Captured!

[Leslie Howard in Captured! 1933]

In March 1933 Leslie Howard was filming Captured! for Warner Brothers. The film co-starred Howard's friend, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Howard had met Fairbanks during the summer of 1925 when the two happened to be crossing the Atlantic aboard the RMS Majestic at the same time. Fairbanks was just fifteen years old and hadn't yet made his first film.


[To read Howard's thoughts about his friend, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., at the time of Fairbanks' split from Joan Crawford, click here.]

Captured! was about RAF Capt. Fred Allison (Leslie Howard) who had been languishing in a WWI German POW camp for two years all the while worrying why his wife hadn't written to him. Along comes his best friend, also an RAF pilot and also captured by the Germans, Lt. Jack "Dig" Digby (Fairbanks), whom Allison is mighty happy to see.  Capt. Allison is hoping "Dig" may be able to give Allison news of his wife back home. But it seems "Dig" isn't so happy to see his best friend. It seems that "Dig" has been filling in—if you'll pardon the expression—for Allison with his wife back home. The movie tells the sad tale of how Allison comes to realize the truth about his wife and his best friend.

[Leslie Howard and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in Captured! 1933]

[Leslie Howard and Margaret Lindsay in Captured! 1933]

Also being filmed on the Warners lot, in the adjacent soundstage as a matter of fact, was Gold Diggers of 1933. This was happy news for Leslie Howard, who could think of nothing better to do than wile away the long hours waiting to film his next scene by visiting the ladies next door. Howard was frequently missing from the set of Captured! during that spring, only to be found next door getting private lessons—violin, that is.

[Leslie Howard and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. are being given the basics of the
violin by Busby Berkeley, dance instructor for Gold Diggers of 1933.
Yes, their eyes really are on the violin.]
Modern Screen, July, 1933

Apparently, Howard was so enthralled with all the women that when asked if he would take the salary cut being imposed by First National Films during the studio financial crisis of 1933, he quipped, "First, tell me, will those girls be working on the Gold Diggers of 1933 set very long?" After being informed that they would, Howard responded, "Well, in that case, just don't bother about cutting. I'll be only too happy to work for nothing."

One of the scenes in Captured! shows the POW's, including Howard, being forced by their German captors to shower. By 1933 Howard had already attained the status of movie idol and I am sure the scene was added by studio executives to satisfy Howard's growing female fan base. The film was pre-code so Warners could get away with such obvious tactics.

[Leslie Howard when wet]

[Shower scene in Captured! 1933]

Well, by a freak coincidence, at exactly 5:54 p.m. PST on March 10, while the actors were filming this shower scene, it just so happened that the 1933 Long Beach earthquake hit. The epicenter was offshore, but it was powerful with a magnitude of 6.4 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). Over 100 people died as a result of the quake which also caused over $40 million dollars' worth of property damage (over $720 million in today's currency).

Here is a segment of film which has survived from a movie which W. C. Fields and Franklin Pangborn were shooting at the time the earthquake hit.

And what about all those Captured! actors who happened to be au naturel at that very moment the earthquake hit? Well, they gave the ladies who were still on the Warners lot that early spring evening a real eyeful when they all came running out of the soundstage wearing only their astonished countenances. I would have braved a 6.4 to see that sight!

[Movie Poster for Captured!]

To see more photos from Captured! click here. To see advertising and articles about Captured! click here.


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