'Caught' is nearly great and very ambitious film-noir exercise by great master Max Ophüls. This movie is undeservedly and too often overlooked that it is almost forgotten. Even by the fans of film-noir genre. The story revolves around novice model Leonora Eames (Barbara Bel Geddes in one of her best roles), who is gorgeous, but naive gal who has the dreams about romantic marriage with wealthy guy. At first, everything seems to be going great, but then director Max Ophüls twists and turns this fairytale about American Dream all upside down and with that he manipulates and playes with the viewer. In that era, movies about poor girl finding her wealthy prince were very popular, and they usually started and ended like fairytales. 'Caught' is using the same formula, but only in a quite sadistic way. The story winds up into the place where there can't be any good outcome, thus leaveing the veiwer in the same desparate mood as the main heroine of the story. The ending is total hack job, but one can probably understand the times the film was made and the studio system that ruled the film industry. 'Caught' is too good movie to be so unfairly overlooked.

As a fan of film noir I was excited to find another movie to watch. Little did I know what I was in store for. The lead character was a prime example of a gold digger. I know that looking at a movie through the lens of the present day will distort the original work however I find it hard to believe that a normal woman in the 1940's could be that obsessed with 'bagging a rich one'. The main character spends the entire film whining about wanting to be rich all the while hating herself for being a gold digger (You can't have your cake and eat it too). I know they wanted to make her seem naive but it completely backfired. She is just a horrible woman and has no redeeming value whatsoever as a character. The performances seem dry and forced; absolutely no chemistry between Leonore and the doctor. There is even less chemistry between her and Smith. I find it hard to believe she could have ever fooled herself into loving him (as she claims in the film). Smith is also the prime example of a terrible man and is quite possible a worse human than her. Marrying her just to spite his doctor and then ruling her life at every turn. He is however more believable at being a cad then she is as a gold digger. In a movie full of garbage the most insulting thing to contemplate is that a 'happy ending' (complete with an uplifting score) is the woman's child being still born. After pleading with her husband not to take her baby away from him she is relieved to have the baby die so she can be free to marry the doctor she loves, a doctor (pediatrician) which is just as happy to have the baby and husband out of the picture so he can finally have his one true love. Mindless dribble at its finest. All in all the film is an early example of tawdry soap opera complete with terrible acting and a crummy plot.

This movie grabs one immediately because of its cinematography. As it progresses it becomes an effective, and affecting, critique of the exchange of sexual favors for wealth and the treatment of humans as possessions. Ryan's portrayal of Ohlrig, the psychopathic business wizard, is exceptional: he excelled in the portrayal of hysterical males, and this performance highlights the contrast between his stunning good looks and ruthless personality (albeit in a less subtle way than in his seductive role in Clash by Night.) James Mason is more than adequate as the idealistic doctor who "rescues" Bel Geddes from her oppressive marriage. He gives an honest performance which avoids his tendency to indulge in ironic removal from his characters. Bel Geddes is the somewhat clueless product of cultural oppression: her character vacillates between frustration and despair, unable to reconcile her desire for freedom and self-worth with her position as the neglected toy of a rich man. Although many have wished for a tougher actress, Bel Geddes' rebellious doormat is believable because of her softness combined with intelligence. The cast, look, and attitude of Caught transcend its simplistic plot and bizarre denouement, making it a movie worth watching more than once.

A fairly good plot becomes mired in an ending which is most callous. It is hard to fathom that any writer could state that death of a baby would virtually set a woman free from a horrible marriage.Barbara Bel Geddes was our Cinderella here and believe me, she wished she had never met her Prince Charming- Robert Ryan, wealthy, rotten and vicious to the core. When she flees Ryan's millionaire misery, she falls for the doctor she goes to work for as a receptionist.The movie would have been far better had it become a murder mystery. So many would have wanted to do away with the Ryan character. He is really despicable here, as well as totally off the wall. As is, at the end of the film we want to know why we didn't do away with the writing.