East of Shanghai (1931)
"Rich and Strange" (original title)

Believing that an unexpected inheritance will bring them happiness, a married couple instead finds their relationship strained to the breaking point.

Director:

Alfred Hitchcock

Writers:

Dale Collins (novel), Alfred Hitchcock (adaptation),

Stars:

Henry Kendall, Joan Barry, Percy Marmont

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Henry Kendall	...	Fred Hill
Joan Barry	...	Emily Hill
Percy Marmont	...	Commander Gordon
Betty Amann	...	The Princess
Elsie Randolph	...	The Old Maid

Storyline

Fred and Emily Hill are leading a boring life in London. They receive a big inheritance by a rich relative and now they can realize all their dreams. They leave for a cruise behaving as rich people....but this is the beginning of the end. Richness makes they soon forget their love and family.

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Plot Keywords:

inheritance | married couple | rain | killing a cat | fancy dress ball | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance | Thriller

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 December 1931 (UK)

Also Known As:

East of Shanghai

Filming Locations:

Elstree Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

British International Pictures (BIP)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min 81 min (Ontario)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The title comes from Ariel's song in "The Tempest": "Full fathom five thy father lies, / Of his bones are coral made, / Those are pearls that were his eyes: / Nothing of him that doth fade, / But doth suffer a sea-change / Into something rich and strange."

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Goofs

In an early scene, Emily is shown using a marker to draw a caricature of herself into a photograph with Commander Gordon. The photo is shown again two more times in the movie, and each time the drawing is slightly different.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Fred Hill: Hello Em.
Emily Hill: Hello Fred. I think you'll like me in this dress when it's done. Oh, have you broken your umbrella?

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Connections

Featured in Perspectives: Jonathan Ross: Alfred Hitchcock - Made in Britain (2013)

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Soundtracks

"Ruben Sax"
(uncredited)
Music by Urbenal

User Reviews

A strange movie.

RICH AND STRANGE is certainly nothing like stereotypical Hitchcock. Even early movies like The Lodger -- which was some five years older than this one -- contained some sort of crime or mystery. Even his comedies -- The Trouble With Harry, for example -- revolved around murder and mayhem. But not this movie.

It's old and it's a comedy, but its title really says it all. Rich and very, very strange. Hitchcock's sense of humor is very plain here, and there are several laugh-out-loud scenes (when Fred Hill tries to set his watch, and later when he tries to get into bed, for example). But as the movie goes on, they become less frequent.

The action stops focusing on the comedic aspect of this young couple's acquiring a great sum of money and spending it on a world cruise. Instead it focuses on the serious aspects of their dual extra-marital affairs on the ship, and later their actions when it wrecks and sinks.

And once there, the movie is hardly comedic at all. Hitchcock's darker side comes out when a sailer drowns while his comrades watch on in fascination, and the scene with the rescued black cat is especially disturbing.

So what to say about Rich and Strange? The acting is fine, Hitchcock's directing is up to par (especially with the silent opening scenes), and the plot is engaging. But the movie goes from screwball hilarity to morbid survival, and then ends where it began so abruptly that the viewer is left wondering when he or she dozed off and missed the last half of the movie.

It's not stereotypical Hitchcock at all, but by no means does this make it a bad movie. The film is quite good but hard to stomach on account that it is so bizarre.

7/10