The Captive Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

The Captive Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov October 8, 2016

Cecil B. DeMille's "The Captive" (1915) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of independent distributors Olive Films. There are no supplemental features on the Blu-ray. The film is presented with a new chamber score composed by Lucy Duke. Region-A "locked".

The farewell party

Olive Films are one of the biggest gifts film aficionados have received since DVD’s brilliant run ended. It is impossible to deny it now because the distributors have brought to Blu-ray a wide range of films that never even appeared on DVD. As a result, now it is easier than ever before to rediscover neglected important films and forgotten minor gems that have been locked in studio vaults for decades.

Cecil B. DeMille’s The Captive is a film that I had never seen before and now I am simply thrilled to have on Blu-ray. You almost certainly have not seen it either -- unless you had special access to Paramount’s vaults or attended a special screening after a copy of it was miraculously located in the 1970s -- because it has never before had an official home video release in the United States. So, just like I did, here you have the rare opportunity to rediscover a ‘lost’ film from one of cinema’s all-time greatest visionaries.

The film is a little over fifty minutes long and tells a simple story with a surprisingly relevant message. It is set during the great Balkan wars as the Ottoman Empire tries to expand its sphere of influence and crush the armies of Montenegro, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Greece. Somewhere in rural Montenegro, Sonya (Blanche Sweet, The Meanest Man in the World) learns that her older brother Marco (Page Peters, The Storm Breaker) has died while fighting the enemy. Soon after, the local military committee gives her a ‘gift’, the captured Turkish officer Hassan (House Peters), so that she can continue taking care of the family farm. Initially, Sonya’s relationship with Hassan is awkward, but as her much younger brother Milos (Gerald Ward) begins spending more time with him the two warm up to each other and eventually fall in love. For a while the three seem genuinely happy together, but then the war intensifies they are again forced to choose sides.

The film is scripted as a period romantic drama but its message is about tolerance and peace. The evolution of the relationship between Sonya and Hassan is used to highlight the fact that ordinary people like them have essentially been forced into a war that they don’t even understand, and yet the conflict is so big and so dangerous that they have no other option but to react if they wish to stay alive. In other words, it is a vicious cycle in which at end everyone is a loser.

The visuals are not as elaborate and grandiose as the ones seen in DeMille’s later biblical films, but there are some excellent panoramic shots and the footage from the village where Hassan and Milos are seen together is actually quite elegant.

The film is presented with a brand new chamber score composed by Lucy Duke and recorded and mastered by Rachel M. Meyer. It features some excellent violin solos that add plenty of flavor without undermining the film’s period feel.

*The Blu-ray release of The Captive is sourced from an excellent recent restoration of the film, though I do not have any technical details for it to share in our review.

The Captive Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.34:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Cecil B. DeMille's The Captive arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films.

I do not have any technical credits to share in our review, but there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that this film has been recently restored. Indeed, detail, clarity, and especially density are very impressive (see screencaptures #3 and 5). In fact, a lot of the panoramic shots (screencapture #5) exhibit the type of depth that one would expect to see from a high-profile restoration of a more recent film. Excluding a few shaky transition which are clearly inherited stability is a also excellent, which again points to specific restoration efforts (new scan, stability enhancements). Grain is retained and very well exposed throughout the entire film. There are areas where it can appear slightly underexposed, but the tiny fluctuations are not introduced by poor digital adjustments. The tinting is free of anomalies. Finally, it is obvious that large debris, cuts, scratches, damage marks, and other major age-related imperfections have been removed. Wonderful presentation. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

The Captive Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. The film is presented with original English intertitles.

The film can be viewed with a brand new chamber score composed by Lucy Duke, which was recorded and mastered by Rachel M. Meyer. There are some excellent violin solos that add plenty of flavor to the film without undermining its period feel. Clarity and balance are excellent. Dynamic intensity is rather modest, but this is how the new chamber score was envisioned and recorded. There are no audio dropouts or distortions to report in in our review.

The Captive Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Most unfortunately, there are no supplemental features to be found on this Blu-ray release.

The Captive Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Serious film aficionados should be thrilled with Olive Films' new Blu-ray release of Cecil B. DeMille's The Captive. The film is quite wonderful but it has never before been available on DVD or Blu-ray. The release is sourced from an excellent recent restoration and is presented with a brand new chamber score composed by Lucy Duke. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.