Captured!

Dir. Roy Del Ruth 69 Minutes

USA

1933

Starring: Leslie Howard, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Paul Lukas, Margaret Lindsay

***/***** Roy Del Ruth's Captured! is such a frustrating little picture in its potential, and so much enjoyment of it boils down to engaging with elements of it that are so unfortunately underdeveloped that one wonders what the film could have been. Leslie Howard is quite strong as Captain Fred Allison, a long time prisoner of war in a German camp who has been away from his wife Monica and yearns to be reunited with her. However, he has not even received a letter from her in some time. After a failed prison break, the group is placed on lock down, gets a new commander, and Allison's oldest friend Digby enters the mix. But while Allison is eager to hear about Monica, Digby is reluctant to offer any information out of fear that his friend will find out that he and his wife have fallen in love. 

Del Ruth is quite strong with the ensemble of the prisoners, getting a nice sense of the inevitable community that any group of people will form regardless of the situation, as well as an understanding that Allison and his captors have a negative relationship not built on complete vitriol and animosity, but through circumstantial situations. When Fairbanks Jr.'s Digby enters the picture, the drama gets a bit more unfortunately melodramatic and, at times, convoluted, but the promise of those early scenes is too high to ignore the bit of disappointment when the narrative becomes rooted in this love triangle. But Del Ruth remains ever reliable and has a versatility that is a bit underrated from some recent viewings such as The Little Giant or Blonde Crazy. ​October 15th, 2019