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The Captive Heart (1946)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Release Date:
29 April 1946 (UK)
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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:
Prisoner Of War
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Ealing
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Impersonation
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Corporal
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WWII
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User Comments:
We all have to help each other....
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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 |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
104 min | USA:86 min
Country:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (RCA Sound System)
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Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Film debut of Larry Taylor.
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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...
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Movie Connections:
Featured in Forever Ealing (2002) (TV)
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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.