Notable cast/crew: Ingrid Bergman as Lady Henrietta Flusky. This is her third and final Hitchcock film. Joseph Cotten as Sam Flusky. He was previously in Shadow of a Doubt. Michael Wilding as Charles Adare. Adaptation by Hume Cronyn.
Running time: 117 minutesDirector: Alfred Hitchcock
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| Keep your head on straight |
Sam hopes that having someone his wife knows will lift her spirits and help her break her problem. Charles works with her to bring her around, and pushes for the removal of the maid, Milly, who he thinks has been a detrimental influence on Henrietta. Milly leaves the house in a snit, and Henrietta takes over managing the house.
Charles takes Henrietta to the Governor's Ball, and Milly returns to the house and tries to poison Sam's thoughts toward his wife and Charles. She has been manipulating the house for some time hoping to get rid of Henrietta.
After Sam causes a scene at the ball, Henrietta tells Charles why she followed Sam to Australia. She and Sam had eloped, and when her brother found out, he came to put an end to it. Henrietta killed her brother, and Sam took the blame. Sam returns home still angry and in a confrontation shoots Charles. He's facing a sentence for a second offence, but Henrietta confesses to her brother's murder. Sam finds out and continues to believe his wife has fallen for Charles. Milly consoles Henrietta by getting her to drink again.
Sam decides to leave with Henrietta, and Milly tries to convince him to stay. Her plan to have him for herself is falling apart. Henrietta has become drunk again which makes Charles disbelieve her when she sees something in the bed again. She finds a shrunken head, and feigning sleep, catches Milly hiding the head. Milly has been doing this for some time making everyone think Henrietta is a drunk and falling into madness. Milly tries to kill her with poison, but Henrietta cries out. Sam finds the head and the poison. He realizes Milly has been making her drunk all along and is the root of the sickness rotting the household.
Charles, Sam and Henrietta all cover for each other which prevents the authorities from being able to do anything. Charles leaves the Fluskeys a restored family.
MacGuffin: None
Hitchcock cameo: In the town square during the parade wearing a hat and coat, and on the steps of the Government House ten minutes later
Hitchcock themes:
- Long takes
Verdict: It's a mediocre movie at best. Some of the technical work looks good, but too much of the movie drags. It gets going for about 20 minutes in the last hour, but then goes on 15 minutes too long at the end. Wilding is very good as Charles, Cotten isn't given much to do as Sam (although he broods well), and Bergman is very hit and miss as Henrietta. Altogether, not worth seeing unless you're a Hitchcock completist or dig period costume dramas.
The film was a box office flop. It was a drama and not a thriller which was not what audiences expected from Hitchcock. The title is also a tad confusing as it refers to the Tropic of Capricorn and thus tangentially to Australia where the film takes place. In his autobiography "Vanity Will Get You Somewhere", actor Joseph Cotten referred to this film as "Under Corny Crap". Supposedly he had also done so on set, invoking Hitchcock's ire. It was during the filming that Bergman began her notorious affair with Roberto Rossellini. That has led some to think it was also a contributing factor in the poor reception.
Hitchcock again used long takes of continuous one-reel shooting which he had enjoyed refining on his previous film Rope, but as the process proved far more difficult here than in the enclosed set, only a couple of sequences were ultimately shot for the finished print. It doesn't have the same intensity as Rope, and that makes the long sequences feel longer than they are. The technique doesn't work as well here.
Out of five bananas, I give it:
The film was a box office flop. It was a drama and not a thriller which was not what audiences expected from Hitchcock. The title is also a tad confusing as it refers to the Tropic of Capricorn and thus tangentially to Australia where the film takes place. In his autobiography "Vanity Will Get You Somewhere", actor Joseph Cotten referred to this film as "Under Corny Crap". Supposedly he had also done so on set, invoking Hitchcock's ire. It was during the filming that Bergman began her notorious affair with Roberto Rossellini. That has led some to think it was also a contributing factor in the poor reception.
Hitchcock again used long takes of continuous one-reel shooting which he had enjoyed refining on his previous film Rope, but as the process proved far more difficult here than in the enclosed set, only a couple of sequences were ultimately shot for the finished print. It doesn't have the same intensity as Rope, and that makes the long sequences feel longer than they are. The technique doesn't work as well here.
Out of five bananas, I give it:
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