The Paradine Case (1947)

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

Director:

Alfred Hitchcock

Writers:

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

Stars:

Gregory Peck, Ann Todd, Charles Laughton

Nominated for 1 Oscar.

Cast

Complete credited 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	...	Maddalena Anna Paradine (as Valli)
Leo G. Carroll	...	Sir Joseph
Joan Tetzel	...	Judy Flaquer
Isobel Elsom	...	Innkeeper

Storyline

Highly successful London barrister Anthony Keane takes on the case of Italian Maddalena Paradine who is accused of poisoning her blind military hero husband. Keane comes increasingly under her spell, threatening both his marriage and his career.

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Plot Keywords:

lawyer | barrister | italian | marriage | rural setting | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Romance | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 August 1949 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

Alfred Hitchcock's The Paradine Case

Filming Locations:

Lake District, Cumbria, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$4,258,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Selznick International Pictures, Vanguard Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

125 min 119 min (re-release) 132 min (original) 94 min (edited television) 115 min (re-release)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of several Selznick pictures sold to ABC Television as a film "package".

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Goofs

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.

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Quotes

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

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Crazy Credits

In opening credits scroll below Ethel Barrymore: "and two new / Selznick Stars / Louis Jourdan / and / Valli". Alida Valli's name is in script form, and Jourdan had been playing leading roles in French films for several years before making "The Paradine Case".

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Connections

Referenced in Hitchcock: Shadow of a Genius (1999)

User Reviews

A technically sound, but ultimately unsatisfying courtroommelodrama

This is a disappointing effort from the team of Hitchcock and Selznick. Probably its greatest shortcoming was its inability to ingeniously circumvent the Production Code (as accomplished in "Notorious") to present its adult themes. As a result, even though it is obvious that the case itself is not the subject of the film so much as a backdrop for an awkward arrangement of love triangles and its effect on one "involved" attorney, the courtroom scenes are the most compellingly watchable of the film. In contrast, the final scene of the film does not carry the weight that it should and feels like a cheat rather than the resolution it pretends to be.

Some fault may be given to the just-OK performances from usually dependable actors such as Peck and Ann Todd. The stand-out performances here are from supporting characters such as Charles Coburn, Louis Jordan, Joan Tetzel, Charles Laughton and Ethel Barrymore, but they are either given very little to do or, in Barrymore's case, feel like they were interesting characters in sub-plots that were incompletely edited out of the film (usually a sign of a poor adaptation).

In the final analysis, this is a film that will probably only appeal to devotees of Hitchcock and/or Laughton.