Caught

The third of four films that sophisticated and elegant European director Max Ophüls made in Hollywood, 1949's Caught is a fascinating social drama about a dreamy young working-class woman named Leonora Eames (Barbara Bel Geddes), who puts her hopes for success into a charm school education and a modeling gig with the aim of ultimately attracting a rich husband. Robert Ryan is Smith Ohlrig, her dream come true—or so she thinks when the cold, demanding, industrialist millionaire suddenly proposes. James Mason costars as Leonora's jolt of reality, Larry Quinada, an idealistic doctor on New York's East Side who hires Leonora despite her lack of secretarial qualifications, after she flees the oppressive Ohlrig's control and jealous suspicions. The script sometimes awkwardly brings the social commentary right into the dialogue spoken by Mason, but Ophüls' delicate style more than compensates, beautifully capturing both the surface elegance and emotional emptiness of the millionaire lifestyle. Along the way, Bel Geddes effectively transforms from a callow, naïve kid into a woman of strength and moral fortitude, while Mason tempers his saintliness with moments of doubt, and Ryan convincingly conveys a chillingly cruel manipulator whose only goal is to win at all costs. Ophüls twists the American dream into a nightmare, where even the happy ending feels just a bit tarnished. Debuting on DVD and Blu-ray with a well-mastered transfer that preserves the production's shadowy beauty, this is recommended. (S. Axmaker)