The Capture (Blu-Ray Review)
**The Film Detective’s Special Edition for “The Capture” came out on Tuesday, January 18, 2022. This is a review of not just the film, but the Blu-Ray.**
Right away, John Sturges’s “The Capture” announces itself as part of the grand tradition of the western in its setting, and a film noir, as its main character is racked with guilt over the death of a man he chased down. We don’t really find out for sure whether the dead man truly did take the payroll (though he likely did not), but we know what Vanner did; his guilt is the overriding emotion over the rest of the film.
Early on in the film, we see Lin Vanner (Lew Ayres) on the run. His arm is practically hanging stiff on his shoulder- he’s unable to move it, and he seems to be injured otherwise, as well. He makes his way to the home of a priest (Victor Jory), and like any good film noir protagonist, he begins to tell his story. He used to be manager at an oil company. One day, the payroll has been stolen in a hold-up. At the behest of his fiance, he pursues the suspect, in hopes of getting greater recognition from the company. He shoots a man on the pursuit, thinking that he is the suspect. When he gets up close, he finds that he is unable to raise his right arm due to injury, and was trying to comply with Lin. He gets the man back to the authorities, but the man dies, not having been absolved of the crimes they think he committed. Rather than recognition, he only feels guilt, and he leaves town. When the opportunity comes to make amends with the dead man’s wife, Ellen (Teresa Wright), he takes the chance, but not before she mistakes him as an applicant to help on her farm. From there, the film gets infinitely more complicated.
Just as I write that out, it’s hard not to think of Ulmer’s “Detour” in how it builds its doomed story of connection out of a simple complication. The film combining the DNA of the morally compromised world of film noir and the landscape of the western is not surprising, given the film’s screenplay is by Nevin Busch, who was known for work in both genres (his novels lead to “The Furies” and “Duel in the Sun,” and he also wrote “Angels Wash Their Faces” and an adaptation of “The Postman Always Rings Twice”). Busch’s screenplay doesn’t dive too deep into the complexities of humanity, nor does it reinvigorate anything in the Western genre, but what it does do is give us characters in Lin and Ellen we are interested in, and enough of a depth of a world for Sturges (“The Great Escape,” “The Magnificent Seven”) to create a film that engages us in its ideas, and the survival of its main character. Lin is not a bad character; just one filled with guilt over a mistake. That no one else is bound for the grave after that mistake is a miracle; the best we can hope for after that is forgiveness, and the chance to truly make the past right.
Blu-Ray Presentation
What we get on The Film Detective discs are fairly well-known, at this point, in terms of what they will deliver in terms of picture, sound, and extras. The restoration of “The Capture” is beautiful, with the black-and-white cinematography and sound mix being crisp and well-mastered. The extras on this disc are, in my opinion, a bit more sparse, but they have some interest to them if you’re a fan of this film. First up is an essay in the booklet by Don Stradley called, Not Quite Picture Perfect, which looks at the marriage of star Teresa Wright and Niven Busch. Next up is an audio commentary by C. Courtney Joyner and Henry Park, and the track is informative, with a good back-and-forth between them. Finally, there are two, very brief video essays, “Teresa Wright: The Actress Next Door” and “John Sturges: Man of Action.” They are not quite as dense or enlightening as some other essays they’ve done, but if you aren’t as familiar with the subjects, they’re alright.
Film Grade: A
Audio & Video: A
Bonus Features: B+
“The Capture,” on its own, is a terrific entry into The Film Detective’s collection of Special Editions. It is great representation of its two genres, and a level of film craft that wasn’t always prevalent in B-movie cinema at the time. It was a very nice discovery for me.
