The Capture (film)

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The Capture
The Capture (film).jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by John Sturges
Written by Niven Busch
Produced byNiven Busch
Starring Lew Ayres
Teresa Wright
CinematographyEdward Cronjager
Edited by George Amy
Music by Daniele Amfitheatrof
Color process Black and white
Production
company
Niven Busch Productions
Distributed by RKO Radio Pictures
Release date
  • April 8, 1950 (1950-04-08)(US) [1]
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Teresa Wright and Lew Ayres The Capture (1950) 1.jpg
Lew Ayres and Victor Jory Lew Ayres-Victor Jory in The Capture.jpg
Lew Ayres and Victor Jory

The Capture is a 1950 American Western film directed by John Sturges and starring Lew Ayres and Teresa Wright. [2] The story, originally titled Daybreak, was written by Niven Busch, Wright's husband. [3]

Contents

The story, told in flashback form, deals with a former oil worker driven by guilt at causing the death of an innocent man.

Plot

Lin Vanner is the manager of an oil company and the payroll has been stolen in a holdup. His fiancée urges him to pursue the suspect in hope that he will gain recognition. Following the thief's most likely trail over the border with Mexico, he begins his pursuit. Lin shoots a man who shouts back at him and does not raise his hands when challenged.

Lin learns that the man whom he had shot could not raise one arm because it was injured, which was the reason that he had shouted rather than complying with the demand he raise his hands, and he was not the robbery suspect. Troubled by his action and abandoned by his fiancée, Lin seeks to inform the dead man's widow Ellen, but he is mistaken for an applicant for a job to operate the dead man's farm until Ellen's son is old enough to take command. Lin believes that this opportunity has been given to him to make amends for his mistake.

With Father Gomez at his side, the story that he is being pursued by the police for another killing is told in a flashback.

Cast

Release

Teresa Wright, who reportedly lost her contract with Samuel Goldwyn for refusing to make publicity appearances, embarked on a 23-city tour to promote The Capture. [4]

Reception

In a contemporary review for the Los Angeles Times , critic Edwin Schallert wrote:

"The Capture'' is a strange brooding story of manhunt and a man's conscience, with a peculiar fascination. ... The two leading characters are in conflict—and in love— which causes them to have a remote resemblance to Gregory Peck and Jennifer Jones in "Duel in the Sun." Like its predecessor authored by Busch, this new prodution, strangely, powerfully and sometimes erratically mingles the motifs of romance and hate, while it deals with a vaguer issue of retribution and its effect on the central male figure in its plot. Put this altogether[ sic ] and you have a feature that is, at least, arresting and different, and that may he recommended on that account. However, it has the fault that it sometimes carries less conviction than it should have. ... The ending is what lets the picture down, because it doesn't seem a practical solution. Ayres, with apparent evidence to free him from a murder charge, in wild desperation starts to shoot it out with Mexican police who are stalking him and then surrenders. A kind of miracle has happened lo bring this about. When the law takes over you are not too sure of his fate. [5]

Reviewing the film for The New York Times, critic Howard H. Thompson wrote: "At least the clean-cut title of ... 'The Capture' is on the credit side. So are some quietly effective Mexican backgrounds. That's about a it. The first independent production of Niven Busch, a man who has a way with a typewriter, is a static, pretentious little Western, full of high-sounding talk. short on action and signifying exactly nothing. But it tries hard." [6]

Variety offered a generally favorable review, writing: "The Capture is an offbeat drama, with psychological overtones, that plays off against the raw and rugged background of Mexican locales. Picture kicks off with a wallop ... Ayres and Teresa Wright are very capable in the lead characters, adding to the general realism given the story because of the locales used. One of the interesting touches to the film is the incidental native music hauntingly spotted with the appearance of a blind guitar player." [7]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ↑ "The Capture: Detail View". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 18, 2014.
  2. ↑ The Capture at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  3. ↑ Schallert, Edwin (1950-02-10). "Ayres, Teresa Wright Reunion Due; Gargan, Keith Roles Indexed". Los Angeles Times . p. 11, Part II.
  4. ↑ Hopper, Hedda (1950-02-11). "'Saddle Tramp' Will Star Joel McCrea". Los Angeles Times . p. 7.
  5. ↑ Schallert, Edwin (1950-04-24). "Conscience, Law Stalk Lew Ayres in 'Capture'". Los Angeles Times . p. 11, Part III.
  6. ↑ Thompson, Howard (1950-05-20). "Lew Ayres Seen in a Western". The New York Times . p. 8.
  7. ↑ Variety. Staff film review, 1950. Accessed: July 18. 2013.

Bibliography

  1. American Film Institute. AFI Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States, Volume 1. The Capture, p. 378. University of California Press, 1971. ISBN   0-520-21521-4.
  2. Howard Reid, John Howard. Movie Westerns:Hollywood Films the Wild, Wild West. The Capture, p. 45. Lulu.com, 2005. ISBN   1-4116-6610-0.
  3. Selby, Spencer. Dark City: The Film Noir. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland Publishing, 1984. ISBN   0-89950-103-6.
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