile tycoon Smith Ohlrig (Robert Ryan). To spite his therapist, he marries Leonora without even being sure of her name. She is unhappy in their marriage but he is unwilling to grant her a divorce. She leaves her life of luxury to work as a receptionist in a doctor's office in the poverty-stricken lower east side. Smith pleads for her to return and she gets pregnant. It turns out that he hasn't changed one bit and he runs away to join Dr. Larry Quinada (James Mason) who she has fallen in love with.Barbara is doing a small performance as Leonora is a small personality. Her sweet middle-class nature is the perfect antidote to Smith. This is well made paperback romance movie. The start is a bit slow. It may be useful to introduce Dr. Quinada sooner. Maybe the movie can start with Dr. Quinada treating the models or simply be kind to Leonora. It would allow her a safe place to run away to the first time around.

Moody drama with fantastic acting. All three leads offer strong performances. Robert Ryan, arguably the best projector of menace to ever appear on screen here plays an even more odious character than usual. James Mason, no stranger to menace himself, handling the upright fellow this time and being very dashing about it. Interesting to see Barbara Bel Geddes this early in her career and playing a character so different from her famous Miss Ellie. Well directed with heavy use of shadows really making even the large rooms of the mansion feel closed in and oppressive. Watch closely towards the beginning and you will see Barbara Billingsley as a customer in the department store.