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The Paradine Case (1947)

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From Time Out Film Guide

In no sense a 'wronged innocent' thriller, The Paradine Case sets out to be a morality tale on the dangers of Strong Emotion. A happy marriage is threatened when rising young barrister Peck falls hopelessly in love with the woman (Valli) he is defending on a murder rap. Blinded by passion, he can see neither her guilt, nor that her obsession lies elsewhere - with the man (Jourdan) whom he would destroy in her stead. Bleak in its message (those who love passionately inevitably destroy the object of their desire), the movie only half works; Peck is rather half-hearted, Valli coldly cat-like, Ann Todd as the rejected wife too self-sacrificing and loyally forgiving to be true. And the intricate, triangular plot is finally overburdened by the courtroom setting from which it tries to draw a laborious analogy between the perversion of love and justice.

Author: FF

Time Out Film Guide

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Atticus said...

Posted on Jun 14 2010 17:04 I have great respect for Hitchcock's talent and Peck as an actor - but this film was is a dull turkey. The casting error of Peck as an English barrister is glaringly significant (it's obvious Olivier would have been excellent - but could not do it).The story itself is unbelievable. Peck's character has a devoted, attractive and loving wife and yet he falls for a woman accused of murder, and a pretty cold woman and that!
I could maybe see a lusty Sophia Loren - but, this woman?? The story was lame soap opera fodder - the type one can see any month on any daytime series.
Hitch wanted this? Compare a story with similar themes like Vertigo - what a diiference! Finally, the music. It was horrendously over dramatic and put over scenes that didn't need any. Peck arrives at a peacefull English countryside mansion and the score would creates the impression that the queen was arriving at the palace for her coronation! What a waste of talent all around.

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