Copyright 21 April 1950 by Showtime Properties, Inc. Filmed on locations in Mexico and at Republic Studios, Hollywood. Released through RKO Radio Pictures. New York opening at the Rivoli: 21 May 1950. U.S. release: 8 April 1950. U.K. release: 26 June 1950. Australian release: 21 July 1950. 8,173 feet. 91 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Oil company employee mistakes innocent man for a bandit.COMMENT: Niven Busch (Duel in the Sun, Pursued) made this movie with his own money. Generally it's an interesting and creditable effort, though it does have a few odd shortcomings. That normally reliable player Victor Jory gives a mechanical and unconvincing performance, and there are moments in the script when the circumlocutions of the dialogue become too repetitious and predictable to sustain interest. Fortunately these moments are few and Mr Jory's part is small. Perhaps it could also be argued that Mr Busch has attempted to crowd too many elements into his script. On the credit side, however, he has plotted some intriguing and original twists into this Mexican western. And he and director John Sturges, assisted by cinematographer Edward Cronjager, have filmed the story against appropriately atmospheric, striking backgrounds.Lew Ayres does plausibly by the part of the tortured hero, whilst Miss Wright is likewise convincing in an equally difficult role. Jacqueline White, the unforgettable heroine of the later The Narrow Margin, has a rather different role here. After an elaborate introduction, she drops out to make room for the Teresa Wright character. Barry Kelley is perfectly cast as the heavy, whilst Milton Parsons makes the most of his two limited opportunities.All in all, The Capture emerges as a compelling thriller with strikingly film noirish location production assets.

I have been quite impressed with this one; genre-wise, it's a romance. It's a noir western, but essentially a romance, and a very wholesome and lovable movie. John Sturges made this charming and very stylish noir western with an interest in rocky landscapes and generally a very good sense of the places, and a very intriguing lead character: the oilman, successful as an one man posse, then turned cowboy to help a needy family, but firstly to redeem himself, and to expiate, and also strongly drawn by the sick passion for a widow, this with a cheap script, and happily it's not Ford's sometimes extrinsic religion (even Jory doesn't play as one of the conventional priests of that age: Fonda or Malden), and, this strangely, not the religious behavior as a distorting and possibly misguiding of the white man's conscience. The style of the movie is very grounded (from the Spanish spoken by the Mexicans in the opening scenes, to the landscape and the unflattering style of the cast's acting); everything, very cinematographic, and very appropriate. It's a director's movie, of one who turns everything into straight cinematography.The plot is quite tenebrous. The leading character resembles physically his victim, and their relation is interesting, unto tenderness, as the chased man reposes peacefully. There's the character's narration, yet some things are understated, and he might be unreliable, to the effect of ignoring himself. What does he wish? He let go his fiancée, then all of a sudden falls in love with a widow.His wedding party was so endearingly modest; and once married, he starts his chase.Though given only a supporting role, Jory is the best of the cast.The special effects were done by the Lydecker brothers. And it's a very good looking movie.

Disappointing western-tinged noir (or noir-tinged western) from John Sturges about a man driven by guilt over killing a robbery suspect. The movie plods and plods, especially during the tedious second act, and doesn't pick up until the end. I would say Lew Ayres that seems wrong for the role, but it's hard to pin down what the role is. Noir is often about making the wrong choices, but this guy just seems to make one bone-headed or misguided decision after another. Teresa Wright's character is equally puzzling. The whole thing just doesn't work. Some potentially interesting psychological angles arise, but they're handled poorly. The score is also a dud and the cinematography isn't that special either. A few good moments aside, nothing much to see here.

The Capture is a neat little modern western where Lew Ayres in the space of the 90 minute running time learns what it's like to be the hunter and the hunted. The film was written and produced by Niven Busch, screenwriter and husband of co-star Teresa Wright.A tired, bedraggled, Lew Ayres staggers into the mission of Padre Victor Jory and tells him he's hunting by the police in Mexico where this story takes place. He explains to Jory just how this happened.A year earlier Ayres was the foreman in a Mexican oilfield with mixed Yankee and native crew and his payroll is robbed. Ayres deduces that the posse organized is doing it wrong and he decides to become an unofficial peacemaker and bring in the bandit himself. And he finds such a suspect where he thinks he should be in the person of Edwin Rand. Rand is wounded in The Capture, but later dies after police interrogation.Ayres quits Bolsa Grande Oil and breaks off his engagement to Jacqueline White. Circumstances bring him to the small ranch of Rand's widow Teresa Wright and their boy Jimmy Hunt.I won't say any more other than the plot takes a turn from the Graham Greene novel and film, This Gun For Hire. As for the personal relations between Ayres and Wright, the plot elements from the future John Wayne classic Hondo are used.The film was shot on location and was an independent production released by RKO Pictures. Ayres, Wright, and the rest of the cast give good accounts of themselves. And the ending is rather unusual for 1950 in that you really don't know what everyone's fate will be in the end as the film ends somewhat abruptly. Abrupt, but still effective.