Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Captain Carey, U.S.A. Blu-ray Movie Review

The Fourth Man.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 15, 2012

Alan Ladd was perhaps one of the more unlikely major stars of the Golden Era in Hollywood. Not especially good looking or even overly charismatic, and not known for any bravura acting chops, Ladd was additionally so famously small and short that legends still persist of directors having to stage scenes with the actor standing on a box or his leading lady standing in a specially dug trench so that Ladd would appear to be appropriately taller than his co- star. Ladd seemed to single handedly elevate the gangster film idiom beyond its scowling Edward G. Robinson and Jimmy Cagney roots, and the actor also brought the same taciturn coolness to his depictions of frankly gangster-like private eyes. His films with his fellow Paramount contract player Veronica Lake were among the most popular films of the forties, but by the time Ladd’s film Captain Carey U.S.A. came along in 1950, the actor had probably passed his peak prime (though one of his most iconic roles, the title character in Shane, was still a couple of years in the offing). There’s little doubt that Captain Carey U.S.A. wants to trade in at least a little on the memory of one of Ladd’s more popular films from the immediate post-World War II era, O.S.S.. Ladd is indeed a former Office of Strategic Services operative, the title character of the film, who returns to a still devastated Italy after the conflict to seek out a traitor whose efforts led to the deaths of several of Captain Carey’s cohorts during the war. The film has largely been forgotten since its release, though its legacy includes one of the best remembered songs ever to grace a film, the beautiful Ray Evans – Jay Livingston standard “Mona Lisa”, which became a signature tune for Nat King Cole and which in fact won the Best Song Academy Award that year.

Somewhat ironically considering the fact that “Mona Lisa” is arguably the best remembered thing about Captain Carey U.S.A., the song and its legendary writing team receive no on screen credit, and in fact the song itself is used within the film as a sort of musical semaphore to warn Italian freedom fighters that Nazi troops are approaching. The first part of Captain Carey U.S.A. takes place during actual wartime, when Carey (Alan Ladd) spearheads a small force in a picturesque Italian enclave that includes a rather opulent castle on its own private island, a hideaway where Carey and his cohort have set up shop. Not so coincidentally Carey has also started a passionate romance with Giulia (Wanda Hendrix), the granddaughter of the palace’s imperious Countess, Francesca di Cresci (Celia Lovsky). This prelude comes to an abrupt end when an invading squad of Nazis shows up, obviously having been tipped off about the Americans’ hideout. In the ensuing melée, Carey is seriously wounded, his OSS buddy is killed, and it sounds like Guilia has been shot “offstage”.

The bulk of the film actually takes place a couple of years after the war. Carey is back in the United States with an erstwhile new girlfriend when he sees a painting in an art dealer’s window. He’s intrigued, as it’s a painting of the island palace, a painting that had been stashed away in a secret alcove in the palace, a hiding place that Carey deduces would have only been known to him, his now dead buddy, Giulia and whoever betrayed them. He decides to return to Italy to track down who secreted the painting out of Italy, thinking that that person will be the traitor who got his buddy and Giulia killed, as well as led to Carey’s own personal version of post traumatic stress disorder.

Carey soon finds himself swept up in a series of post-War subterfuges that are quite reminiscent in their own way of the trials faced by Holly Martins as he attempts to track down Harry Lime in Carol Reed’s legendary The Third Man. Carey finds himself a pariah of sorts, and he can’t quite figure out why. Adding to the shock of his treatment is the fact that Giulia is actually alive and has married a kind of suave, but obviously slimy, Baron (Francis Lederer). Carey soon becomes a suspect in not one, but two, murders, murders accomplished with an old OSS knife.

Captain Carey U.S.A. is fitfully effective, though it never really rises to the levels of tension that it might have, due to its emphasis on the star-crossed love affair between Carey and Giulia. The film actually builds to an interesting climax, when various villagers start to realize that at least some inhabitants of the palace have been Nazi and Fascist collaborators during the war, and they end up storming the battlements just as Carey is uncovering who was actually behind the initial betrayal as well as the subsequent murders for which he’s been blamed.

While Ladd is marginally effective in this role, the character of Carey never gives him to opportunity to really strut his stuff like some of his more iconic forties roles did. The real color here is a rather eclectic supporting cast. In addition to the winsome Wanda Hendrix (who bears a rather startling resemblance to another ex-Paramount player, Frances Farmer), Celia Lovsky is excellent as the imperious dowager whose attempts to marry her granddaughter into a politically ambitious family may have backfired. Joseph Calleia is also quite good as a doctor Carey befriends. Lederer oozes a smarmy charm as the Baron, though that very proclivity makes identifying at least one of the culprits not much of a mystery.

Captain Carey, U.S.A. Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Captain Carey U.S.A. is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.33:1. This is one of the more problematic high definition presentations we've seen in terms of Paramount catalog titles released by Olive, but in fairness it must be admitted that most of the issues here must be endemic to source elements that have aged badly and perhaps even been curated with less than a degree of finesse. The first thing that is quite noticeable is significant emulsion degradation, bleed through and density issues, signs that whatever elements which were utilized may not have been stored effectively. These issues are quite significant in the first 15 minutes or so of the film, when huge swaths of milky layers move through the image like errant waves. It calms down a bit after that, but recurs regularly throughout the rest of the presentation to one degree or another. When these issues aren't (sorry) paramount, the rest of the transfer looks at least decent, with acceptable sharpness and clarity. Contrast is hampered by the print through, density and emulsion issues, leading to less than stellar blacks and an overall average gray scale.

Captain Carey, U.S.A. Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Captain Carey U.S.A. features a serviceable if not very overwhelming lossless DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track that preserves the modest charms of this older film's sound design. The criminally underappreciated Hugo Friedhofer contributes a soaring and romantic score, several cues of which utilize little snippets of "Mona Lisa", and despite some narrowness (especially in the midrange), the music sounds surprisingly full bodied. Dialogue is cleanly and clearly presented, though a couple of the actors have thick accents which make deciphering individual lines a bit hard at times. Fidelity is fine, if not remarkable, and dynamic range is decently wide.

Captain Carey, U.S.A. Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

No supplements of any kind are offered on this Blu-ray.

Captain Carey, U.S.A. Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I had the real privilege of meeting Ray Evans many years ago and of actually performing a little remembered tune that he and his partner Jay Livingston wrote with Percy Faith for the stinkeroo The Oscar. Ray was incredibly kind, going out of his way to praise my piano playing, and he later was even kinder in giving me a beautiful little blurb for a song I had written which had then just recently won an international songwriting contest. I couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic hearing the dulcet tones of "Mona Lisa" wafting out of the speakers as I watched Captain Carey U.S.A.. But there's a reason that that legendary song is by far the best remembered thing about this largely forgotten film. This really could have been another desperately cynical post-World War II exposé a la The Third Man, but it settles into a comfortable conformity that makes it more of a romance with thriller elements. Everything here is okay, but one can't help but think it could have been a lot better. This is one of the few problematic transfers we've seen from Olive, one that seems to point to ineffective archival care of the original elements. Still, the film is watchable and curious fans won't be disappointed given reasonable expectations.