The Paradine Case

1947

Action / Crime / Drama / Romance / Thriller

12
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 50% · 14 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 50% · 5K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.5/10 10 13296 13.3K

noir lake district cumbria femme fatale film noir lawyer

Plot summary

In London, barrister Anthony Keane takes the case of Maddalena Paradine, a beautiful woman accused of poisoning her blind husband. Though happily married, Keane becomes infatuated with his enigmatic client and convinced of her innocence. His obsession clouds his judgment as he builds a defense implicating her servant, André Latour—an act that leads to devastating consequences both in court and at home.

Director

Alfred Hitchcock Photo
Alfred Hitchcock

Top cast

John Williams Photo
John Williams as Barrister Collins
Lester Matthews Photo
Lester Matthews as Police Inspector Ambrose
Arthur Tovey Photo
Arthur Tovey as Courtroom Spectator
Colin Kenny Photo
Colin Kenny as Juror
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
1.03 GB
960*720
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 54 min
Seeds 5
1.91 GB
1440*1080
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 54 min
Seeds 4

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by blanche-2 7 / 10

A different kind of Hitchcock

"The Paradine Case," released in 1947, is a courtroom drama directed by the master, Alfred Hitchcock, and it's obvious it isn't his thing, or else he didn't care about it. Gregory Peck plays a British attorney and Ann Harding his wife; Alida Valli is Mrs. Paradine, a woman accused of murdering her blind husband, Louis Jourdan is her husband's valet, Charles Laughton is the judge, and Leo G. Carroll is the prosecutor. All that talent, and it's pretty slow going.Peck is Anthony Keane, a successful attorney with a very happy marriage to Gay. They are extremely affectionate and loving with one another, which is why it seems strange that five minutes after Keane meets Mrs. Paradine, he falls in love with her. Granted, Alida Valli is exquisite and mysterious, but the woman is accused of killing her husband. She becomes an instant threat to Gay, who tries to remain courageous. Peck's hair is grayed in this, and I was surprised to read in another comment that he had a British accent. I only heard an accent in one scene where he kept saying cahn't - and it sounded really odd.Louis Jourdan is Andre La Tour, whom Keane suspects may have committed the murder. Jourdan is so handsome, even Laughton's character comments on it! The story drags on, and the trial is really a McGuffin, because the actual plot involves the Keane's marriage. Harding does her usual excellent job, and Peck, accent or not, is very good.It's the kind of film that leaves one flat. There's not too much to say about it except that given Hitchcock and the cast, one would expect a lot more.
Reviewed by kmcalind 5 / 10

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.
Reviewed by areopagite 7 / 10

great cast, pretty good movie

OK, so it wasn't the most suspenseful movie Hitchcock ever made, but what a cast! Whenever you can get Charles Laughton, Ethel Barrymore, Gregory Peck, Leo G. Carroll, AND an exceedingly pretty Louis Jordan on the same screen at the same time, you know you're in for a treat. Laughton, as the judge, alone is worth the time spent watching this film.True, they don't make "talky" pictures like this anymore, but that's half the fun. I think Maltin's 2 1/2 stars is just about right.
Read more IMDb reviews

1 Comments

Be the first to leave a comment