The Paradine Case (1947)

Director:

Alfred Hitchcock

Writers:

Robert Hichens (from the novel by)
Alma Reville (adaptation)
(more)

Release Date:

26 August 1949 (Sweden)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Romance | Thriller

Plot:

A happily married London barrister falls in love with the accused poisoner he is defending.

Plot Keywords:

Lawyer | Barrister | Marriage | Italian | Big Ben London

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Gregory Peck	...	Anthony Keane
Ann Todd	...	Gay Keane
Charles Laughton	...	Judge Lord Thomas Horfield
Charles Coburn	...	Sir Simon Flaquer
Ethel Barrymore	...	Lady Sophie Horfield
Louis Jourdan	...	Andre Latour
Alida Valli	...	Mrs. Paradine (as Valli)
Leo G. Carroll	...	Sir Joseph
Joan Tetzel	...	Judy Flaquer
Isobel Elsom	...	Innkeeper
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Patrick Aherne	...	Police Sgt. Leggett (uncredited)
Gilbert Allen	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Leonard Carey	...	Courtroom Stenographer (uncredited)
Elspeth Dudgeon	...	Second Matron (uncredited)
James Fairfax	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
John Goldsworthy	...	Lakin (uncredited)
Lumsden Hare	...	Courtroom Attendant (uncredited)
Alec Harford	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Sam Harris	...	Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)
Alfred Hitchcock	...	Man Carrying Cello Case (uncredited)
Colin Hunter	...	Baker (uncredited)
Boyd Irwin	...	Courtroom Observer (uncredited)
Colin Keith-Johnston	...	Clerk of the Court (uncredited)
Kenner G. Kemp	...	Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)
Colin Kenny	...	Juror (uncredited)
Thomas Martin	...	Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)
Lester Matthews	...	Police Inspector Ambrose (uncredited)
Phyllis Morris	...	Mrs. Carr (uncredited)
Edgar Norton	...	Courtroom Attendant (uncredited)
'Snub' Pollard	...	Cabby (uncredited)
Bert Stevens	...	Barrister in Courtroom (uncredited)
Arthur Tovey	...	Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)
John Williams	...	Barrister Collins (uncredited)

Directed by
Alfred Hitchcock

Writing credits
Robert Hichens		(from the novel by)
Alma Reville		(adaptation)
David O. Selznick		(screen play)
James Bridie		screenplay (uncredited)
Ben Hecht		additional dialogue (uncredited)

Produced by
David O. Selznick	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Franz Waxman

Cinematography by
Lee Garmes		(photographed by)

Production Design by
J. McMillan Johnson

Art Direction by
Thomas N. Morahan		(as Thomas Morahan)

Set Decoration by
Emile Kuri
Joseph B. Platt		(interiors)
Robert Priestley		(uncredited)

Costume Design by
Travis Banton		(gowns)
Charles Arrico		(uncredited)

Makeup Department
Larry Germain	....	hair styles
Max Asher	....	makeup artist (uncredited)
Mel Berns	....	makeup artist (uncredited)
Layne Britton	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Production Management
Fred Ahern	....	unit manager
Argyle Nelson	....	production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Lowell J. Farrell	....	assistant director
Joel Freeman	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
James G. Stewart	....	sound director
Richard Van Hessen	....	recordist
Edward Ullman	....	sound recordist (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Clarence Slifer	....	special effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Charles P. Boyle	....	fill-in photographer (uncredited)
Eddie Fitzgerald	....	camera operator (uncredited)
John Miehle	....	stills (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Frank Beetson Jr.	....	wardrobe director (uncredited)
Eugene Joseff	....	costume jeweller (uncredited)

Editorial Department
John Faure	....	associate supervising film editor
Hal C. Kern	....	supervising film editor

Music Department
Harold Byrns	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Paul Dessau	....	composer: additional music (uncredited)
Leonid Raab	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Edward Rebner	....	supervisor: piano sequences (uncredited)

Other crew
Lydia Schiller	....	scenario assistant
David O. Selznick	....	presents: his production
Elsie Foulstone	....	dialogue & voice coach: Valli & Jourdan (uncredited)
Paul MacNamara	....	director of publicity (uncredited)
Donna M. Norridge	....	script supervisor (uncredited)
Helene Weigel	....	continuity (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Vanguard Films (as Vanguard Films, Inc.) (copyright holder)
• Selznick Studio, The

Distributors

• Selznick Releasing Organization (1947) (USA) (theatrical) (distributed by) (as Selznick Releasing Organization, Inc.)
• S.R.O. (1948) (France) (theatrical)
• Selznick Releasing Organization (1956) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1973) (USA) (TV)
• ABC Video (1975) (USA) (all media)
• CBS/Fox (1988) (USA) (VHS)
• Key Video (1988) (USA) (VHS)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (1999) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2008) (Canada) (DVD)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2008) (USA) (DVD)
• Athos Films (1967) (France) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Athos Films (196?) (France) (theatrical)
• Films Galatée (1949) (France) (theatrical)
• Emerald (2013) (Argentina) (DVD) (Edición Especial de Colección Alfred Hitchcock) (Double feature with "Psycho" [1960])
• Fox Video (video)

Other Companies

• J. Arthur Rank Organisation  acknowledgement: Miss Todd appears by arrangement with

Also Known As:

"Alfred Hitchcock's The Paradine Case" - USA (complete title)

Runtime:

125 min | 119 min (re-release) | 132 min (original release) | 94 min (edited television version) | 115 min (re-release) | Portugal:112 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:S | Germany:16 | USA:Approved (PCA #12320) | Sweden:15 | Argentina:13 | Spain:13 | UK:U | Australia:PG | Portugal:M/12 (Qualidade)

Filming Locations:

Lake District, Cumbria, England, UK

Company:

Vanguard Films

Trivia:

When Keane goes to the Paradine house in Cumberland, he walks over to Mrs. Paradine's piano. On the piano we see close-up of a page of music called Appassionata Op. 69 by Francesco Ceruomo. Francesco Ceruomo is an Italianized version of Frank Waxman, who wrote the background music for the film. The music shown on the piano is the actual music that is playing on the soundtrack at that point.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Keane goes to the Paradine house in Cumberland, he walks over to Mrs. Paradine's piano. On the piano we see close-up of a page of music called Appassionata Op. 69 by Francesco Ceruomo. But in the next scene, when we see Keane passing by the piano, none of the three pages on it have any title at the top, only music, showing they are subsequent pages of that piece, and not the first one, as shown in the close-up.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Lakin:Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes, mum.
Mrs. Maddalena Anna Paradine:Thank you, Lakin.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Hollywood Hist-o-Rama: Gregory Peck" (1962)

So what if there's no action?

"The Paradine Case" has gotten an undeserved bad reputation as one of Alfred Hitchcock's least interesting films simply because it does not use any of the gimmicks and brilliant visual touches Hitchcock is famous for: a man being chased by a crop duster, inventively shot murder scenes in locations such as the ones in "Psycho", people dangling from Mt. Rushmore, unusual settings such as a cramped lifeboat. As if these touches were all that made Hitchcock great! If these touches are all we watch Hitchcock for, it's as shallow a reason for watching films as going to see summer movies merely to see special effects. A great director like Hitchcock deserves more credit than that.

"The Paradine Case" is, on the contrary, one of Hitchcock's most entertaining films, if you are willing to concentrate on dialogue and characterization rather than flashy visuals. Gregory Peck is the barrister assigned to defend Mrs. Paradine, a woman on trial for the cold-blooded murder of her blind husband, and it is immediately obvious that Peck is so besotted by this beautiful, mysterious woman that he is in no position to be objective about his client. Peck does quite a good job, but one can only wonder how Laurence Olivier, who was busy filming "Hamlet" at the time, and who was Hitchcock's first choice for the role, might have played it. Hitchcock wanted Greta Garbo for the role of Mrs. Paradine, but was unable to get her, and settled for Alida Valli, who is excellent, if not as beautiful and mysterious as Garbo. Louis Jourdan plays a suspicious-looking witness in the case, but Hitchcock wanted Robert Newton (famous for playing Long John Silver and other disreputable characters) for the role, and Newton would have provided a far more different and repulsive characterization (apparently Hitchcock's intention).

Charles Laughton unforgettably plays the judge at the trial as a sadist and a supremely dirty old man, who hates Peck because Ann Todd (as Peck's wife) refused his advances once, and Ethel Barrymore, brilliant in her limited screen time, is Laughton's intimidated and submissive wife.

The majority of the film does take place in the courtroom, but so does "Witness for the Prosecution", and no one has a bad word to say about that film. (Would they have done so if Hitchcock had made that one? The Agatha Christie thriller doesn't contain any flashy visual touches either.)

Those who love Hitchcock for only his "trademarks" perhaps need to look a little harder and think a little deeper, and then they will appreciate this excellent film.