Hobbled for years by lead actor Joseph Cotten's retitling of it in his autobiography to "Under Corny Crap", "Under Capricorn" can be seen now for what it truly is, Hitchcock's parting gift to one of his favourite leading ladies, Ingrid Bergman. The first of only two films made by his newly formed production company, Transatlantic Pictures, ('Stage Fright" was the second), Bergman is very much the pivot around which the admittedly rather slow action revolves.
A period costume melodrama with some dark overtones, set in the early 18th Century colonial outpost of Australia, the film is beautifully shot in luminous colour and features the Master's usual fluid camera-work, occasionally employing the long takes he'd started using in his previous film "Rope". However, the film does for long periods lack real suspense and it's obvious that Hitch isn't completely at home with this very stagy material.
Still, once you get used to the slow pace and rather theatrical acting there are things to enjoy, besides just the camerawork. Bergman, although acting a part she'd played before of a psychologically troubled woman as in "Gaslight" and "Notorious", is radiant as the conflicted lady wife of jumped-up stable boy Cotten's brusque Sam Flusky character, who starts to get her strength and sanity back with the encouragement of her old boyfriend from old Ireland, the dandy-esque Michael Wilding's Charles Adare.
As dark secrets and hidden emotions come to light, involving Flusky's jealous and controlling house-mistress Milly, waspishly played by Margaret Leighton, there's a reasonably tense climax to proceedings before the expected happy denouement.
Ingrid's acting is like her Irish accent throughout the film, in that it comes and goes, Cotten doesn't have to do much other than pace about and look stern but future husband and wife Wilding and Leighton are better in their admittedly slightly meatier roles.
Hitchcock buffs will do the read-across from this film to others in his oeuvre which we always do looking for related themes, characters and scenes and here you'll find echoes of "Rebecca" with its designing housekeeper, "Notorious" with its vulnerable, conflicted female lead and "Rope" with its extended tracking shots.
I think old Joe was a little harsh in his judgement, for while "Under Capricorn" isn't as good as any of the three films I've just mentioned, it's still a stylish and well-made, if uneven movie, just crying out for a bit more grit and action to set it off.
A period costume melodrama with some dark overtones, set in the early 18th Century colonial outpost of Australia, the film is beautifully shot in luminous colour and features the Master's usual fluid camera-work, occasionally employing the long takes he'd started using in his previous film "Rope". However, the film does for long periods lack real suspense and it's obvious that Hitch isn't completely at home with this very stagy material.
Still, once you get used to the slow pace and rather theatrical acting there are things to enjoy, besides just the camerawork. Bergman, although acting a part she'd played before of a psychologically troubled woman as in "Gaslight" and "Notorious", is radiant as the conflicted lady wife of jumped-up stable boy Cotten's brusque Sam Flusky character, who starts to get her strength and sanity back with the encouragement of her old boyfriend from old Ireland, the dandy-esque Michael Wilding's Charles Adare.
As dark secrets and hidden emotions come to light, involving Flusky's jealous and controlling house-mistress Milly, waspishly played by Margaret Leighton, there's a reasonably tense climax to proceedings before the expected happy denouement.
Ingrid's acting is like her Irish accent throughout the film, in that it comes and goes, Cotten doesn't have to do much other than pace about and look stern but future husband and wife Wilding and Leighton are better in their admittedly slightly meatier roles.
Hitchcock buffs will do the read-across from this film to others in his oeuvre which we always do looking for related themes, characters and scenes and here you'll find echoes of "Rebecca" with its designing housekeeper, "Notorious" with its vulnerable, conflicted female lead and "Rope" with its extended tracking shots.
I think old Joe was a little harsh in his judgement, for while "Under Capricorn" isn't as good as any of the three films I've just mentioned, it's still a stylish and well-made, if uneven movie, just crying out for a bit more grit and action to set it off.