I guess Max Ophüls was just too
big for film noir. He was the premier artist of lushly romantic period pieces (LETTER
FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN, MADAME DE…, LOLA MONTES), and those are the films for
which he is remembered today. Many people don’t even realize that in 1949 he
made two film noirs back to back, nor do they realize that these two films
represent exactly half of his American output. Wedged between LETTER FROM AN
UNKNOWN WOMAN in 1948 and LA RONDE in 1950, these two B-movies have been
largely overlooked by critics in favor of Ophüls’ more celebrated work.
The irony of this neglect is that THE
RECKLESS MOMENT and CAUGHT are both brilliant film noirs. Each feature his
celebrated mise-en-scène and camera work, and each feature strong female
protagonists. Of the two films, THE RECKLESS MOMENT is tighter and more
controlled, but CAUGHT darker and deeper.
It tells the story of a poor young
woman named Leonora (Barbara Bel Geddes). Her big dream is to meet Mr. Right,
preferably a rich Mr. Right. She takes modeling and charm school lessons, and then
one day she lucks out when the slimy personal assistant to a millionaire sees
her modeling fur coats at a department store and invites her to a yacht party.
Leonora is so turned off by the creepy little assistant’s insinuating manner—he
essentially treats her like a self-deluded prostitute—she almost doesn’t go to
the party. At her roommate’s prodding she changes her mind, but it’s unclear
exactly why she changes her mind. Leonora is funny that way. She doesn’t want
to be treated like a prostitute, but she does want to get on that boat and
maybe catch herself a millionaire.
She never makes it to the boat,
though, because she runs into the millionaire on the docks, and he invites her
along for a ride in his convertible. His name is Smith Ohlrig (Robert Ryan),
and he is a hulking mass of money and nerves. He doesn’t so much sweep Leonora
off her feet as much as he makes a snap decision to buy her. In no time at all,
they’re married and completely miserable. Smith seems to detest Leonora for
merely existing, convinced that she only married him for his money. Leonora
professes her love for him, but the fact is, she did marry him for his money.
However, when Smith humiliates her in front of his drinking buddies one night,
Leonora leaves him and gets a job as a receptionist for a pediatrician named
Larry Quinada (James Mason). She and the good doctor soon fall in love, but
Smith starts poking around, threatening to make trouble for both of them. Then
Leonora discovers she’s pregnant with Smith’s child.
I have to tread carefully over
plot details here because part of the power of the last act of CAUGHT is its surprising
attitude toward this pregnancy. The audience isn’t happy that Leonora is
pregnant with Smith’s child, and neither is she. Smith is happy because it
gives him a way to “break” Lenora. He tells her that if she doesn’t come back
to him, he’ll take the child away from her in court. Smith (who was reportedly
modeled after Howard Hughes) is one sick bastard of a man. Why does he want
Leonora back? Because she doesn’t want to come back. He just wants to break
her. CAUGHT finds a way to resolve this showdown, but the last few minutes of
the movie are shocking. In today’s Hollywood, a movie studio would never allow
a film to have such an ending. I can’t image what people must have thought in
1949.
The film was based on a novel by
Libbie Block, with a screenplay by Arthur Laurents. There was much tinkering on
the film—especially the ending—by the studio and the censors, but the film that
emerged is a fascinating piece of work. Ophüls was known as a “woman’s director,”
but a better way to phrase, really, would be that he was one of the first
feminist directors. Leonora’s quest to find a husband is a set up for her
brutal awakening. What does she want? Why does she want it? She will have to
confront her own underlying assumptions about marriage and motherhood before
the movie is over.
Ophüls’s direction is superb. Here
was a director. His camera glides back and forth throughout the film but never
simply for the sake of being flashy. Look at the scene of Leonora and Quinada
out on their date, jostled on the dance floor, deciding that maybe they’re in
love, and notice how the camera finds them at all the right times. Or look at
the scene of Quinada and his partner at the doctor’s office after Leonora has
run off, the camera swooping back and forth from each man as they talk, Leonora’s
empty desk between them highlighting the power of her absence.
For all its virtues, the film does
have flaws. The last two or three minutes feel awfully rushed—as evidenced by a
clumsily inserted shot of Bel Geddes that looks like it’s from a completely different
film stock. And I can’t help but think that an opportunity was missed in the
casting. Robert Ryan played a psycho better than anyone, but it might have
interesting to see Mason tackle the role of Smith Ohlrig. I mean, James Mason just
looks and sounds like a guy named Smith Ohlrig. He does a serviceable job as
Quinada, but Ryan could have brought more warmth to that role.
As Leonora, however, Barbara Bel
Geddes is simply wonderful. An accomplished stage actress, Bel Geddes never
made the big splash in the movies that she should have. Today she’s mostly
remembered for her television role as the mother on DALLAS, but for movie fans
she’ll always be Jimmy Stewart’s lovelorn friend Midge in Hitchcock’s VERTIGO.
She also appeared in a few noirs (PANIC IN THE STREETS, FOURTEEN HOURS), as
well as Robert Wise’s terrific noirish western BLOOD ON THE MOON. With her tomboy
spunk and palpable intelligence, Bel Geddes is a welcome addition to any movie,
and she positively anchors CAUGHT. Leonora could be played at two different
extremes, either as coy or as self-pitying. Instead, Bel Geddes makes her a
woman wrestling with her own sense of self. Her choice between Smith and
Quinada isn’t simply a choice between two men or even two ways of life. It’s a
choice between two Leonoras.
Note: I originally posted this back in 2009, but I'm reposting it here because CAUGHT will be showing at Doc Films this Friday at 7:30 and Sunday at 1:30. The film is part of the Women's Picture Noir programmed by Kathleen Geier. For more details click here.
