The Capture (1950)

That was an excellent one.

Fresh and Exciting

Blistering performances.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Copyright 21 April 1950 by Showtime Properties, Inc. Filmed on locations in Mexico and at Republic Studios, Hollywood. Released through RKO Radio Pictures. New York opening at the Rivoli: 21 May 1950. U.S. release: 8 April 1950. U.K. release: 26 June 1950. Australian release: 21 July 1950. 8,173 feet. 91 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Oil company employee mistakes innocent man for a bandit.COMMENT: Niven Busch (Duel in the Sun, Pursued) made this movie with his own money. Generally it's an interesting and creditable effort, though it does have a few odd shortcomings. That normally reliable player Victor Jory gives a mechanical and unconvincing performance, and there are moments in the script when the circumlocutions of the dialogue become too repetitious and predictable to sustain interest. Fortunately these moments are few and Mr Jory's part is small. Perhaps it could also be argued that Mr Busch has attempted to crowd too many elements into his script. On the credit side, however, he has plotted some intriguing and original twists into this Mexican western. And he and director John Sturges, assisted by cinematographer Edward Cronjager, have filmed the story against appropriately atmospheric, striking backgrounds.Lew Ayres does plausibly by the part of the tortured hero, whilst Miss Wright is likewise convincing in an equally difficult role. Jacqueline White, the unforgettable heroine of the later The Narrow Margin, has a rather different role here. After an elaborate introduction, she drops out to make room for the Teresa Wright character. Barry Kelley is perfectly cast as the heavy, whilst Milton Parsons makes the most of his two limited opportunities.All in all, The Capture emerges as a compelling thriller with strikingly film noirish location production assets.

The interesting twist to this story is that Lin Vanner (Lew Ayres) becomes the man he pursued and killed at the opening of the film. Not literally of course, but figuratively, in that he became entangled in a set of circumstances that made it look like he was guilty of a crime. It's the kind of irony, as another reviewer pointed out, that would have worked well as an episode of 'The Twilight Zone'. The middle part of the story explains how Vanner discovered the identity of the villain who engineered a payroll holdup and framed Sam Tevlin, the man who Vanner tracked and killed because he 'couldn't' surrender. What's difficult to buy about the story is how Vanner persisted in his effort to win over the widow Tevlin (Teresa Wright) in his quest for the truth about the man he killed.You know, as I think about the picture now, it might have been better served by reversing the roles of Ayres and Victor Jory, but my opinion might be shaped by having seen Jory in more movies. At that, I've probably seen him more times as a villain than a hero, and he would have given the character of Vanner a harder edge. Not that there's anything wrong with being introspective, but Ayres' interpretation made him too submissive to Mrs. Tevlin once she found out the truth about his identity.Once the story is well under way, you have a pretty good sense of what's coming up in the finale, the only question being whether or not Vanner would be able to successfully surrender. The intervention of Father Gomez (Jory) helped decide that outcome. You know, I had to chuckle to myself during the scene when Vanner confronts the Mexican laborer who was the payroll escort that got robbed to set up the story background. His name was Juan Valdez, and after seeing that Colombian coffee commercial dozens of times over the years, it's a name that's become synonymous with coffee breaks, not payroll robberies.

This is an interesting drama that features a good leading performance by Lew Ayres and a story that combines action and a little psychology. The pace is uneven, particularly in the middle of the movie, and this keeps it from being better. But both the early sequences and the climactic chain of events work pretty well.Ayres plays a former oil man who once captured a suspected criminal, and then felt responsible when the man died in custody. He starts to get involved with the dead man's widow, even as he is haunted by uncertainty over whether he had done the right thing. It sets up a number of possibilities, and it is given an added air of fateful inevitability by the technique of having Ayres's character tell most of the story, in flashback style, to a priest.After a solid start, things bog down for a while in the middle, although Ayres and Teresa Wright do their best to keep it watchable. Eventually, though, it gets back on track, and the last few scenes tie things together and bring the story to a tense conclusion.

I purchased this as part of a 50 Movie pack of DVD's called Action Classics. While that is not the genre I'd call it, The Capture is well worth the time.The first part of the movie deals with a US oilfield worker in 1935 Mexico. He hunts down and kills a payroll robber. The film then settles into the main part of the story. It is an introspective, psychological analysis of the consequences for himself, and those who remember the dead man. Its all about a search for meaning and truth. The Capture left me with the feeling I used to get, watching the the short stories that were the staple of anthology drama series of the 1950's -- Twilight Zone, or Zane Grey Theatre -- but of course, this feature film has better production values than a TV series. I loved the innocent thoughtful stories that don't seem to be made any more, and The Capture is a fine example them.