The Paradine Case (1947)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Alfred Hitchcock

Writers:

Robert Hichens (novel)
Alma Reville (adaptation)

Release Date:

26 August 1949 (Sweden)

Genre:

Crime | Thriller

Plot:

The beautiful Mrs. Paradine is accused of poisoning her older, blind husband. She hires married Anthony...

Plot Keywords:

Marriage | Barrister | Widow | Accused Of Murder | Solicitor

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Gregory Peck	...	Anthony Keane, Counsel for the Defence
Ann Todd	...	Gay Keane
Charles Laughton	...	Judge Lord Thomas Horfield
Charles Coburn	...	Sir Simon Flaquer
Ethel Barrymore	...	Lady Sophie Horfield
Louis Jourdan	...	Andre Latour, Paradine's Valet
Alida Valli	...	Mrs. Maddalena Anna Paradine (as Valli)
Leo G. Carroll	...	Sir Joseph, Counsel for the Prosecution
Joan Tetzel	...	Judy Flaquer
Isobel Elsom	...	Innkeeper

Also Known As:

Alfred Hitchcock's The Paradine Case (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

125 min | 119 min (re-release) | 132 min (original release) | 94 min (edited television version) | 115 min (re-release)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

UK:U | Australia:PG | Finland:S | Germany:16 | USA:Approved (PCA #12320) | Sweden:15 | Argentina:13 | Spain:13

Company:

Vanguard Films

Trivia:

In Hitchcock's rough cut and 131 minutes version, Ethel Barrymore can be seen as a half crazed wife of Lord Horfield played by Charles Laughton. But David O. Selznick removed these scenes in the final editing and the final runtime was only 114 minutes.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Latour is seen in close-up in the court, there is a man on either side of him. In the long shots, there is nobody near him.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Lakin: Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes, mum.
Mrs. Maddalena Anna Paradine: Thank you, Lakin.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "American Masters: Hitchcock, Selznick and the End of Hollywood" (1998)

So what if there's no action?

"The Paradine Case" has gotten an undeserved bad reputation as one of Alfred Hitchcock's least interesting films simply because it does not use any of the gimmicks and brilliant visual touches Hitchcock is famous for: a man being chased by a crop duster, inventively shot murder scenes in locations such as the ones in "Psycho", people dangling from Mt. Rushmore, unusual settings such as a cramped lifeboat, as if these touches were what made Hitchcock great. If these touches are all we watch Hitchcock for, it's as shallow a reason for watching films as going to see summer movies merely to see special effects. A great director like Hitchcock deserves more credit than that.

"The Paradine Case" is, on the contrary, one of Hitchcock's most entertaining films, if you are willing to concentrate on dialogue and characterization rather than flashy visuals. Gregory Peck is the barrister assigned to defend Mrs. Paradine, a woman on trial for the cold-blooded murder of her blind husband, and it is immediately obvious that Peck is so besotted by this beautiful, mysterious woman that he is in no position to be objective about his client. Peck does quite a good job, but one can only wonder how Laurence Olivier, who was busy filming "Hamlet" at the time, and who was Hitchcock's first choice for the role, might have played it. Hitchcock wanted Greta Garbo for the role of Mrs. Paradine, but was unable to get her, and settled for Alida Valli, who is excellent, if not as beautiful and mysterious as Garbo. Louis Jourdan plays a suspicious-looking witness in the case, but Hitchcock wanted Robert Newton (famous for playing Long John Silver and other disreputable characters) for the role, and Newton would have provided a far more different and repulsive characterization (apparently Hitchcock's intention).

Charles Laughton unforgettably plays the judge at the trial as a sadist and a supremely dirty old man, who hates Peck because Ann Todd (as Peck's wife) refused his advances once, and Ethel Barrymore, brilliant in her limited screen time, is Laughton's intimidated and submissive wife.

The majority of the film does take place in the courtroom, but so does "Witness for the Prosecution", and no one has a bad word to say about that film. (Would they have done so if Hitchcock had made that one? The Agatha Christie thriller doesn't contain any flashy visual touches either.)

Those who love Hitchcock for only his "trademarks" perhaps need to look a little harder and think a little deeper, and then they will appreciate this excellent film.