I am surprised more people do not like this movie. First off it is a rare opportunity to see Michael Redgrave and Rachael Kempson together.
In Stalag 17 there's a famous scene and line where the audience who now knows that Peter Graves is an agent is pitching horseshoes and trying to obtain information, as he lands one, an off screen voice says 'that's a ringer.'The British prisoners, mostly from Dunkirk, who because of capture sat out the war have a ringer among them in The Captive Heart.
I was thrilled when the movie began. I had no idea it was made by Ealing Studios, but I always felt impressed by their every film.
When I started watching this rarely seen film I didn't expect much. It received mild reviews in a television listings magazine and it was on during early weekday afternoon on C4.
The prison camp is, in many ways, a metaphor for wartime Britain and its postwar hopes and aspirations. 'All sorts and conditions of men' are herded together in the camp, and despite the underlying tension, the boredom, and the self doubts, they must try and get along with each other.
"The Captive Heart" is a slightly lesser known War film from this period. It focuses on a group of Allied soldiers who become prisoners of war and sent to a concentration camp.
THE CAPTIVE HEART is one of the earlier movies from Ealing Studios, made before they were known for their genteel, witty comedies. It's a standard WW2 prisoner of war flick, with a greater depth of characterisation than most.
(53%) A very simplistic prisoner of war drama from Ealing studios about a Czech man who changes his identity to that of a British captured soldier to avoid being killed. This looks at the life of both the prisoners and their family back home giving a decent incite into the inner workings of wartime for the vast majority of normal people.
Having read a lukewarm review of "The Captive Heart" in Time Out (my cinema bible) and thinking, "They're bound to trash this one," I leaped to the IMDb reviews ready to play my "champion of the turkey" role. What a pleasurable surprise to find it not needed, that I am indeed at one with sympathetic users and critics alike in admiration for this rather special offering from the Ealing archive.
