Rent Under Capricorn (1949)
3.1 of 5 from 72 ratings
1h 57min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
This rare Hitchcock costume drama unfolds in 1831 Sydney, Australia and concerns Irish noblewoman Lady Henrietta Flusky and her working-class husband Sam whom are escaping a secret and tragic past. Cotton has become a man of wealth but is not accepted socially and Lady Henrietta is a raging alcoholic and verging on madness, enter Hon. Charles Adare whom she had known in Ireland an a passionate love triangle ensues as their tragic past is revealed. Under Capricorn had a troubled production due to Bergman's infamous love affair with the Italian director Robert Rossellini which resulted in her exile from Hollywood, but nevertheless it is an underrated masterpiece that is surely on of the best 'costume' films of the 1940's. - Actors:
- Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten, Michael Wilding, Margaret Leighton, Cecil Parker, Denis O'Dea, Jack Watling, Harcourt Williams, John Ruddock, Bill Shine, Victor Lucas, Ronald Adam, Francis De Wolff, G.H. Mulcaster, Olive Sloane
- Directors:
- Alfred Hitchcock
- Writers:
- John Colton, Margaret Linden
- Studio:
- Blackhorse Entertainment
- Genres:
- Classics, Drama
- Collections:
- 10 Films to Watch if You Like Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, 10 Films to Watch if You Like Rebecca, Alfred Hitchcock's British Films, Cinema Paradiso's 2022 Centenary Club, Cinema Paradiso's 2023 Centenary Club: Part 1, Hitchcock in the 1940s, Top 10 British Actresses of the 1940s, What to Watch Next If You Liked Scrooge
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Reviews (1) of Under Capricorn
Costume Drama. - Under Capricorn review by Steve
Perhaps Hitchcock's least remembered film from the American period, Under Capricorn continues to use the long edits premiered in Rope, but with less of a rigid aesthetic; there are some reaction shots interspersed and it employs multiple locations.
It has a reputation in France, but its melodrama failed everywhere else as audiences just didn't pay the babysitter to go and watch Hitchcock costume dramas. As a historical film, it's high on hokum, but it has an interesting, if preposterous story and the Australian setting is a novelty.
Ingrid Bergman has to act for her life to play an Irish alcoholic but whenever the film does catch fire, it's when she is on. Joseph Cotten broods effectively, but Michael Wilding seems to be impersonating Cary Grant more than a nineteenth century Irish aristocrat. His future wife Margaret Leighton is more interesting as a Mrs. Danvers style housekeeper.
But there are some diverting scenes, particularly a dinner party held by ex-murderer Cotten which the ladies of Sydney are too genteel to attend, broken up by a pie eyed Ms. Bergman. It's a rare Hitchcock film that has nothing to offer.
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