The Capture (film)

The Capture
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	John Sturges
Screenplay by	Niven Busch
Story by	Niven Busch
Produced by	Niven Busch
Starring	Lew Ayres Teresa Wright Victor Jory Jacqueline White
Cinematography	Edward Cronjager
Edited by	George Amy
Music by	Daniele Amfitheatrof
Production companies	Niven Busch Productions Showtime Properties
Distributed by	RKO Pictures
Release dates	April 8, 1950 (1950-04-08)[1] US (US)
Running time	91 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Teresa Wright and Lew Ayres

Lew Ayres and Victor Jory

The Capture is a 1950 drama film directed by John Sturges, starring Lew Ayres, Teresa Wright, Victor Jory and Jacqueline White.^[2] Some film historians have categorized it as a noir.^[3]

The story, told in flashback deals with an ex-oil worker driven by guilt at causing the death of an innocent man to find out the truth about a robbery.

Plot[]

Lin Vanner (Lew Ayres), is manager of an oil company. The payroll has been stolen in a hold-up. His fiance urges him to pursue the suspect in hope that he will gain recognition. Deducing the road the robber may have taken over the border with Mexico, he goes along to intercept him. He shoots a man who shouts back at him and does not raise his hands when challenged by Lin.

Too late Lin learns that the man could not raise one arm because it was injured and this was the reason for his shouting rather than complying with the demand he raise his hands; he was not guilty of the robbery. Troubled at his action and abandoned by his fiance, Lin takes it on himself to tell the dead man's wife, Ellen (Teresa Wright) - but on arrival he is mistaken for an applicant for a helper to keep the dead man's farm going until his widow's son is old enough to take over.

Lin believes that this opportunity has been given to him to make amends for his mistake and he gives up his position to labor as a man-of-all-work on the farm.

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

Cast[]

• Lew Ayres as Lin Vanner
• Teresa Wright as Ellen
• Victor Jory as Father Gomez
• Jacqueline White as Luana Ware
• Jimmy Hunt as Ellen's son
• Barry Kelley as Earl C. Mahoney, Finance Co. V.P.
• Duncan Renaldo as Carlos
• William Bakewell as Herb Tolin, Bolsa Grande Oil

Reception[]

Critical response[]

When the film was released, the staff at Variety gave the film 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."^[4]

See also[]

• List of films in the public domain in the United States

References[]

Notes[]

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.

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Capture (film).

• The Capture at the American Film Institute Catalog
• The Capture at IMDb
• The Capture at AllMovie
• The Capture at the TCM Movie Database
• The Capture at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Capture is available for free download at the Internet Archive
• The Capture complete film on YouTube (film in public domain)