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The Paradine Case (1947)
Rate:
4
Viewed:
7/17
7/17:
For a high quality Hitchcock film, The Paradine Case is the least Hitchcockian of them all.
Because of David O. Selznick's interference, it's almost safe to say The Paradine Case was his picture which
turned out to be a big box-office flop. Even Gregory Peck said of Alfred Hitchcock, "He seemed really bored with the whole
thing." The Master of Suspense finally got out of the seven-year relationship with the producer and moved on to bigger
and, ultimately, better films which marked the beginning of his defining greatness.
Sure, the acting is competent, and everything, on the surface, looks good to me. Yet it's so
dreadfully boring. Hardly much happens. It starts and ends without any fanfare. The conclusion has never been in doubt, and
the courtroom drama is a snoozefest to get through. I mean, what the hell? There should be surprises...something...anything
at all...to get things going. But they never happen. It's the most straightforward movie I can recall in years. Even
The Birds, as laughably bad as it was, looks better in comparison.
Gregory Peck is fine. His acting is better than normal and appears more improved than he was in
Spellbound. Hence, Gregory Peck
does what he can with the material. Incidentally, the peruke on his head looks absolutely great. Louis Jourdan makes his debut
in an American picture and steals the show whenever he appears. He would've made a good Heathcliff.
A better actress than Lauren Bacall, Alida Valli is beautiful in black and white. But she's never convincing enough to
make anyone fall head over heels in love over her. Ethel Barrymore received the only Oscar nomination
of the film. But, pray tell me, what did she do? Reportedly, she had a bigger role than what's currently seen which amounts
to three minutes of screen time.
A near Hitchcock look-alike, Charles Laughton is billed third, but his role is shockingly minuscule. I honestly thought this
was a great opportunity for him to appear again in a Hitchcock picture so he could show what he was made of, yet that's it?
What a crime. The worst of them all is Ann Todd. It's obvious she was trying to beat out Joan Crawford for the
Queen of Melodrama title. Her character ruins the movie by making a mountain out of a molehill incessantly. By the way,
Alfred Hitchcock has a cameo thirty-eight minutes into the film when he walks out of the door with Gregory Peck.
All in all, as nearly expensive as Gone with the Wind, The Paradine Case serves an
excellent example of when not to make a quality film.