David O. Selznick had purchased the rights to Robert Smythe Hichens’ novel in 1933, before it was published, when he was still at MGM, with Greta Garbo in mind. Garbo was Hichens’ inspiration for the character of Mrs. Paradine.
Garbo did consider starring, but she ultimately turned it down, as she decided to retire from acting. Garbo had also rejected I Remember Mama (which eventually starred Irene Dunne); she is reputed to have said: “No murderesses, no mamas.”
The Paradine Case was also the American debut of French star Louis Jourdan. Both Valli and Jourdan hoped that the film would elevate their international status, but that did not happen, though Jourdan later made many U.S. films (the 1958 Oscar winner Gigi)
Censorship and Changes: Suicide Removed
Howard Estabrook was assigned to write the script. A draft was submitted to the Hays Office, who warned that the script was problematic as Mrs. Paradine was guilty of murder, adultery and perjury, and later committed suicide. They also objected to the judge being portrayed as sadist who enjoyed sending people to their deaths.
A new draft of the script was submitted, but not for some years, in 1942, and this script was approved. In 1946, another version was sent and approved, after the suicide was removed from the story.
In 1946, Hitchcock was set direct, and Olivier to star as the barrister, but Olivier turned it down to prepare for his production of Hamlet, which would him the1948 Oscars.
Hitchcock was interested in Ronald Colman for the part as well as Ingrid Bergman for Mrs. Paradine. Other actors considered were Maurice Evans, Joseph Cotten, Alan Marshal, James Mason for Anthony Keane; Hedy Lamarr for Mrs. Paradine; Claude Rains for Lord Thomas Horfield; and Robert Newton for Mrs. Paradine’s lover.
In the end, Hitchcock cast Gregory Peck, then at the peak of his box-office appeal; Ann Todd was borrowed from Rank Organization to play his wife; and Selznick chose Alida Valli, one of the promising actresses in Italian cinema.
The Paradine Case was the last film made under Hitchcock’s seven-year contract with Selznick. In interview with François Truffaut, Hitchcock said that he and wife Alma Reville wrote the first draft of the script together, before bringing in Scottish playwright James Bridie to do polishing, but that Selznick, dissatisfied with the result, would view the previous day’s rushes, do a rewrite, and send the new scenes to the set to be shot.
According to biographer Donald Spoto “Hitchcock’s disgust with the content and method forced upon him conspired to produce uneasy atmosphere from which Hitchcock could scarcely wait to extricate himself.” Gregory Peck said of the director, “He seemed really bored with the whole thing…”
The film was in production from December 19, 1946, to May 7, 1947, with retakes done in November. Although some external shots show the Lake District in Cumbria, the rest of the footage was shot on sets at Selznick’s lot in Culver City.
Selznick spared no expense. The set for courtroom scenes duplicated a courtroom in London’s Old Bailey, photographed with permission by unit manager Fred Ahern, and built in 85 days at the cost of $80,000. Unusually, the set had ceilings to allow for low camera angles.
For the courtroom sequence, Hitchcock used more than one camera, a technique which had been used in the past. Here, he used four cameras shooting simultaneously, each focused on one of the actors in the scene. This set-up, including choreographed crane shots, allowed Hitchcock to shoot longer takes of about 10 minutes, something he would repeat on his next two films, Rope (1948) and Under Capricorn (1949).
The completed film cost an estimated $4,258,000 to make, almost as much as Gone with the Wind.
Selznick maintained close supervision, and interfered with Hitchcock’s process by demanding extensive re-takes. When Hitchcock insisted on receiving his contractual $1000/day fee, Selznick took over post-production, supervising the editing and the scoring. The producer went through 18 different title changes before settling on The Paradine Case, hours before the premiere.
The Paradine Case opened December 29, 1947, in Los Angeles and in two theaters in Westwood, California followed by its New York premiere, January 8, 1948.
The film was initially 132 minutes long, Selznick having editing down Hitchcock’s rough cut of three hours. Before release, however, Selznick reduced the running time to 114 minutes, which is the current length of the DVD release. In 1980, a flood reportedly destroyed the film’s uncut original version, making restoration unlikely.
The Paradine Case was not a box office success, with worldwide receipts barely covering half of the costs.
Hitchcock’s cameo appearance
He can be seen leaving the Cumberland train station, carrying a cello, at about 38 minutes.
Hitchcock described The Paradine Case as “…a love story embedded in the emotional quicksand of a murder trial”.
Credits:
Director – Alfred Hitchcock
Producer – David O. Selznick
Writing – Selznick (screenplay), Alma Reville (adaptation)
Cinematography – Lee Garmes
Music – Franz Waxman
Art direction – Joseph McMillan Johnson (production design), Thomas N. Morahan (art director), Joseph B. Platt (interiors), Emile Kuri (set decoration)
Costumes – Travis Banton (gowns)
Editor – Hal C. Kern (supervising film editor)
Sound – James G. Stewart (sound director), Richard Van Hessen (recorder)
Assistant director – Lowell J. Farrell
Unit manager – Fred Ahern
Special effects – Clarence Slifer
Hair styles – Larry Germain
Critical Response:
Bosley Crowther of The New York Times liked the film, the acting, and Hitchcock’s direction: “With all the skill in presentation for which both gentlemen are famed, David O. Selznick and Hitchcock have put upon the screen a slick piece of static entertainment in their garrulous The Paradine Case… Gregory Peck is impressively impassioned as the famous young London barrister who lets his heart, cruelly captured by his client, rule his head. Ann Todd, the pliant British actress, is attractively anguished as his wife. Alida Valli, an import from Italy, makes the caged Mrs. Paradine a compound of mystery, fascination and voluptuousness with pair of bedroom eyes, and Louis Jourdan, new boy from Paris, is electric as badgered valet.”
Variety wrote: “Hitchcock’s penchant for suspense and unusual atmosphere development get full play. There is deliberateness of pace, artful pauses and other carefully calculated melodramatic hinges upon which he swings the story and players.
Time Out says “Bleak in its message (those who love passionately inevitably destroy the object of their desire), the movie only half works. The intricate, triangular plot is finally overburdened by the courtroom setting.”
My Oscar Book:
Oscar Context:
Ethel Barrymore was nominated for a 1947 Oscar for Best Supporting Actress as Lady Sophie Horfield, but she did not win
Recycling:
Lux Radio Theatre broadcast a radio adaptation of the film on 9 May 1949, with Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli and Louis Jourdan reprising their roles.
Paradine Case, The: Hitchcock’s Flawed Courtroom Mystery-Drama–What You Need to Know
David O. Selznick had purchased the rights to Robert Smythe Hichens’ novel in 1933, before it was published, when he was still at MGM, with Greta Garbo in mind. Garbo was Hichens’ inspiration for the character of Mrs. Paradine.
Garbo did consider starring, but she ultimately turned it down, as she decided to retire from acting. Garbo had also rejected I Remember Mama (which eventually starred Irene Dunne); she is reputed to have said: “No murderesses, no mamas.”
The Paradine Case was also the American debut of French star Louis Jourdan. Both Valli and Jourdan hoped that the film would elevate their international status, but that did not happen, though Jourdan later made many U.S. films (the 1958 Oscar winner Gigi)
Censorship and Changes: Suicide Removed
Howard Estabrook was assigned to write the script. A draft was submitted to the Hays Office, who warned that the script was problematic as Mrs. Paradine was guilty of murder, adultery and perjury, and later committed suicide. They also objected to the judge being portrayed as sadist who enjoyed sending people to their deaths.
A new draft of the script was submitted, but not for some years, in 1942, and this script was approved. In 1946, another version was sent and approved, after the suicide was removed from the story.
In 1946, Hitchcock was set direct, and Olivier to star as the barrister, but Olivier turned it down to prepare for his production of Hamlet, which would him the1948 Oscars.
Hitchcock was interested in Ronald Colman for the part as well as Ingrid Bergman for Mrs. Paradine. Other actors considered were Maurice Evans, Joseph Cotten, Alan Marshal, James Mason for Anthony Keane; Hedy Lamarr for Mrs. Paradine; Claude Rains for Lord Thomas Horfield; and Robert Newton for Mrs. Paradine’s lover.
In the end, Hitchcock cast Gregory Peck, then at the peak of his box-office appeal; Ann Todd was borrowed from Rank Organization to play his wife; and Selznick chose Alida Valli, one of the promising actresses in Italian cinema.
The Paradine Case was the last film made under Hitchcock’s seven-year contract with Selznick. In interview with François Truffaut, Hitchcock said that he and wife Alma Reville wrote the first draft of the script together, before bringing in Scottish playwright James Bridie to do polishing, but that Selznick, dissatisfied with the result, would view the previous day’s rushes, do a rewrite, and send the new scenes to the set to be shot.
According to biographer Donald Spoto “Hitchcock’s disgust with the content and method forced upon him conspired to produce uneasy atmosphere from which Hitchcock could scarcely wait to extricate himself.” Gregory Peck said of the director, “He seemed really bored with the whole thing…”
The film was in production from December 19, 1946, to May 7, 1947, with retakes done in November. Although some external shots show the Lake District in Cumbria, the rest of the footage was shot on sets at Selznick’s lot in Culver City.
Selznick spared no expense. The set for courtroom scenes duplicated a courtroom in London’s Old Bailey, photographed with permission by unit manager Fred Ahern, and built in 85 days at the cost of $80,000. Unusually, the set had ceilings to allow for low camera angles.
For the courtroom sequence, Hitchcock used more than one camera, a technique which had been used in the past. Here, he used four cameras shooting simultaneously, each focused on one of the actors in the scene. This set-up, including choreographed crane shots, allowed Hitchcock to shoot longer takes of about 10 minutes, something he would repeat on his next two films, Rope (1948) and Under Capricorn (1949).
The completed film cost an estimated $4,258,000 to make, almost as much as Gone with the Wind.
Selznick maintained close supervision, and interfered with Hitchcock’s process by demanding extensive re-takes. When Hitchcock insisted on receiving his contractual $1000/day fee, Selznick took over post-production, supervising the editing and the scoring. The producer went through 18 different title changes before settling on The Paradine Case, hours before the premiere.
The Paradine Case opened December 29, 1947, in Los Angeles and in two theaters in Westwood, California followed by its New York premiere, January 8, 1948.
The film was initially 132 minutes long, Selznick having editing down Hitchcock’s rough cut of three hours. Before release, however, Selznick reduced the running time to 114 minutes, which is the current length of the DVD release. In 1980, a flood reportedly destroyed the film’s uncut original version, making restoration unlikely.
The Paradine Case was not a box office success, with worldwide receipts barely covering half of the costs.
Hitchcock’s cameo appearance
He can be seen leaving the Cumberland train station, carrying a cello, at about 38 minutes.
Hitchcock described The Paradine Case as “…a love story embedded in the emotional quicksand of a murder trial”.
Credits:
Director – Alfred Hitchcock
Producer – David O. Selznick
Writing – Selznick (screenplay), Alma Reville (adaptation)
Cinematography – Lee Garmes
Music – Franz Waxman
Art direction – Joseph McMillan Johnson (production design), Thomas N. Morahan (art director), Joseph B. Platt (interiors), Emile Kuri (set decoration)
Costumes – Travis Banton (gowns)
Editor – Hal C. Kern (supervising film editor)
Sound – James G. Stewart (sound director), Richard Van Hessen (recorder)
Assistant director – Lowell J. Farrell
Unit manager – Fred Ahern
Special effects – Clarence Slifer
Hair styles – Larry Germain
Critical Response:
Bosley Crowther of The New York Times liked the film, the acting, and Hitchcock’s direction: “With all the skill in presentation for which both gentlemen are famed, David O. Selznick and Hitchcock have put upon the screen a slick piece of static entertainment in their garrulous The Paradine Case… Gregory Peck is impressively impassioned as the famous young London barrister who lets his heart, cruelly captured by his client, rule his head. Ann Todd, the pliant British actress, is attractively anguished as his wife. Alida Valli, an import from Italy, makes the caged Mrs. Paradine a compound of mystery, fascination and voluptuousness with pair of bedroom eyes, and Louis Jourdan, new boy from Paris, is electric as badgered valet.”
Variety wrote: “Hitchcock’s penchant for suspense and unusual atmosphere development get full play. There is deliberateness of pace, artful pauses and other carefully calculated melodramatic hinges upon which he swings the story and players.
Time Out says “Bleak in its message (those who love passionately inevitably destroy the object of their desire), the movie only half works. The intricate, triangular plot is finally overburdened by the courtroom setting.”
My Oscar Book:
Oscar Context:
Ethel Barrymore was nominated for a 1947 Oscar for Best Supporting Actress as Lady Sophie Horfield, but she did not win
Recycling:
Lux Radio Theatre broadcast a radio adaptation of the film on 9 May 1949, with Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli and Louis Jourdan reprising their roles.