Under Capricorn

 

(1949)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Written by James Bridie, Hume Cronyn from novels by Helen Simpson (novel) and John Colton and Margaret Linden (play)
Starring Joseph Cotten, Ingrid Bergman, Michael Wilding, Margaret Leighton, Cecil Parker
IMDB Entry

I've been a fan of Alfred Hitchcock for years and have seen nearly all of his films. But even Hitchcock had his stinkers. Jamaica Inn  is what usually comes to mind, and it certainly deserves the "honor." But I have found the Under Capricorn is also pretty bad, just in different ways.

In 19th Century Australia, the new governor, Sir Richard (Cecil Parker) arrives with his cousin Charles Adare (Michael Wilding).  Adare is approached by Sam Flusky (Joseph Cotten) to help with a shady land deal. He goes to a dinner at Flusky's house, which is only attended by other men, their wives unavailable due to flimsy excuses. When Sam's wife, Henrietta (Ingrid Bergman) joins, Adare realizes he knew her when they were children. Henrietta is now an alcoholic and embarasses herself in front of the guests. Sam asks for Adare to stay to help cheer up his wife.

She begins to feel better, but is sabotaged by the housekeeper Milly (Margaret Leighton), who wants to keep Henrietta helpless (supplying her with whiskey) so that she can be gotten rid of for Milly to marry Sam. When Milly spots Adare and Henriette kissing in a moment of weakness,* she has the ammunition she needs to destroy them. But Henrietta holds a deep secret.

The main problem with the film is that it's all talk and little else. It's written more like a soap opera than the tightly plotted films that made Hitchcock famous. The characters are stiff and generally uninteresting.  The obvious source of potential conflict -- Henrietta choosing between Sam and Adare -- is just sloughed off.  Milly has her moments as the scheming villain, but it also devolves into telling, not showing. There is an opportunity for suspense near the end, but, oddly, Hitchcock drains all the suspense out of it.

The film doesn't reach the level of badness of Jamaica Inn, but ultimately is too long, too melodramatic, and completely lacking in the set pieces that make movies pop. It might have been better with a director more attuned to the soap opera elements, but it a disappointment from the man billed "The Master of Suspense."

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*Featured on the poster, which gives the impression that it's a story of forbidden love between Adare and Henrietta.