Sunday Cinema: Hitchcock down "Under Capricorn" (1949)

When you listen to the Francois Truffaut/Alfred Hitchcock interview tapes, you can almost hear Hitch wince when Under Capricorn (1949) is discussed.  The film is not a bad film, but it came at a time in Hitchcock's career and personal life marked by what he described as hubris and overreaching.  Fresh off the debacle and patience-testing Rope production (Jimmy Stewart would later say that the long takes which would require extraordinary setups and time almost kept him from ever wanting to work for the director again), Hitchcock had chosen as his second film as an independent producer for the company he had created in partnership with British theater tycoon Sydney Bernstein a costume drama set in Australia.
This second Sunday feature from Hitch is another other costume drama--something it share's last Sunday's Waltzes from Vienna.  It also has almost universal disdain from film-goers and Hitchcock fans.  Like Waltzes, it is not your usual Hitchcock fare. Again, the director is trying to work into his production style the longer, continual takes.  It is often not so effective here.  With one exception.
And that exception is tied closely to the films real and only salvation--Ingrid Bergman's remarkable performance as Hattie. It is heartbreaking, real and sometimes to painful to watch.  Hitchcock gives her a remarkable nearly ten minute dialogue set piece--not editing, limited camera movement--just Ingrid as Hattie.  The moment, her performance, rank as one of her finest moments on screen in any film--and surely are equal in impact as the handful of other long, single take performances in film history.  
There is no better single take performance on film then Judy Garland's rendition of "Man Who Got Away" in the Star is Born.  George Cukor trusted Judy and knew that she was one of the living performers at the time who could hold an audience without breaking away to another angle. It is no coincidence that there are many moments in Judy's film career like this. Busby Berkeley was the master of the long, single take dialogue scene--his are often so good, so riveting in electric performance that it takes multiple viewings to see that, "Oh my", there's not a single cut (take a look at Judy and Gene Kelly in their first dressing room scene in Berkeley's Me and My Gal--or any other scene in that remarkable debut film for Kelly).
Bergman's performance is so good in this film that it nearly eclipses Joseph Cotten's.  And like Bergman, he is giving one of his best.  Cotten is screen gold--always interesting, fascinating to watch like Claude Rains, he can embody and lift even the most thankless of roles (as his Dr Phibes work demonstrates).  He manages to convey hateful pain and compassion all in a single man and single moment; yet he wisely never competes with Ingrid and, as his character in the film eventually demonstrates, is in awe of her strength as a performer.
The film despite these bravura performances is not a crowd-pleaser, and as in Waltzes, Hitchcock does not seem comfortable in the costume drama genre.  You can feel him pulling at the starched collar like a little boy in Sunday school.
The film's cost and dismal returns sank Transatlantic Pictures. The film is currently orphaned.  I've searched in vain for where the bank stored original negatives might be of this film (when films lose money and their production companies fold, banks often repossess the original negatives and prints). It's do a modern restoration and art house release. 





Under Capricorn
From IMDb: Charles Adare (Michael Wilding) arrives in Australia in 1831 with his uncle, the new governor (Cecil Parker). Unsuccessful in Ireland, Charles hopes to make his fortune in Sydney. He is befriended by Samson Flusky (Joseph Cotten), a prosperous ex-convict. Sam's wife, Lady Henrietta, "Hattie" (Ingrid Bergman), was a friend of Charles's sister in Ireland. Sam hopes that the young man will be able to cheer up his wife, who is a mentally unstable alcoholic. Meanwhile the attractive housekeeper, Milly (Margaret Leighton), secretly loves Sam, and encourages Hattie's drinking. Sam has been sent to an Australian prison after he confessed to a killing that Hattie actually committed. She had followed him and waited for his release. Charles's efforts to rehabilitate Hattie conflict with Milly's intentions. Eventually, Sam becomes jealous, and in a rage, accidentally shoots Charles. This time Hattie accepts the blame for the shooting. Milly, seeing her chances to win Sam slipping away, attempts to poison Hattie.
Directed by:Alfred Hitchcock

Starring: Ingrid Bergman - Lady Henrietta Flusky, Joseph Cotten - Sam Flusky, Michael Wilding - Charles Adare, Margaret Leighton - Milly, Cecil Parker - The Governor, Denis O'Dea - Mr Corrigan, Jack Watling - Winter, Harcourt Williams - The Coachman, John Ruddock - Mr Potter, Bill Shine - Mr Banks, Victor Lucas - The Reverend Smiley, Ronald Adam - Mr Riggs, Francis De Wolff - Major Wilkins, G H Mulcaster - Doctor Macallister, Olive Sloane - Sal, Maureen Delaney - Flo

Produced by:Sidney Bernstein and Alfred Hitchcock
Written by:John Colton - original play, Margaret Linden - original play. Helen Simpson - original play, Hume Cronyn James Bridie
Photographed by: Jack Cardiff
Edited by: Bert Bates
Music by: Richard Addinsell, Louis Levy - musical director
Costume Design by: Roger K Furse
Production Design by: Thomas N Morahan - art director