The Capture (1950)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

John Sturges

Writers:

Niven Busch (novel)
Niven Busch (screenplay)

Release Date:

8 April 1950 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Killing a Man is One Thing...Loving His Wife is Another...both are DYNAMITE!

Plot:

A badly injured fugitive explains to a priest how he came to be in his present predicament.

Plot Keywords:

Priest | Payroll Robbery | Widow | Ranch | Fugitive

Cast

Lew Ayres	...	Lin Vanner aka Lindley Brown
Teresa Wright	...	Ellen Tevlin Vanner
Victor Jory	...	Father Gomez
Jacqueline White	...	Luana Ware
Jimmy Hunt	...	Mike Tevlin, Ellen's Son
Barry Kelley	...	Earl C. Mahoney, Finance Co. V.P.
Duncan Renaldo	...	Carlos
William Bakewell	...	Herb Tolin, Bolsa Grande Oil
Milton Parsons	...	Thin Man Visiting Mahoney
Frank Matts	...	Juan, Telvin's Hired Man
Felipe Turich	...	Cpl. Juan Valdez, Payroll Guard
Edwin Rand	...	Sam Tevlin (as Ed Rand)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Walter 'Lucky' Stevens	...	Peon

Also Known As:

Daybreak (USA) (working title)
Guilt (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

France:U | Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #14295) | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

CBS Studio Center - 4024 Radford Avenue, Studio City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Showtime Properties

The Capture – a psychological melodrama set among the Mexican badlands

The director, John Sturges, is remembered for westerns – Gunfight at the OK Corral, The Magnificent Seven, Last Train from Gun Hill etc – and The Capture has a touch of that genre as the movie opens with Lew Ayres on the run from the Mexican Federales somewhere in those dark Mexican hills.

The story is interesting on three levels: first, it has a Freudian element with Lew Ayres (playing an ex-oilman, Lin Vanner) suffering from a guilt complex, one that he acquired after killing, in haste, a man he thought was responsible for a payroll robbery; second, it's also a "whodunit" as Lin eventually tries to find out who really did steal the payroll; and third, the story is written by Niven Busch who also wrote the screenplay for Pursued, another psychological western which also starred Teresa Wright (and Robert Mitchum) in 1947.

If you've seen Pursued, then you'll know that movie was photographed in very stark black and white – and a lot of it at night. This film follows that same format but, in my opinion, it was not done as well as the former movie. However, it's still good to look at.

Lin Vanner tells the story mostly in flashback, while he rests at the house of a priest – and as he waits for the police to catch up with him. As stories go, it's somewhat pedestrian and predictable, but it does attempt to present for the viewer a very troubled man's need to resolve the doubts he has about personal motivation, integrity and courage. I'd seen Lew Ayres in other films, notably All Quiet on the Western Front, but I felt that other actors would have been better cast; somehow, his rendition of the character just didn't seem to be tough enough to carry on. Robert Mitchum would have been appropriate in the role, I think. Teresa Wright (as Ellen Tevlin), on the other hand, gave another competent performance as the embittered widow of the man, Sam Tevlin, whom Lin Vanner had killed. (Perhaps the studio thought it was too much to have Teresa Wright and Robert Mitchum in another psychological western so soon after Pursued?)

It was great to see Duncan Renaldo (as Carlos) appear, however briefly; and, once again, Barry Kelley (as Earl Mahoney) turns up as one of the heavies that Lin Vanner must face in order to solve the puzzle and salve his conscience. And, in a surprise turnout, there's Victor Jory (one of Hollywood's long-time great character actors) as the sympathetic priest (Father Gomez) and sounding board for Lin Vanner's recounting of his miseries. I'd seen Victor Jory, in other movies, mostly as a bandit, an Indian, a hard-nosed Mexican cattleman, a cop and such like, so the role of priest was definitely different for him, but a role that he (under) played with consummate skill.

For movie buffs and Sturges fans, I'd recommend this movie. If you're bored and you want to while away ninety minutes or so, you could do much worse.