This interesting and finely executed melodrama/noir piece from Max Ophuls is an underrated film worthy of greater attention. It boasts fine performances from it's three leads, Ophuls' expert direction and a screenplay that touches on many intriguing themes.
CAUGHT can be viewed as Ophuls' critique of the capitalist system and the bourgeois values dominating Western society. The film revolves around the plight of young Leonora (a lovely Barbara Bel Geddes), who is influenced by the social mores and conventions of her time into attending "charm school" and "marrying rich". Leonora's symbolic desire for "mink" (wealth) leads her into a union with the rich Smith Ohlrig (Robert Ryan in a terrific performance). Her loveless marriage quickly degrades into a nightmare world where she is "caught" between her own desire for material possessions and her wish to be loved.
Leonora chooses to run away from Ohlrig. Asserting herself and regaining her independence by taking a job in a doctor's office, Leonora begins to fall in love with the good doctor himself, Larry Quinada (James Mason, wonderful as ever). He tentatively courts her, yet Leonora is still "caught" by her disastrous marriage...and the discovery that, after a one-night reunion tryst with Ohlrig, she is pregnant with domineering husband's child...
Ophuls, who proved himself a master at melodrama in the brilliant LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN a year earlier, effectively blends standard chocolate-box melodrama with noir to produce an intense, dark, thought-provoking film. Ophuls' trademark sweeping camera movements, fine sense of detail and beautiful black-and-white cinematography greatly enhance the production.
Yet it is the performances and the characters that really propel the film into greatness. Robert Ryan turns in possibly his second-best performance on film (after THE SET-UP) as Ohlrig, who is said to be modeled on Howard Hughes. Ryan creates a fascinating portrait, cold and contemptuous as Leonora's villain husband, yet also oddly compelling and not wholly unlikeable as he chides Leonora for not even bothering to try and pay attention to his business interests. CAUGHT is painted in shades of grey, with not one character (least of all Ryan's)fitting into the standard stereotypical mould.
Barbara Bel Geddes suggests innocence yet a fundamental weakness in her inability to resist not only Ohlrig's physical advances but his financial status. James Mason is just wonderful as pediatrician Quinada. Mason, too, is capable of suggesting all sorts of emotions in his performances, and his idealistic doctor is not without a certain touch of weariness. Yet, he is honest, understanding and touching in his role- the film really reaches another level when he first appears on screen.
Mason wanted the romantic lead in his first American film to avoid being typecast as the villain (He had gained fame and notoriety in Britain for thrashing Margaret Lockwood with a horse whip in THE MAN IN GREY and lashing his lovely ward Ann Todd's fingers with a cane in THE SEVENTH VEIL). Mason suggest humanity in his role; a socially progressive doctor who spurns the backward conventions of a society that compel Leonora, the woman he loves and truly cares for, to first marry Ohlrig for his money and then stay with him when she discovers she is pregnant. Mason, with his trademark mellifluous voice and British charm, works well with Bel Geddes and is attractive in their romantic scenes together.
The film's most memorable scene comes with Leonora's dramatic miscarriage- a finely acted moment from Bel Geddes ("I wanted him dead...I wanted him to die"). Leonora is finally able to escape from her torturous marriage and experience happiness with Larry, in an ending that was probably influenced by the Hayes Code. Most consider the ending rushed, abrupt and tacky, yet it has a certain logic and poignancy to it. Leonora will go on, marry Quinada and have children- and they will be happy. Leonora cannot possibly hope to be fulfilled with Ohlrig, and adding a baby to the shambles would be horrific. It is cruel for a woman to miscarry, yet it is even crueler for a child to be born into such an emotionally unstable environment. Therefore, Mason's extraordinary pronouncement that it is tragic yet "better" for the child to die can be sufficiently, and logically, explained.
CAUGHT can be viewed as Ophuls' critique of the capitalist system and the bourgeois values dominating Western society. The film revolves around the plight of young Leonora (a lovely Barbara Bel Geddes), who is influenced by the social mores and conventions of her time into attending "charm school" and "marrying rich". Leonora's symbolic desire for "mink" (wealth) leads her into a union with the rich Smith Ohlrig (Robert Ryan in a terrific performance). Her loveless marriage quickly degrades into a nightmare world where she is "caught" between her own desire for material possessions and her wish to be loved.
Leonora chooses to run away from Ohlrig. Asserting herself and regaining her independence by taking a job in a doctor's office, Leonora begins to fall in love with the good doctor himself, Larry Quinada (James Mason, wonderful as ever). He tentatively courts her, yet Leonora is still "caught" by her disastrous marriage...and the discovery that, after a one-night reunion tryst with Ohlrig, she is pregnant with domineering husband's child...
Ophuls, who proved himself a master at melodrama in the brilliant LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN a year earlier, effectively blends standard chocolate-box melodrama with noir to produce an intense, dark, thought-provoking film. Ophuls' trademark sweeping camera movements, fine sense of detail and beautiful black-and-white cinematography greatly enhance the production.
Yet it is the performances and the characters that really propel the film into greatness. Robert Ryan turns in possibly his second-best performance on film (after THE SET-UP) as Ohlrig, who is said to be modeled on Howard Hughes. Ryan creates a fascinating portrait, cold and contemptuous as Leonora's villain husband, yet also oddly compelling and not wholly unlikeable as he chides Leonora for not even bothering to try and pay attention to his business interests. CAUGHT is painted in shades of grey, with not one character (least of all Ryan's)fitting into the standard stereotypical mould.
Barbara Bel Geddes suggests innocence yet a fundamental weakness in her inability to resist not only Ohlrig's physical advances but his financial status. James Mason is just wonderful as pediatrician Quinada. Mason, too, is capable of suggesting all sorts of emotions in his performances, and his idealistic doctor is not without a certain touch of weariness. Yet, he is honest, understanding and touching in his role- the film really reaches another level when he first appears on screen.
Mason wanted the romantic lead in his first American film to avoid being typecast as the villain (He had gained fame and notoriety in Britain for thrashing Margaret Lockwood with a horse whip in THE MAN IN GREY and lashing his lovely ward Ann Todd's fingers with a cane in THE SEVENTH VEIL). Mason suggest humanity in his role; a socially progressive doctor who spurns the backward conventions of a society that compel Leonora, the woman he loves and truly cares for, to first marry Ohlrig for his money and then stay with him when she discovers she is pregnant. Mason, with his trademark mellifluous voice and British charm, works well with Bel Geddes and is attractive in their romantic scenes together.
The film's most memorable scene comes with Leonora's dramatic miscarriage- a finely acted moment from Bel Geddes ("I wanted him dead...I wanted him to die"). Leonora is finally able to escape from her torturous marriage and experience happiness with Larry, in an ending that was probably influenced by the Hayes Code. Most consider the ending rushed, abrupt and tacky, yet it has a certain logic and poignancy to it. Leonora will go on, marry Quinada and have children- and they will be happy. Leonora cannot possibly hope to be fulfilled with Ohlrig, and adding a baby to the shambles would be horrific. It is cruel for a woman to miscarry, yet it is even crueler for a child to be born into such an emotionally unstable environment. Therefore, Mason's extraordinary pronouncement that it is tragic yet "better" for the child to die can be sufficiently, and logically, explained.