Under Capricorn (1949)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Film Review

Under Capricorn ought to be regarded as one of Alfred Hitchcock's great achievements - a compelling, masterfully composed tale of romantic intrigue, with an exemplary cast that includes screen icon Ingrid Bergman at her near-best.  Yet it is seldom accorded anything like the status of Hitchcock's other great films.  Instead, it is one of his most underrated and most maligned films.   The low esteem in which the film is generally held today probably has less to do with its perceived artistic failings and more to do with the very poor reaction it received when it was first released in 1949.

There were two factors which contributed to Under Capricorn being Hitchcock's biggest commercial failure.  Even as early as the late 1940s, the cinema-going public already had pretty set ideas about what a Hitchcock film should be - a suspense thriller in the mould of Shadow of a Doubt (1943) or Notorious (1946), with a strong thriller plot, plenty of sexual tension and charismatic big name actors.   Under Capricorn could hardly be more different from this.   It is a slow-paced, dialogue-heavy period melodrama with little suspense and even less action - practically the antithesis of what audiences were expecting.

The second torpedo which sank this film was Ingrid Bergman herself, or rather adverse public reaction to her very public affair with the Italian filmmaker Roberto Rossellini.  Bergman and Rossellini were both married (but not to each other) and so there was widespread outrage when the former announced in 1949 that she was pregnant with the latter's child.  It was the kiss of death for Under Capricorn and also the end for Transatlantic Pictures, the company that Hitchcock had founded with Sidney Bernstein, and which made just one other film, Rope (1948).

Under Capricorn is certainly not a typical Hitchcock.  It is one of only two period dramas the director made - the first being Jamaica Inn (1939).  It is also the kind of film that Hitchcock was often dismissive about when he gave interviews - a film consisting of long static sequences in which people sit (or stand) talking to one another.  Yet, atypical as it is, Under Capricorn is a film that bears its director's very distinctive imprint throughout.  There are the long takes which Hitchcock had employed so successfully on his previous film Rope (1949), used here to create a sense of confinement, conflict and estrangement.  There are characters haunted by a secret past which has the power to destroy them.  There are dark passions lurking beneath the surface.  There are even some moments of humour.  And, in spite of what its detractors may say, there is some suspense and also one or two genuine thrills.

Whilst the film excels in many departments, its real power lies in the spellbinding performances of its three leading players, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten and Michael Wilding - backed up by some enjoyable contributions from the supporting cast.   Bergman and Cotten had previously starred together in George Cukor's 1944 film Gaslight.  Both had previously worked with Hitchcock - the former in Spellbound (1944) and Notorious (1946), the latter in Shadow of a Doubt (1945).  Bergman is particularly memorable in this film, for both her angelic beauty and the extraordinary intensity of her performance, which is only slightly marred by the dubious Irish accent she adopts for her role.

A hauntingly poetic and captivating film, Under Capricorn shows a growing maturity in Hitchcock's technique that would attain fruition in his subsequent great Hollywood masterpieces.   The inventiveness and precision of both the camerawork and editing, the sophistication and economy of the storytelling, the way in which the emotions and expectations of the audience are subtly directed to heighten the emotional impact - these are all things that Hitchcock would refine and ultimately perfect in the decade that was to come, culminating in his best work.

Film Synopsis

In 1831, aristocratic Irishman Charles Adare travels to Sydney, Australia where he hopes to make his fortune, with a little help from his uncle, the present governor of the colony.  Adare immediately enters into a business arrangement with Sam Flusky, a former convict who has become wealthy through land acquisition.  At dinner one evening, Adare meets Flusky's beautiful wife, Lady Henrietta, whom he recognises from his childhood in Ireland but who is now a shadow of her former self.  She shuns society and spends most of her days drinking alone in her bedroom.  What could have happened to make her like this?  Flusky explains that years ago he and Henrietta eloped, to the umbrage of her noble family.   Flusky was captured and deported to Australia.  Unable to face being separated from her one true love, Henrietta followed him and patiently awaited the day of his release from prison.  When they were finally reunited, they each saw that the other had changed, and that their love was not what it had been.  Moved by Henrietta's story, Adare takes it upon himself to restore her spirits.  He is unaware that the Fluskys' housekeeper, Milly, is secretly in love with Flusky and intends to exploit his interest in Henrietta for her own advantage...