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The Captive Heart (1946) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
7.3/10   251 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 24% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Basil Dearden
Writers:
Angus MacPhail (screenplay) &
Guy Morgan (screenplay) ...
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Contact:
View company contact information for The Captive Heart on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
29 April 1946 (UK) more
Genre:
War | Drama more
Tagline:
Would you forge love letters to save your life?
Plot:
In 1940, a concentration-camp escapee assumes the identity of a dead British officer, only to become a prisoner of war. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
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User Comments:
We all have to help each other.... more (7 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
Michael Redgrave ... Capt. Karel Hasek aka Geoffrey Mitchell
Rachel Kempson ... Celia Mitchell
Frederick Leister ... Mr. Mowbray
Mervyn Johns ... Pte. Evans
Rachel Thomas ... Mrs. Evans
Jack Warner ... Cpl. Horsfall
Gladys Henson ... Mrs. Horsfall
James Harcourt ... Doctor
Gordon Jackson ... Lieut. Lennox
Elliott Mason ... Mrs. Lennox (as Elliot Mason)
Margot Fitzsimons ... Elspeth McDougall

David Keir ... Mr. McDougall
Derek Bond ... Lieut. Harley
Jane Barrett ... Caroline Harley
Meriel Forbes ... Beryl Curtiss
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Additional Details

Parents Guide:
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Runtime:
104 min | USA:86 min
Country:
UK
Language:
English | German
Color:
Black and White
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (RCA Sound System)
Certification:
Canada:PG (Ontario) | UK:PG (video rating) (1989) | USA:Approved (PCA #11953) | UK:A (original rating) (passed with cuts) | UK:PG (tv rating) | Finland:S
Filming Locations:
Aston Rowant Station, Aston Rowant, Oxfordshire, England, UK more
Company:
Ealing Studios more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Film debut of Larry Taylor. more
Quotes:
Capt. Karel Hasek, alias Geoffrey Mitchell: [writing a letter to Celia in November of 1942] "Our third winter is approaching, bringing with it a new enemy. It is not the duration but the indefiniteness of duration. For if a man knew the length of his sentence, he could plan accordingly. Afterwards in our memories, we shall relive only the sunny days. The pleasant scenes. The freedom of mind, and the comradeship. We shall forget the wet days... more
Movie Connections:
Featured in Forever Ealing (2002) (TV) more

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User Comments

   (Comment on this title)
12 out of 14 people found the following comment useful.
We all have to help each other...., 12 March 2002
Author: Dr. Barry Worthington (shrbw) from dundee

The prison camp is, in many ways, a metaphor for wartime Britain and its postwar hopes and aspirations. 'All sorts and conditions of men' are herded together in the camp, and despite the underlying tension, the boredom, and the self doubts, they must try and get along with each other. Indeed, it goes far deeper than that - they must try and look out for each other and protect each other.

And so they encourage the blind lad in his efforts to learn brail and come to terms with his blindness. A young 'tearaway' (a pre-war thief)comes to realise that even he has something to contribute. As the others try and think up a way of protecting the identity of a Czech hiding amongst them, he confesses that he knows how to open a safe, and can break into the orderly office and destroy the incriminating evidence.

There are little touches of humanity in terrible situations. The order is issued to manacle the prisoners as a reprisal for some Allied slight (this actually happened), and the elderly German reservist guard tries to indicate to the blind prisoner that he is only 'obeying orders' and doesn't want to do it. The invalid wife of a prisoner is told, back in England, that it is too risky to have her husbands baby, but she sacrifices herself in the hope that he will have a child to come home too. The blind lad tries to put off his girlfriend because he doesn't want to be a burden to her.

Some people find the main plot line a little contrived, but it is fascinating to see two strangers fall in love through a pretence.

And so wartime Britain entered the postwar world with all its hopes and fears. Sadly, with no visible common enemy to unite them, many of these hopes of a common caring humanity were not to be realised.

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