CAUGHT is the third film the great Max Ophüls would make in America and it's a dramatic and sometimes terrifying examination of domestic life in the 1940s. He makes the most of his terrific cast—James Mason, Barbara Bel Geddes, and Robert Ryan—to tell the story of a young fashion model who falls in love too quickly and soon finds herself a prisoner in her new husband's estate. Mason plays a young doctor who gives Bel Geddes's wife hope of escape, but Ryan's tyrannical millionaire husband—based on Howard Hughes—doesn't want to let her go. Lee Garmes's striking cinematography creates an unforgettable mood to match the dark melodrama.
The 4K restoration of CAUGHT was completed using the best available elements, a 35mm nitrate fine grain for the picture and the 35mm nitrate optical sound track positive and 35mm re-recorded optical sound track negative for the audio.
CAUGHT was restored by Paramount Pictures with special thanks to Martin Scorsese and The Film Foundation.
Andrea Kalas Interview
Andreas-Benjamin Seyfert and Lutz Bacher in Conversation
CAUGHT (1949)
CAUGHT (1949)
VIDEO EXTRAS
TCM Tribute to Robert Ryan via YouTube
Talking Film: Lee Garmes, Stanley Cortez, Haskell Wexler & Victor Kemper on Cinematography via YouTube
Interview with James Mason via YouTube
Robert Parrish, the editor of CAUGHT, on The Ed Sullivan Show w/the cast of FIRE DOWN BELOW (1957) via YouTube
CAUGHT (1949)
READING LIST (BOOKS)
Max Ophuls in the Hollywood Studios, Lutz Bacher, Rutgers University Press, 2006
The Lives of Robert Ryan, J.R. Jones, Wesleyan University Press, 2015
Growing Up in Hollywood, Robert Parrish, Little Brown & Co, 1988
CAUGHT (1949)
READING LIST (ONLINE)
"‘An outstanding film director & a good European’: an interview w/Max Ophüls" for Sight and Sound
"Prisons of Gender and a Generation" by J. Hoberman for The New York Times
"Master of Motion and Emotion" by Phillip Lopate for The New York Times
"Gilded Age: Robert Ryan in CAUGHT" by Mark Asch for The Criterion Collection
"The Ophuls Shot" for The Criterion Collection
1951 Interview with Barbara Bel Geddes for The New Yorker
"New Star Barbara Bel Geddes" from Life Magazine
CAUGHT (1949)
LISTENING (ONLINE)
Desert Island Discs: James Mason
Audio Interview with Cinematographer Lee Garmes
THE FILM FOUNDATION ON LETTERBOXD
Edited and Directed by Robert Parrish
CAUGHT (1949)
CAUGHT was presented in The Film Foundation Restoration Screening Room in March 2023 in partnership with Paramount Pictures.
FORCE OF EVIL, moving like a runaway train, follows the unscrupulous scheming of New York lawyer Joe Morse (John Garfield). By consolidating a numbers racket, Joe has the unseemly opportunity to make it big by teaming up with ruthless gangster Ben Tucker (Roy Roberts). The only hindrance to this plan is Joe's brother, Leo (Thomas Gomez), who refuses to implicate his small outside-the-law operation and its dedicated and loyal employees. The moody plot of this tense and widely respected film noir is a scathing indictment of monopoly capitalism and its victims. From one terse and gripping scene to another, Joe presses his brother to accept the looming inevitability that can't be reversed.
The 4K restoration of FORCE OF EVIL was completed using the 35mm nitrate fine grain, 35mm nitrate composite dupe negative, and 35mm nitrate track positive. Image scans and audio files were provided by Paramount and the digital restoration was completed by Roundabout Entertainment. The audio restoration was done at Audio Mechanics.
Restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive and The Film Foundation. Funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.
Jillian Borders Interview
FORCE OF EVIL Before/After Restoration Demo
FORCE OF EVIL (1948)
FORCE OF EVIL (1948)
VIDEO EXTRAS
Abraham Polonsky Oral History via The Television Academy
TCM Noir Alley Introduction to FORCE OF EVIL by Eddie Muller via YouTube
TCM Sydney Pollack Introduction to FORCE OF EVIL via YouTube
An excerpt from Thom Andersen's 1996 documentary "Red Hollywood" via YouTube
"The Blacklisting of John Garfield" via TCM
TCM Star of the Month: Actor John Garfield via YouTube
1985 interview with Marie Windsor via YouTube
FORCE OF EVIL (1948)
READING LIST (BOOKS)
Body and Soul: The Story of John Garfield, Larry Swindell, Echo Point Books & Media, 2016
A Very Dangerous Citizen: Abraham Polonsky and the Hollywood Left, University of California Press, Los Angeles, 2001.
FORCE OF EVIL (1948)
READING LIST (ONLINE)
FORCE OF EVIL by Mike Robins for Senses of Cinema
Abraham Polonsky at TCM
FORCE OF EVIL (1948)
LISTENING (ONLINE)
Abraham Polonsky discusses the making of his film FORCE OF EVIL and the Hollywood blacklist
FORCE OF EVIL (1948)
THE FILM FOUNDATION ON LETTERBOXD
FORCE OF EVIL (1948)
FORCE OF EVIL was presented in The Film Foundation Restoration Screening Room in March 2023 in partnership with UCLA Film & Television Archive and Paramount Pictures.
