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Reviews
Caught (1949)
Robert Ryan, meet Smith Ohlrig!!!
Having researched this film in depth, I found a Region 2 copy on Amazon.Fr. What a find!! The DVD includes the original trailer, which is very clear and well defined. There is also a nice extra about the director, which I haven't yet see in its entirety, but I can tell you that a very young Peter Ustinov is in it, a gallery of stills, and an opening sequence before you actually play the film that features the music score and it is shown embellished in red. The film itself is much clearer than the VHS, except for a few frames that are unexplainedly grainy. The DVD jacket itself is very classy, in a beautiful gatefold style with a picture of Ryan as Ohlrig lying on the floor with Barbara Bel Geddes standing over him. Inside of the DVD jacket is a nice little pamphlet (in French) and pictures of Bel Geddes and Curt Bois at the piano, and the scene in Ohlrig's viewing room when he says to Bel Geddes, "Now I know why they install love seats in movie balconies, but please remember Leonora that you're not sitting there now." It's a classic line. By the way, the film reaches brilliance in Ryan's performance alone.
Born to Be Bad (1950)
More than meets the eye!
Most people remember Nicholas Ray for his most famous films, Rebel Without A Cause and Johnny Guitar being the ones most talked about . Born To Be Bad is ensconced in the category reserved for ignored treasures and guilty pleasures, since Director Ray's characteristic "signature" as a director was just as canny in this film as in any of his lesser discussed works, On Dangerous Ground (which also featured Robert Ryan) being another example. This reviewer sees the same sophistication in Born To Be Bad as in another 50s Ray piece, In A Lonely Place; Born To Be Bad is just as cynical in its own way, guised as a superficially lighter "high society" melodrama. Although there are no dark staircases, ominous shadows or oblique camera angles here, Born To Be Bad has subterfuge and alienation at its core in Joan Fontaine's central character, Christabel Caine. The misery depicted here is the type that afflicts the rich and the venal, where wealth, not poverty, is the variable behind their alienation, and their betrayals are carried out in swank apartments and elite mansions instead of typical "noir" territory. The stylistic dimensions of the film aside, Born To Be Bad also features Robert Ryan and Joan Fontaine together romantically. For Ryan devotees searching for the few romantic roles that came his way, they should certainly see the film: the chemistry between Ryan and Fontaine simmers in furtive trysts that were somewhat risque for cinema of that era (a comparable romance between Ryan and a female lead can also be found in the 1952 "noir" masterpiece, Clash By Night). Still available on laserdisc, Born To Be Bad features a crystal clear video transfer worthy of any film buff.
The Thin Red Line (1964)
A gripping film only limited by its budget
Those who don't see the realism in this film are probably either from Generation X, or they never were in the military. Today's audiences are inured to violence captured in contemporary films, and aren't willing to watch films made on a small budget from independent filmmakers, such as those responsible for this 1964 foray into the futility of war. There are certainly a number of points to this version that stand out, never mind the one or two actions sequences that aren't technically up to the flashiness of today's films. The relationships among ranks, from officers to enlisted men, captures the flavor of the military hierarchy existing since time immemorial. Soldiers are asked to face the withering machine gun fire, artillery, and booby traps, not to mention climatic privations, without wincing. It goes without saying that the acting of the principals in such circumstances is expert, with paranoia balancing precariously between heroism and the will to live. Men who have been in the military will no doubt identify with the characters, from the C.O. played with hardened determination by James Philbrook, to Jack Warden's combat wise sergeant, and down to Keir Dullea's survivalist mentality in the face of an enemy that takes no prisoners. The viewer is given a look at the motivations behind Dullea's seeming obsession to be "prepared" for combat with as much in his bag of combat tricks as possible. When Dullea steals a .45 automatic, his prophetic line of dialogue to his buddy, "It just might give me the edge I need", rings ironically true several times over the course of the picture. In fact, irony is the film's strongest point, evidenced in several scenes in which Dullea is saved from death by his purloined sidearm, and which ultimately is responsible for his survival by film's end. Opposing Dullea's character, Warden is a career NCO who plays by the rules of war, but who in the end loses his life after shielding Dullea from a Japanese soldier unleashing lead. The viewer realizes that Warden's death results from heroism, while Dullea's survival from the madness of a trapped rat. Screenwriter Philip Yordan's dialogue is at once sensitive and insightful, lending credence to his reputation in Hollywood as a no-nonsense, rough-hewn, but literate genius.