Martin Bradley The least typical of Max Ophuls' masterpieces, "Caught" is a Women's Picture, written with a steely edge by Arthur Laurents. Barbara Bel Geddes is outstanding as the girl who marries money in the shape of Robert Ryan's sociopath multi-millionaire, modeled so we are told on Howard Hughes, but he treats her with such contempt she runs away and gets a job as a receptionist to James Mason's struggling doctor. It's a triangle quite unlike other triangles in the movies of the time; there is a psychological depth at play here rare in a genre picture of its kind and both Mason and Ryan are superb while Ophuls' framing of the characters greatly enhances the relationships between them, (the distance between Ryan and Bel Geddes in his mansion, the close proximity between Mason and Bel Geddes in the office scenes).In lesser hands this might have simply been novelettish but it isn't the superficiality of the material that interests Ophuls but how he can manipulate the material so the film is all of a piece. The least typical of Ophuls, I said; perhaps not. Shot after wonderful shot reveals this to be the work of one of cinema's great stylists and it really shouldn't be missed.

Prismark10 Max Ophuls brings a melodrama of a relationship gone awry. Caught has a film noir sensibilities as Robert Ryan plays multi millionaire industrialist Smith Ohlrig a man very much inspired by Howard Hughes, a cruel narcissist.Barbara Bel Geddes is Leonara, a department store model who attends charm school with dreams of finding a rich husband and gets invited to a party at a yacht by Franzi, a camp party organiser who searches for hostesses for Ohlrig's parties. Here she strikes up with Smith as she waits to get on the yacht and he eventually marries her mainly to spite his therapist.Once married she finds herself alone with Franzi as company and Ohlrig is increasingly cruel to her, embarrassing and humiliating her and having petty rages so much so that Leonara leaves him and starts to work in a poor area of New York as a Doctor's receptionist where she finds solace from James Mason's Dr Quinada.Max Ophuls brings a European sensibility to this threesome but you get the feeling that this is a restrained film because of the censorship laws of the period. You never see the full on cruelty of Ohlrig but Robert Ryan plays him with various light and shade suggesting that this is a tycoon who is not two dimensional and Ryan puts on a domineering performance.Bel Geddes does well as she shows Leonara's vulnerabilities but never strikes me as a beauty to entice a man such as Ohlrig. James Mason in his Hollywood debut plays Quinada with sharpness and bite. He is not the upright nice guy who falls in love with Leonara that other director's would had gone for. At first we see him as rather fractious but he and Leonara then fall for each other and it does not take him long to gauge Ohlrig and what ticks his boxes.The film's ending looks rushed, although Ohlrig's cruelty is there to see by the end you get the feeling the film was ahead of its time but suffers from the pulled punches.

Alex da Silva Not too much of a story going on here - Barbara Bel Geddes (Leonora) gets married to Robert Ryan (Smith Ohlrig) who doesn't really want to marry her. She feels trapped and decides to break away but Ryan is a rich, manipulative bully who wants his own way.This film does not belong in the Film Noir category as is constantly being suggested - there are too many elements missing for it to be defined in this genre, most glaringly the lack of a 'femme fatale' and the lack of any murder victim. However, Ophuls does direct in a Noirish manner, for example there is a claustrophobic feel to many scenes. His direction provides a depth to many shots and this cranks the interest of the film up a gear, as ultimately, there is not a lot of plot (another element missing that would normally define a Film Noir). This film is about power in relationships and goes down the obvious preachy road of money alone can't make you happy.Robert Ryan is the standout in the cast and every line he delivers is top quality. His role is based on Howard Hughes, who allowed the performance to go ahead provided that the film leave out any obvious reference to Hughes's business dealings and to his appearance. Ryan gets the ridiculous name of 'Smith Ohlrig' to depict a millionaire and I'm sure that it fooled nobody in it's disguise. James Mason as 'Dr Quinada' is watchable and holds the interest as Ryan's rival in love for Barbara Bel Geddes. He gets, for me, the best line in the film when he says to Bel Geddes on recently meeting Ryan "I've met that man for 3 minutes....and he's not normal..." It's funny because it could apply to so many people that I know - not me, of course.However, there is something not quite right in the casting of Barbara Bel Geddes. She is slightly frumpy (Shelley Winters style) with a slightly whiny voice (Julie Harris style) and I'm afraid that she is just not believable as the object of desire for these two handsome men. No way. Aside from her appearance, she's actually quite irritating in her meek and mild manner. Ingrid Bergman would have been perfect in this role as she not only plays a victim very well, has the looks/beauty to convince, but she could also convey a more dramatic turnaround in her attitude once she decides to get tough.A final mention must go to the peculiar way of ending the film - a dead child is something to be celebrated? Wow. Overall, it's an OK film but it's nothing great - Robert Ryan saves it.

TheLastDriveIn Director Max Ophüls ( Letter From An Unknown Woman 1948, The Reckless Moment 1949) offers a gritty and volatile film noir starring James Mason, Barbara Bel Geddes and the imposing figure of Robert Ryan. With an uncredited assistant directorship by Robert Aldrich. Based on the book Wild Calendar by Libbie BlockWritten by Arthur Laurents (The Snake Pit 1948,West Side Story 1961, The Way We Were 1973)Interesting question: If Howard Hughes gained control of RKO in 1949, was Robert Ryan's characterization of Smith Ohlrig truly based on Hughs?Also stars Frank Ferguson (regular on Andy Griffith Show) as Quinada's partner Dr. Hoffman, Art Smith as Ohlrig's psychiatrist who knows Ohlrig is a walking powder keg, Natalie Schafer as Dorothy Dale and Curt Bois as Ohlrig's personal assistant, and like many a good Film Noir delivers, the snarky gay cipher – Franzi Kartos, who's incessantly calling Leonora DARLING… that if subtitled would read 'you bourgeois cow…'One of the staples of the Noir catalog, Caught is a brutish and self contained story about an egomaniac, hungry for power and consumed by a nasty possessiveness that borders on the psychotic.Robert Ryan is chilling as the Neanderthal bigwig worth millions of dollars, with an explosive rage that rests on simmer until something sets him off when it doesn't go his way. Oh, and Ohlrig also suffers from panic attacks, which he believes is truly a heart condition and not a nervous disorder.Barbara Bel Geddes is the naive Leonora Eames, who has child like fancies of marrying a wealthy man and live a life of luxury. Invited to a party on a boat one night, she meets Smith Ohlrig outside on the pier, near his yacht. Although Ohlrig could have any woman he chooses, something about Leonora sparks to him. From the very first encounter we can see that it's not a romantic chemistry that stirs Ohlrig, but something more forbidding and sinister.Once he sets his sights on her,taking her for a ride in his car, he decides there and then, to marry this plain girl, whom he doesn't love, but knows he can possess easily.Leonora soon realizes that her dream has become a nightmare and that Smith is a menacing character who treats her like part of the furniture and is not quite right in the head.Ohlrig refuses to give Leonora a divorce, so she decides to leave her opulent home on Long Island, and take a job as a receptionist in the city working for a doctor who runs a free clinic in a very poor neighborhood.Perhaps this is Leonora's way of cleansing her soul for making the mistake of marrying for money and not for love.James Mason is Dr. Larry Quinada the absolute antithesis of Smith Ohlrig. He's genteel and compassionate, and soon the two fall in love, though Leonora is held captive by her dominating husband.Complicating matters is the fact that Leonora becomes pregnant by the sadistic Ohlrig who would rather see her a prisoner in the sterile palace that is her home rather than let her go free… Is the threat of financial security and the welfare of their unborn child that which will chain her to him forever…?