Rich and Strange

Rich and Strange (1931) 

Notable cast/crew: Henry Kendall as Fred Hill.  Joan Barry as Emily Hill.  Percy Marmont as Commander Gordon.  Betty Amann as The Princess.  Elsie Randolph as The Old Maid.  Hannah Jones makes her final Hitchcock film in an uncredited role.

Running time: 82 minutes

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Plot: Fred Hill is trapped in the rat race.  His uncle leaves him a fortune so he decides to take his wife Emily on a cruise for the Orient.  Things get off to a rocky start when Fred gets seasick crossing the English Channel.  They stop over in Paris before moving on to Marseilles where they board a large ship heading East.

Let's play human whack-a-mole!

Fred is bedridden with seasickness again which leaves Emily palling around with Commander Gordon, general raconteur and ladies' man.  At some point, Fred is finally up and around, and he encounters a princess who is also on board.  They all go ashore together in north Africa, and Emily gets jealous of Fred spending time with the princess despite her having spent half the trip with the Commander.

Things continue back aboard ship with both Fred and Emily separately considering ending their marriage.  The voyage concludes in Singapore where Emily leaves with Gordon.  She finds out from Gordon that he's known all along the princess is a fake.  She's the daughter of a Berlin cleaning shop owner who goes around scamming rich men out of their fortunes.  Emily decides to go warn Fred.  Fred refuses to believe her until he finds most of his money missing.  All that's left is enough to pay the hotel and book passage for he and Emily back to England on a tramp steamer.

On the voyage home, they collide with another ship in the fog, and the ship is abandoned.  Fred and Emily manage to get themselves stuck on board after the crew has abandoned ship.  They're picked up by Chinese scavengers and returned home where they start arguing again.

MacGuffin: None

Hitchcock cameo: None

Hitchcock themes: Blondes

Verdict: This was released as East of Shanghai in the US, but it doesn't matter what you call it.  It's not very good.  There are title cards and overly emotive acting like this was supposed to be a silent film, but it makes the film too disjointed as a talkie.  Joan Barry is a dead ringer for Mena Suvari.  This is the second straight movie for Hitchcock without a likable lead, and it becomes difficult to care what happens to them when they run around acting like they're a swingers club.  The only notable scene is near the end of the film where they built a life-size ship in a water tank to shoot the post-crash scene.  Hitchcock would make better use of castaways on a boat in Lifeboat.    

Out of five bananas, I give it:

Next review: Number 17