Under Capricorn

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Don't be put off by the conventions of this historical melodrama: Alfred Hitchcock introduces his male characters in a rather convoluted manner, including the noble Irishman Charles Adare (a likeable, shifty Michael Wilding), who arrives in Sydney in 1831 to start a new life in the former penal colony, and the wealthy businessman Sam Flusky (Joseph Cotten), who, as a former Irish stable boy, is shunned by the upper class of the New World and soon invites Charles to his house for a dinner party. There, a memorable encounter takes place, the first scene in which Hitchcock's signature style is recognizable: at first, all we see are bare feet under a dressing gown, then a sleepwalking, slightly deranged-looking Ingrid Bergman as Sam's wife Henrietta, who sits down at the table drunk. Charles recognizes her as a childhood friend and from then on does everything he can to help the broken woman regain her self-confidence. An obstacle in this endeavor is a scheming housekeeper who is apparently in love with her employer. Hitchcock's second color film, based on the novel of the same name by Helen Simpson, seems staged today. However, in the love quadrangle between the sick woman, confined within her own walls, her housekeeper, and the competing men, there are intense scenes in long sequence shots that make you forget the narrative constraints: Ingrid Bergman, as an alcoholic, fighting for social dignity and her lost love. Or the scene in which Henrietta discovers the truth behind her delusions.