Letter from an Unknown Woman / Caught

Preservation funding provided by The Film Foundation

Letter From an Unknown Woman

U.S., 1948

Director Max Ophüls' second American feature, set in fin-de-siècle Vienna, chronicles a woman's obsession with a charming, womanizing concert pianist who trifles with her, never feeling the love she faithfully bears for him over many years. Ophüls’ elegant storytelling, shuttling through time via flashbacks, long takes, and intricate narrative and visual repetitions, resulted in one of the most lauded works of his career.

35mm, b&w, 87 min. Director: Max Ophüls. Screenwriter: Howard Koch. With: Joan Fontaine, Louis Jourdan, Mady Christians.

Preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive.

Preservation funding provided by Martin Scorsese and the AFI/NEA Preservation Grants Program

Caught

U.S., 1949

After her fairytale marriage, Leonore Eames (Barbara Bel Geddes) is caught in an abusive relationship with her millionaire husband (Robert Ryan). When she meets a young doctor working in a health clinic for the poor, she sees a way out, but her husband is not ready to give her up. Director Max Ophüls’ romanticism here turns to film noir-ish morning after regrets, while creating a film à clef about the abusive head of RKO, Howard Hughes.

35mm, b&w, 88 min. Director: Max Ophüls. Screenwriter: Arthur Laurents. With: James Mason, Barbara Bel Geddes, Robert Ryan.

Preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive in cooperation with Republic Pictures, National Telefilm Associates and Richard Rosenfeld.