The Captive Heart

The Captive Heart
File:The Captive Heart poster.jpg Original British 1946 quad film poster
Directed by	Basil Dearden
Produced by	Michael Balcon Michael Relph (associate producer)
Screenplay by	Angus MacPhail Guy Morgan
Story by	Patrick Kirwan
Starring	Michael Redgrave Rachel Kempson
Music by	Alan Rawsthorne
Cinematography	Douglas Slocombe
Edited by	Charles Hasse
Production company	Ealing Studios
Distributed by	GFD (UK)
Release dates	29 April 1946 (1946-04-29) (UK)
Running time	104 min
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

The Captive Heart is a 1946 British war drama, directed by Basil Dearden and starring Michael Redgrave. The film was entered into the 1946 Cannes Film Festival.

Plot

In the summer of 1940, Captain Karel Hasek (Michael Redgrave) of the Czech army escapes from Dachau concentration camp and assumes the identity of a dead British officer, Captain Geoffrey Mitchell. When he is caught, he joins thousands of British prisoners of war, captured during the Fall of France, on a march to a prison camp.

He is suspected of being a spy by his fellow soldiers because of a few small errors and his fluency in the German language. Captain Grayson (Guy Middleton) wants to lynch him forthwith, but Major Dalrymple (Basil Radford), the senior British officer, hears Hasek out and believes his story.

To avoid suspicion, he has to maintain the fiction that Mitchell is still alive by corresponding with Mitchell's widow Celia (Rachel Kempson). Prior to the war, Mitchell had abandoned his wife and their two children, but the letters rekindle Celia's love.

After their escape tunnel is discovered, the prisoners resign themselves to a long stay. In 1944, when Herr Forster (Karel Stepanek), who ran Dachau during Hasek's stay, visits the camp, Hasek fears he may be unmasked. The official compliments him on his nearly perfect German and seems to recognise him, but cannot quite place him. Hasek is sure time is running out; it is announced that some prisoners are to be repatriated, but when he goes for his medical examination to see if he qualifies, he is turned away. A plan is devised to save him (without his knowledge). Private Mathews (Jimmy Hanley), a burglar in civilian life, breaks into the Kommandant's office late at night with two other men. They find the list of those to be repatriated and replace Mathews' own name with Mitchell's. On the way back to the barracks, Mathews is attacked by a guard dog and rescued by Hasek. The plan works, and Hasek is "returned" to Britain.

He goes to see Celia. He breaks the news of her husband's death and that he has grown to love her. She is devastated, and Hasek leaves. After she recovers, she begins rereading his letters and realises that she has come to love the writer. When Hasek calls her on the telephone on the day that Germany surrenders, she is eager to speak with him.

Main cast

• Michael Redgrave as Capt. Karel Hasek, alias Geoffrey Mitchell
• Rachel Kempson as Celia Mitchell
• Frederick Leister as Mr. Mowbray
• Mervyn Johns as Pte. Di Evans
• Rachel Thomas as Dilys Evans, Di's wife, who dies giving birth to their child during his absence
• Jack Warner as Cpl. Ted Horsfall, Di's friend and business partner in civilian life
• Gladys Henson as Flo Horsfall, Ted's wife
• James Harcourt as Doctor
• Gordon Jackson as Lt. David Lennox, who breaks off his engagement with Elspeth McDougall when he is blinded in combat
• Elliott Mason as Mrs. Lennox
• Margot Fitzsimons as Elspeth McDougall, who refuses to give David up
• David Keir as Mr. McDougall
• Derek Bond as Lieut. Stephen Harley, in love with Caroline, but believes a poison pen letter sent to him by Beryl Curtiss
• Jane Barrett as Caroline Harley
• Meriel Forbes as Beryl Curtiss, jealous of Caroline because of Robert Marsden's love of her
• Robert Wyndham as Lieut. Cdr. Robert Marsden R.N.V.R.
• Jimmy Hanley as Pte. Mathews
• Jack Lambert as Padre
• Karel Stepanek as Herr Forster
• Friedrich Richter as Camp Commandant (as Frederick Richter)
• Frederick Schiller as German Medical Officer
• Jill Gibbs as Janet Mitchell
• David Walbridge as Desmond Mitchell

Many of the prisoners were played by serving soldiers.

Production

One of the locations used was the ex-naval prisoner of war camp Marlag, near Westertimke, which had remained largely intact after the end of the war the previous year.

Reception

According to trade papers, the film was a "notable box office attraction" at the British box office in 1946.

External links

• The Captive Heart in the British Film Institute's "Explore film..." database
• The Captive Heart at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
• The Captive Heart at IMDb
• Review of film at Variety