Paradine Case, The (1947)
The Paradine Case (1947), directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
A barrister becomes infatuated with a woman accused of killing her husband, which fascination will damage both his judgment and his own marriage. At trial he hopes to save her and hang her lover, presumably leaving the way open for himself. He is ensnared by his own trap.
It is not a complicated plot and is slowly paced with over-long courtroom scenes. Producer David O. Selznick interfered with the production and editing. He and Hitchcock were called "the irresistible force and the immovable object".
Notes:
Hitchcock did not get the cast he wanted. Instead of Gregory Peck he would have prefered Laurence Olivier or Ronald Colman. Rather than the immaculate Louis Jordan as valet he would have had Robert Newton as a grubbier character from the stables.
Alida Valli has the cool, imperial, mysterious beauty she will show in The Third Man (1949). Selznick had plans for her and insisted on the full glamour treatment in the way she is lit. I think she is fascinating but will always wonder what Ingrid Bergman would have done in the role. Hitchcock wanted Greta Garbo.
Peck's light English accent comes and goes. A good scene: he visits her bedroom and inspects her intimate surroundings while watched by her portrait, just as in Laura (1944).
Charles Laughton's lecherous hanging judge is memorable. He is probably a good judge but also dangerous and probably mental.
Ethel Barrymore, his wife, is terrified of him. In a cut scene, she says he becomes romantic after sentencing a woman to death. He says he'll have her committed.
They can't come out and say it: Jordan was devoted to the murdered man, is described as "very queer, hates all women", and loathes himself for what he did with the defendant. He also gets glamour lighting.
Something I hadn't seen before: in the Old Bailey the cells are just below the prisoner's dock. This is the first time I've seen the defendant make the whole trip from one floor to the next.
Franz Waxman's tempestuous score seems overly dramatic for what we are seeing.
This cost more to make than Selznick's Gone With the Wind (1939).
Available on Blu-ray from Kino. The grain varies between reels but is often large and prominent.
On the commentary track two film scholars recognize the problems with the film, but still think it is underappreciated. It would have been better if Selznick had not interfered, or even if the missing 16 minutes cut from test screenings were restored.
