Captain Carey, U.S.A. | |
---|---|
Directed by | Mitchell Leisen |
Screenplay by | Robert Thoeren |
Based on | After Midnight by Martha Albrand |
Produced by | Richard Maibaum |
Starring | Alan Ladd Wanda Hendrix Francis Lederer |
Cinematography | John F. Seitz |
Edited by | Alma Macrorie |
Music by | Hugo Friedhofer |
Color process | Black and white |
Production company | Paramount Pictures |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 83 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $1,625,000[1] |
Captain Carey, U.S.A. is a 1949 American crime film noir directed by Mitchell Leisen and starring Alan Ladd and Wanda Hendrix. An American returns to post–World War II Italy to bring a traitor to justice.
The film was based on the novel After Midnight by Martha Albrand. It was filmed under the title O.S.S. and then the title After Midnight.[2]
The theme song, "Mona Lisa", was performed in the film by Charlie Spivak with Tommy Lynn.[citation needed] Jay Livingston and Ray Evans won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. It was a #1 hit for Nat King Cole in 1950.
A group of agents of the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (a forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency) is sent to German-occupied Italy during World War II to knock out the German-held Italian railroad system. In accomplishing this mission, most of them are killed because of an inside betrayal.
After the war, one of the survivors, Captain Webster Carey (Alan Ladd), resolves to find the traitor. Captain Carey returns to Orta, near Milan, to find out who betrayed his World War II O.S.S. team and caused the deaths of several villagers. Much to his surprise, his old love Giulia (Wanda Hendrix), whom he thought dead at the hands of the Nazis, is alive and married to a powerful Italian nobleman, Barone Rocco de Greffi (Francis Lederer). The villagers are unfriendly, but Carey persists in his clandestine efforts to flush out the traitor, who turns out to be de Greffi.
The film was based on the serial Dishonored. Jonathan Latimer was originally announced as screenwriter and the stars were to be Ray Milland and Alida Valli, with the title to be After Midnight.[3]
Then Alan Ladd was given the lead role, and Lewis Allen meant to direct.[4][5] Eventually Mitchell Leisen was given the job of directing.[6]
Filming started 3 January 1949.[7]
It was released in England in late 1949, but not shown in the U.S. until 1950, thus making it eligible for the 1950 Academy Awards.[citation needed]
The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists: