The Paradin case
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The Paradin case |
| Original title | The Paradine Case |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1947 |
| length | 125 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Alfred Hitchcock |
| script |
Alma Reville David O. Selznick Ben Hecht James Bridie |
| production | David O. Selznick for Selznick International |
| music |
Franz Waxman Paul Dessau |
| camera | Lee Garmes |
| cut | John Faure |
| occupation | |
| |
The Paradine Case (? Guilty or not guilty, or even) is an American courtroom drama of Alfred Hitchcock from the year 1947 . The crime film is based on the novel Paths in Twilight by Robert Smythe Hichens . The original title of the film is like that of the novel The Paradine Case .
Story of the movie
The beautiful Mrs. Paradin is charged with poisoning her elderly blind husband. The attorney Keane is hired to defend. Although he is married, he succumbs to the charms of his client within a very short time; so he comes increasingly under their influence.
During the course of the trial it turns out that Mrs. Paradin was having a relationship with her groom Latour, her husband's former servant. Keane tries in vain to cross-examine the lover as a murderer. Latour accuses Mrs. Paradin and commits suicide, and Keane realizes that his client is the killer. She finally admits it frankly in the courtroom.
backgrounds
- The Paradin case was Hitchcock's last work under his contract with David O. Selznick and cost the studio at three million dollars almost as much as the much more expensive film Gone With the Wind (1939). The reason for the budget overrun was that they lagged behind the schedule from the start. Selznick complained that Hitchcock was "irresponsibly slow" and also showed "an obvious indifference to costs and not at all the steadfast hand that I once valued". Hitchcock, on the other hand, complained several times to Selznick that he had to shoot a film under production conditions that were technically "twenty years behind the times". In addition, Selznick wrote the final version of the script himself, scene by scene, which he only presented immediately before shooting began - a very annoying approach for Hitchcock. In addition, there was Selznick's constant interference in Hitchcock's careful planning of the production budget; for many scenes he insisted on repeating them.
- An exact copy of the Old Bailey courtroom was built for the court scenes.
- Although Hitchcock liked the cast, he found Gregory Peck , Alida Valli and Louis Jourdan unsuitable for their roles. As the studio manager, Selznick insisted on using them. Hitchcock originally wanted Sir Laurence Olivier as Keane, Greta Garbo as Mrs. Paradin and Robert Newton as André Latour.
- When Hitchcock delivered the finished film to the studio after a record time of 92 days of shooting, it had a running time of almost three hours. In 1980 the uncut original version was destroyed in a flood, which makes a restoration of the cut version seem unlikely.
- Leo G. Carroll has a total of six speaking roles - all of them supporting roles - in Hitchcock films, more than anyone else. His role as prosecutor in The Paradin Case is the richest in text and the longest screen presence of all.
Cameo
Hitchcock leaves a train at Cumberland Station (around the 36th minute of the film) with a cello (see also cameo in the film The Stranger on the Train ) .
Awards
In 1948 , Ethel Barrymore was nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actress.
Reviews
“[...] the cheekiness of the film reduces the tension. (Rating: 2 stars → average) "
"Criminalistic and marriage psychological problems in a brilliantly played, for Hitchcock's standards unusually broad and dialog-rich drama, which - disregarded by contemporary critics - has recently been regarded as one of the more important works of the master."
"The film impresses with its human depth."
“A remarkable case of a poisoner and her defense lawyer, in which criminal and marriage psychological problems permeate each other. Outstandingly designed and humanely deepened. "
"The sometimes artificially complicated and yet psychologically sensitive drama of the film, which puts the defense lawyer more than the murderess at the center of the action, identifies the work as a typical Hitchcock flick that is valued as upscale entertainment."
literature
- Robert Hichens: Paths in Twilight. Roman (OT: The Paradine Case ). Ullstein, Berlin 1935
- Robert A. Harris, Michael S. Lasky, Joe Hembus (Eds.): Alfred Hitchcock and his films (OT: The Films of Alfred Hitchcock) . Citadel film book from Goldmann, Munich 1976, ISBN 3-442-10201-4
Web links
- The Paradine Case in theInternet Movie Database(English)
- The Paradine Case at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
- Film review by U. Behrens in the film center
Individual evidence
- ^ Robert A. Harris, Michael S. Lasky: Alfred Hitchcock and his films . Ed .: Joe Hembus. Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag, Munich 1976 (original edition).
- ↑ a b c IMDb . Status: Feb. 9, 2009
- ^ Adolf Heinzlmeier and Berndt Schulz in Lexicon "Films on TV" (extended new edition). Rasch and Röhring, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-89136-392-3 , p. 215
- ↑ The Paradin case. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ 6000 films. Critical notes from the cinema years 1945 to 1958 . Handbook V of the Catholic film criticism, 3rd edition, Verlag Haus Altenberg, Düsseldorf 1963, p. 108
- ↑ Evangelischer Presseverband München, Review No. 46/1953