Caught is an American dramatic film starring James Mason

James Mason

James Neville Mason was an English actor who attained stardom in both British and American films. Mason remained a powerful figure in the industry throughout his career and was nominated for three Academy Awards as well as three Golden Globes .- Early life :Mason was born in Huddersfield, in the...

, Barbara Bel Geddes

Barbara Bel Geddes

Barbara Bel Geddes was an American actress, artist and children's author. She is best known for her role in the television drama series Dallas as matriarch Eleanor "Miss Ellie" Ewing. Bel Geddes also starred in the original Broadway production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in the role of Maggie...

, and Robert Ryan

Robert Ryan

Robert Bushnell Ryan was an American actor who often played hardened cops and ruthless villains.-Early life and career:...

, directed by Max Ophuls

Max Ophüls

Maximillian Oppenheimer — known as Max Ophüls — was an influential German-born film director who worked in Germany , France , the United States , and France again...

, and based on a novel by Libbie Block. Caught has been released on DVD in France and the UK.

Child actor

Child actor

The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting in motion pictures or television, but also to an adult who began his or her acting career as a child; to avoid confusion, the latter is also called a former child actor...

 Jimmy Hawkins

Jimmy Hawkins

James F. Hawkins , known as Jimmy Hawkins, and later, Jim Hawkins, is an American actor and film producer whose career began as a child actor to such Hollywood stars as Lana Turner, Spencer Tracy, James Stewart, and Donna Reed...

 also had a role in the film.

Plot

Young model Leonora Eames (Bel Geddes) weds multimillionaire Smith Ohlrig (Ryan). It is made clear from that start that Ohlrig is somewhat deranged and is not marrying for love. Leonora's motives are unclear. She is never seen expressing affection for Ohlrig, and while she insists several times that she married for love, there is a strong suggestion that she is deluding herself.

When Ohlrig becomes too abusive, she walks out penniless (but very well clothed), finds a job at a clinic in a poor neighborhood, and eventually falls for employer Dr. Larry Quinada (Mason). As an added complication, she becomes pregnant by Ohlrig during a one-night reconciliation. Her problems are resolved by a film-ending miscarriage, greeted by smiles all around.

Production

In Block's novel, the character of Smith Ohlrig is based on aviation tycoon Howard Hughes

Howard Hughes

Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American business magnate, investor, aviator, engineer, film producer, director, and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest people in the world...

. She depicts him as a cruel narcissist, a characterization that Ophuls exaggerates in his film.

Ophuls and Hughes were on unfriendly terms. In 1946, Ophuls and Preston Sturges

Preston Sturges

Preston Sturges , originally Edmund Preston Biden, was a celebrated playwright, screenwriter and film director born in Chicago, Illinois...

 had been fired by Hughes during shooting of Vendetta

Vendetta (1950 film)

Vendetta is a 1950 film based on the 1840 novella Colomba by Prosper Mérimée, about a young Corsican girl who pushes her brother to kill to avenge their father's murder....

, finally released in 1950 by RKO Radio Pictures. Caught is considered to be his revenge against Hughes, exacted vicariously through Ryan's character.