The Captive Heart Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

The Captive Heart Blu-ray Movie Review

A war-time drama with an impressive lead performance by Michael Redgrave

A war-time drama which explores a unique original story by Patrick Kirwan (Bulldog Drummond at Bay, Wings Over Africa), The Captive Heart focuses on the journey of the heart during difficult war times. From producer Michael Balcon (The Ladykillers, Kind Hearts and Coronets), the film has a stirring lead performance by Michael Redgrave.

After the turbulent events of Dunkirk, Capt. Karel Hasek (Michael Redgrave) assumes the lost identity of fallen British soldier Capt. Geoffrey Mitchell after escaping from a concentration camp. Yet these moments of reprieve were not to last as Karel is later re-captured during a pivotal war moment. Karel finds himself becoming a prisoner-of-war and continues to live under the identity of the fallen solider, Capt. Geoffrey Mitchell. In order to prevent exposure, Karel begins writing letters to the dead soldiers wife, Celia (Rachel Kempson). As Karel (writing as Geoffrey) and Celia exchange letters, affections are exchanged. Can love conquer all?

The best thing about The Captive Heart is undoubtedly the stirring performance of Michael Redgrave. The actor delves into his role with a clear dedication to the part. The character is brought to life with a real sense of vitality that makes the role all the more compelling. With the wrong actor behind-the-scenes, the film wouldn't have worked at all given the type of storyline that unfolds but with the talented Redgrave at the charge the filmmaking is capable of finding real ground.

The journey of the heart.

The production does have a number of compelling elements throughout: the music score composed by Alan Rawsthorne (Pandora and the Flying Dutchman, Floods of Fear) fits the tone of the filmmaking well. The art direction by Michael Relph (The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Everything Happens to Me) brings a sense of realism to the filmmaking. These components (and others) give the film an edge.

The editing by Charles Hasse (Champagne Charlie, Dead of Night) is an area where the film could have used some more work. The storytelling simply isn't as cohesive as one wants it to be. There certainly are a number of scenes which seem to over-extend their welcome. Some of this is the screenplay by Angus MacPhail (Spellbound, The Good Companions) and Guy Morgan (The Hostage, One Step Beyond). The screenplay has some solid ideas but the execution isn't always as perfect as desired. Though the film might tug at the heartstrings, it doesn't always feel earned.

The cinematography by Douglas Slocombe (The Lion in Winter, Raiders of the Lost Ark) and the direction of Basil Dearden (Dead of Night, I Believe in You) help to make up for some of the story shortcomings (or some of the questionable editing elements). The film is well mounted for the most part and is reasonably entertaining. Though Dearden could have worked with the editor to fine tune certain elements of the story some more, the camera angles and creativity on display from the director are readily apparent. While The Captive Heart didn't win over my heart as much as I had hoped for it to, the film still manages to be impressive enough to give it a spin. Michael Redgrave carries the show and his stirring performance is reason enough to check out this solid war fable.

The Captive Heart Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Arriving on Bluray from distributor Kino Lorber, The Captive Heart features a 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition presentation in the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.37:1 full frame. The presentation quality is excellent and will satisfy fans of the film. The print is robust and clean: the transfer is consistently impressive and shows only minor signs of dirt and debris on the print. The stunning black and white cinematography is well reproduced. The only real downside is that black levels are good but never great: pitch-black isn't attained and instead it is only a darker-hue of gray. Altogether, though, most viewers will be enormously pleased.

Please Note:

There seems to have been a manufacturing or authoring problem with the Blu-ray release. Having received two separate copies, both exhibited playback problems on several players. 3 out of 4 of the Blu-ray players the release was tested on were unable to read the disc. It would not read the disc on my Oppo 203, Sony X800, or Samsung players. The only player which (finally) recognized it as something more than a "unknown disc" was via the PS3. I have alerted Kino to the issue and if a response if given I will then update the review with more information. Until (or if) there is an update, proceed with some caution.

The Captive Heart Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release features a DTS HD Master Audio mono track. The lossless audio mix on the release is quite impressive. Dialogue is crisp, clear, and easy to understand. The track is sufficiently clean. I found that the track sounds easy on the ears but is perhaps a tad less robust than desirable: some sections sound a bit thin. Nonetheless, there are no issues of egregious hiss or crackle to distract.

Optional English subtitles are provided.

The Captive Heart Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Audio commentary by film historian Samm Deighan

The Captive Heart Theatrical Trailer (SD, 00:47)

The Blu-ray release also includes a selection of trailers promoting other releases available from distributor Kino Lorber: The Night My Number Came Up (HD, 2:41), The Criminal (SD, 3:04), The Mind Benders (SD, 2:03), and The Man Who Haunted Himself (SD, 3:09).

The Captive Heart Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Captive Heart is a war-time film which aims to pull at the heartstrings. The end result isn't always successful but there are enough compelling elements to the production to make it worthwhile. The lead performance by Michael Redgrave (who is perfect for the part) is reason enough to see the film. The Blu-ray release features a strong video-audio presentation and is worth checking out. Recommended.