Under Capricorn (1949)

Mellow. Drama. Hitchcock?
Although I have collected nearly all of Alfred Hitchcock's films on DVD, I put off watching this one for a long time. I suppose it was because of the mixed reviews I'd seen over the years, and the fact that the plot itself did not seem to resemble what I expect a "Hitchcock film" to be. It was, ultimately, my love for Ingrid Bergman, not the director himself, that bid me to give this one a chance.

And I'm glad I went into it with that mindset, because it's a little hard to think of Under Capricorn as a film made by the "master of suspense." First off, because there IS no suspense. OK, there's a bit of tension as the (SPOILERS AHEAD) romantic triangle of the film's lead players unfolds. And there are a handful of interesting shots, chiefly the long takes which Hitchcock used a year earlier in [[ASIN:B000ECX0O2 Rope]] and a year later in [[ASIN:B0002HOEQ2 Dial M for Murder]]. But basically, this is a period melodrama which affords little opportunity for the director to show much flair.

Two things save Under Capricorn from being such a labor to watch, though. The first, not suprisingly, is Bergman. The makeup and wardrobe department deserve special mention for her initial appearance, in which one of the most beautiful actresses of all time (a pronouncement with which I'm certain Alfred Hitchcock himself would have agreed) look deathly ill. Hitch's camera always loved Ingrid Bergman, and she gets plenty of closeups here. The other redeeming factor the film has is lush Technicolor cinematography. The print used by Image, while perfectly acceptable, does occasionally suffer some saturation problems. This is also a "bare bones" release, meaning all you get is the film itself with no extras.

I think Under Capricorn might be more appreciated by viewers who enjoy these sort of period dramas than by fans of Hitchcock. Still, it's not a bad little movie. And it's certainly recommended for Bergman fans.

Ponderous period drama from The Master
"Under Capricorn" was the second and last film (after "Rope") that Hitchcock completed under the ill-fated Transatlantic banner the vehicle has set up after release from his Selznick contract. Like "Rope", Hitchcock experimented with long takes and complicated camera movements.

Unlike "Rope", however, "Under Capricorn" is a talky bore. Hitchcock had little feel for this type of material - a period drama set in colonial Australia. The film is not helped by being entirely shot in a studio - a limitation of the shooting style and budget - so has no local flavour whatsoever which is what this type of film needs.

Even Hitchcock himself admitted this was a dud. For Hitchcock completists only.

One of the unknown and nevertheless one of the best films of Hitchcock
By some thoughtless prejudices "Under Capricorn" is rejected among the people who love violence and action as an "untypical" or "tedious" film of Hitchcock which lacks for suspense and goose-flesh (Hitchcock himself most cynically and deliberately contributed to similar prejudices by his commentaries towards the public and Truffaut). In fact this film is as deep and beautiful as "Vertigo" and as terrifying and psychologically subtil as "Psycho" (these latter films seem to be some kind of a scale in valuation of all other films of Hitchcock). "Under Capricorn" is full of symbols and motives which recur in the earliest and the latest films of Hitchcock. The theme of guilt and past ("Vertigo"), the motive of being addicted to alcohol (TV-film "Poison") and the motive of the deep love between the married couple ... all these themes are combined with each other to a wonderful masterpiece of cinematic and human art. Hitchcock shows Ingrid Bergman and her rival (Margaret Leighton) with a most empathising subtility, there is a strict and mirror-like duality among the characters, everybody seems to be the exact counterpart of the other (something like a photograph and the negative).
The visual quality of the film on this DVD (edited by "Image Entertainment") is, I have to admit, not as good as the quality of other well known films of Hitchcock which are on DVD (for example the editions by "Warner" or by "Criterion"), but it is at least much better than that terrible French edition by Universal ("Les Amants du Capricorn") and it is, so far as I can see, the only acceptable and obtainable edition (the German edition by "Kinowelt" is cut and therefore worthless); there is no bonus on the DVD but I am not missing it at all. The menue is very good and shows the chapters in detail. I like this edition.