"The Paradine Case" Review

 

by Daniel White

Of all the nerve! Laurence Olivier was originally chosen to play the male lead in1947's The Paradine Case. But then he got himself tangled up in his filming of Hamlet and had to forego appearing in this project. Which is really too bad, he would have been perfect as the conflicted barrister, Anthony Kean. James Mason and Ronald Colman were also considered for the role. Along with Olivier, actors with a certain amount of depth and gravitas. Instead, director Alfred Hitchcock and producer David O.Selznick ended up with pretty boy Gregory Peck. I know I'm stirring the pot when I criticize Atticus Finch but Peck always struck me (especially in the early stage of his career) as being a lightweight.

With his black hair streaked gray and smoking a pipe to lend an air of maturity to the part, it's all rather silly. Akin to a high school senior dressing up like Lincoln to deliver the Gettysburg Address. One can applaud the effort, but the execution is a tad cringeworthy. In Peck's defense (I know, I positioned him in front of the firing squad and now I'm going to grant a reprieve!), Kean IS adolescent in his school boy crush on accused murderess, Maddalena Paradine. Hired to defend the alluring lady (played by the alluringly beautiful Alida Valli), who is accused of poisoning her much older husband, he quickly finds himself besotted by the mysterious, aloof temptress.

The miscastig of Peck is only one of the shortcomings in this verbose, lackluster melodrama. I think the clash of wills between the two great showmen who staged it is the bigger problem. Alarms went off for me when the opening credits started to roll. Whose name do we first see? David O. Selznick's, natch. In fact his moniker appears FOUR times before this flick begins. Can this even be classified as a Hitchcock film? Selznick took it away from him and handled all post-production work, including re-editing. And while the great director's flourishes remain, much of this movie is Selznick's as it is Hitchcock's.

Still, it has its moments and is definitely worth checking out. Ann Todd as Kean's neglected wife is very, very good (she deserves an honorable mention as one of the Hitchcock's "blondes"). And any flick that has Charles Laughton, Ethel Barrymore, and Charles Coburn in it cannot be dismissed. With music by Franz Waxman, cinematography by Lee Garmes, and gowns by Travis Banton, the film has had grade-A production values bestowed upon it. Too bad the end result is a B minus.

With Louis Jourdan, Joan Tetzel, and Leo G. Carroll, The Paradine Case is available on YouTube.