Though one of Hitchcock’s weakest films, The Paradine Case still merits attention due to its experimental nature–use of long takes–and other attributes.
Grade: C+ (*1/2* out of *****)
The Paradine Case | |
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Nominally, the international cast, headed by American Gregory Peck, and Italian Alida Valli, is interesting, though there is not much chemistry between the leads.
Ethel Barrymore renders the best acting, for which she won a Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her part.
This was the second and last film of Hitchcock with Gregory Peck after their successful teaming on “Spellbound,” in 1945, which also was produced by Selznick.
Based on a novel by Robert Hichens, the court melodrama centers on Anna Paradine (Alida Valli), a seductive femme put on trial for the murder of her wealthy husband.
British barrister Anthony Keane (well played by Gregory Peck) takes on the case, and in the process, falls in love with Anna, despite being married himself to a loving and sensitive wife (Ann Todd).
Violating professional ethics, Keane realizes that, for the first time in his career, he has allowed his heart to rule over head.
Despite his client’s protests, Keane summons Anna’s lover, stableman Andre Latour (Louis Jourdan), hoping to prove that Latour was the killer.
In a typically perverse Hitchcockian development, the film’s most unpleasant character, an autocratic, vindictive judge played by Charles Laughton, is one of the few figures who can see through Anna’s facade.
Hitchcock had courted Garbo to play Anna Paradine, and indeed a screen test was eve shot, but Garbo ultimately declined. Later on, Ingrid Bergman was offered and then turned down the part.
Hitchcock experimented with long, uninterrupted takes of about 10 minutes each, a strategy he would later use in his next picture, Rope, to better advantage.
The Old Bailey courtroom set, where much of the action takes place, was designed in a way that accommodates multiple cameras and elaborately conceived crane movements.
Such techniques were cumbersome in 1947, and as a result, the over-illuminated set escalated the film’s budget to $3 million (way above average for the time).
Critics of the film often complained that the dialogue was limp, that most of the acting, including that of the leads, is stiff, and that the only strong performance is rendered by Ethel Barrymore, who earned an Oscar nod for that.
Arguably the film’s most engaging scene is set over dinner, with Charles Laughton’ Judge Lord Thomas Horfield confronting his wife, Ethel Barrymore’s Lady Sophie Horfield.
Patient viewers (and sharper observers) should be able to detect Hitchcock’s critique of the dubious morality of judges (and the broader legal institution) and the mythology that accompanies the ideal of bourgeois marriage.
It doesn’t help that there’s no chemistry between Peck’s Counsel Anthony Keane and his wife (played by Ann Todd) or, for that matter, between Peck and the accused, Valli’s Mrs. Maddalena Anna Paradine.
The film, which was a box-office disappointment, signaled the end of the association between Hitchcock and David O. Selznick, which had begun on a high note in 1940 with Rebecca, the only Hitchcock work to have won the Best Picture Oscar.
Oscar Nominations: 1
Supporting Actress: Ethel Barrymore
Oscar Awards: None
Oscar Context:
The winner of the Supporting Actress Oscar was Celeste Holm for Gentleman’s Agreement, which had also starred Gregory Peck.
Cast
Gregory Peck as Anthony Keane, counsel for the defense
Ann Todd as Gay Keane, his wife
Alida Valli as Mrs. Maddalena Anna Paradine
Charles Laughton as Judge Lord Thomas Horfield
Charles Coburn as Sir Simon Flaquer, solicitor for the defense
Joan Tetzel as Judy Flaquer, daughter of Simon Flaquer
Ethel Barrymore as Lady Sophie Horfield
Louis Jourdan as André Latour, Col. Paradine’s valet
Leo G. Carroll as Sir Joseph, counsel for the prosecution
Isobel Elsom as Innkeeper
John Williams as Barrister Collins
Credits:
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Screenplay by Alma Reville, James Bridie, David O. Selznick, Ben Hecht, based on “The Paradine Case” by Robert Hichens
Produced by David O. Selznick
Cinematography Lee Garmes
Edited by Hal C. Kern
Music by Franz Waxman
Production: Vanguard Films
Distributed by Selznick Releasing Organization
Release date December 29, 1947
Running time: 114 minutes
Budget $4,258,000
Box office $2.1 million
DVD: February 10, 2009; Fox Home Entertainment