Seeing as Max Ophuls came up in some of the comments on the previous post, I decided to go back and have another look at one of his movies that I have struggled with in the past, namely the 1949 production of Caught. As a rule, I have enjoyed what I have seen of the director’s work, but this film has never worked for me. Anyway, with his name fresh in my mind, as well as the knowledge that the movie seems to be well regarded by many other viewers, I thought I should give it another chance. In brief, and this will be one of my shorter posts, I still have major issues with the movie. To be honest, the fact that I made it to the end was as much through a sense of obligation as anything.
The whole thing is an examination of wish fulfillment and the consequent importance of being very careful indeed of what one wishes for. It opens with two sisters in a shabby tenement mooning over glossy magazines and browsing for dreams, a gem encrusted necklace here, a platinum bracelet there, and so on. As ever, money and the power it bestows matters very much to those who have little of it. Leonora (Barbara Bel Geddes) wants the security and the comfort that comes with wealth, and it does come her way as the result of an invitation to a party on a yacht, an invitation she very nearly turns down. This is the thing with Leonora – she wants things and then doesn’t want them when their real cost becomes apparent. When she makes the acquaintance of Smith Ohlrig (Robert Ryan), a tycoon with a deeply disturbed character, she is soon on the fast track towards the high life on Long Island. However, this is where it all goes wrong for just about everyone involved. Ohlrig is a domineering, controlling and cruel man, an obsessive soul at war with himself and the world in general. Leonora soon comes to see the stew she’s landed herself in and, wisely one would say, moves out and ends up working as a receptionist in a slum neighborhood for Dr Quinada (James Mason). From here the movie devolves into a series of sorties back and forth for Leonora as her indecision along with a deep-seated conviction that she has to “improve herself” at all costs winds up being a good deal more expensive in emotional and physical terms than she’d bargained for.
Max Ophuls’ direction is a pleasure – his camera swooping, swinging and panning, following his characters and sometimes sweeping past them to draw attention to the variously opulent or cheap surroundings while they debate, argue or simply muse out of shot. It’s a distinctive style and Lee Garmes’ cinematography adds to the eye-catching visuals. Attractive as all this may be, it’s not enough to paper over the paucity of genuine character at the heart of the movie. Robert Ryan’s Howard Hughes inspired sociopath is a showy piece of work, neurotic and foul and yet also somehow pitiful in his inadequacy. However, there’s a big hole in the middle of it all for me, and that’s the result of the role played by Barbara Bel Geddes. I started off feeling for her as she struggled to dig herself out of the poverty trap. The fact is though that she’s a playing a woman with essentially no character, a whiny, vacillating type who seems to revel in helplessness and indecision. This is the person who is the main focus and it’s very hard to like a movie where the central role presents such a moral vacuum. And the less said about the “happy ending” we’re asked to buy into, the better. James Mason’s first Hollywood starring role is fair, but he’s given little to do to stretch him – he does have at least one good scene in the garage confrontation with Ryan and Bel Geddes. The support is mainly an attractively homespun turn from Frank Ferguson and a well observed peek at degradation and dissipation by Curt (“Tough, darling, tough.“) Bois.
Max Ophuls made far better films than this – The Reckless Moment, again with Mason, came shortly afterwards and is superior in every respect, and there are his great French movies such as The Earrings of Madame de… and La Ronde. I honestly wish I could like this film more, but it just does not do it for me.
Riding the High Country 
Due to the excellent cast, I made a point of seeing this once, which was enough.
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The cast, the director and the DOP drew me initially, years ago. It does have style and the pacing is fine, but there’s an emptiness to that leading role which torpedoes it for me.
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Not seen this one for a bit but you touched on all the aspects I remember best (Ryan, the overall look) but it is a bit turgid and I always find it hard to connect with such melodrama (though I like Bel Geddes as a rule). Thanks for taking one for the team 😁
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The thing is I’m quite partial to melodrama. However, the way this is written just got to me. It’s not really the fault of Bel Geddes, this is just the character she’s been handed, but it leaves the whole picture badly weakened, fatally in my opinion.
Oddly enough, I’ve been watching, and will likely post a piece on, another noirish movie that suffers from some inconsistent writing with respect to a central character. However, it doesn’t hurt the movie as much as the script for Caught does.
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I’ve only seen Caught once, years ago, and I recall that I wasn’t that wild about it. I don’t remember why, specifically, though. After reading your excellent write-up, I want to watch it again to see if perhaps it was Barbara Bel Geddes’s character for me (and the ending) as well. Good stuff!
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Thanks. Plenty of people seem to get on better with the movie than I do so you may end up with a more positive impression. All I can say is I think this was the third time I’d seen the movie – I’m aware that mood, circumstances and so on can all affect our responses to films so I’m often willing to give something more than one try to see if my feelings have shifted one way or another – and I still felt no better about it.
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I certainly agree re THE RECKLESS MOMENT, Colin – it is excellent. It’s a shame that the fine cast weren’t given more to work with in CAUGHT. Movies don’t soar if the characters aren’t well drawn.
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The Reckless Moment is superior in almost every way. Joan Bennett’s character in that is a compelling one.
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I’ve seen Caught but it was so long ago I remember nothing about it. So I can’t really contribute anything other than the fact that you’ve now awakened my interest in rewatching this movie. I’ve never been quite as much of a Robert Ryan fan as some.
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I’d count myself a Ryan fan and often berate myself for not featuring his work more often. It’s something I’d like to rectify. His role in Caught is what I’d term one of his classic “on the brink ” performances, where you can see the turbulent emotions swirling just below the surface and an eruption seems only a heartbeat, or a perceived slight, away.
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I like Ryan too. Maybe one day you could do a Mann-Ryan double feature of ‘Men in War’ and ‘God’s Little Acre’. Olive (RIP) did nice editions of both in HD.
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That’s not a bad idea. I’ll keep it in mind. Olive put out some grand editions of what at the time were hard to see movies. I was sad when I heard they went under.
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I was too. I really enjoyed their special editions of ‘The Quiet Man’ and ‘Rio Grande’. Picked up finally this year their nice disc of ‘Pork Chop Hill’. Olive really put out some good stuff. They were easier to snap up if you wanted than Twilight time usually.
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I ended up buying the Eureka Blu of The Quiet Man – region coding was and is an issue for me with regard to Blu-ray – but I think Olive got there first and I remember how exciting it was to see Ford’s wonderful film getting the kind of release, and indeed the respect, it so richly deserved.
It’s funny you should mention Pork Chop Hill as I just recently picked up the German Blu-ray of that one after only ever seeing it on the rather mediocre old MGM DVD.
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Yes ‘Pork Chop’ is a revelation in good HD. Also picked up another Milestone classic around the same time ‘A walk in the Sun’ which has been given a wonderful Blu by Kit Parker. Then since I missed Twilight Time and their pricey version I picked up the reprint of ‘Bridge at Remagen in stunning HD to replace my mediocre DVD like ‘Pork Chop’ was. I am a war movie buff by the way if you could not tell. Really neat to see these films looking their best in HD now.
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Something special for me in Pork Chop Hill, Bob Steele’s really great moments. To Milestone’s credit he had Steele in Of Mice and Men, 1939.
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‘Pork Chop’ has such a great cast like so many of Milestone’s war movies.
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It was so nice for ‘The Quiet Man’ to get a really good release after so many terrible ones.
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Yes, that a film which looks so stunning when properly presented should have been seen for so long in lousy prints was verging on criminal.
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Finally found my copy of CAUGHT on Tuesday. Gave it a watch last night. That will be the last time I ever do that. Not what one would call a winner.
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Well oberved, Gord.
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