UNDER CAPRICORN

US, 1949, 117 minutes, Colour.
Ingrid Bergman, Michael Wilding, Joseph Cotton, Margaret Leighton, Cecil Parker.
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Under Capricorn does not usually rate high on the list of Hitchcock’s films. However, it is a period melodrama and of interest because of the action taking place in colonial Australia. It was also the second film that Hitchcock made in colour, immediately after Rope. Rope was made with a series of ten-minute takes and Hitchcock continues this kind of experimentation in this film. However, it is a melodrama, a costume melodrama with lavish sets, costumes and décor.

The film was also a melodrama – something in the vein of the tradition from, say, Wuthering Heights through Daphne du Maurier (and Hitchcock had filmed both Jamaica Inn and Rebecca).

The film is one of several that he made with Ingrid Bergman – the others including Spellbound and Notorious. He had also worked with Joseph Cotten in Shadow of Doubt and was to work with Michael Wilding in Stage Fright. There is a very good supporting British cast led by Margaret Leighton and Cecil Parker.

Ingrid Bergman has a complex role as Lady Henrietta Flusky, with her Irish background, in the colonies and verging on alcoholism and madness. Charles Adair is played by Michael Wilding, the upright English gentleman. Joseph Cotten has to be a mixture of charm and villainy. Margaret Leighton also does villainy quite well in the Judith Anderson/Rebecca tradition.

Because the film is not suspense and murder mystery in the vein of Hitchcock’s classics, it has tended to be either overlooked or misjudged. It has strong technical qualities with an original score by Richard Addinsell (Warsaw Concerto) and photography by director, Jack Cardiff.

1. Audience expectations of a Hitchcock film: suspense. themes of guilt and conscience? How well were audience expectations fulfilled? A different style from Hitchcock's normal thrillers?

2. The contribution of the colour, the Australian setting and the sets, the musical score? Hitch cook and Australia in the 19th century? Did they blend well for interest and entertainment?

3. The significance of the title and the focus on Australia, as a colony, the relationship with England and Ould Ireland, the reality of distance, the prison background of the colony, the strata of society, prison and the possibilities of new start, new wealth, the emancipists? Questions of justice and attitudes towards justice in this prison colony setting? The effect on people and the change of old patterns from the old world? Cruelty? The focus on the clash of new and old world in the men coming to the dinner and the women not?

4. How important was this environment for the study of character, the study of guilt and responsibility? The build-up of the opening, Sydney and the Governor arriving, the presentation of low life, snobbery, the attitude towards the Governor and his attitude towards Australia? The question of aristocracy , exclusivism and wealth, land deals and the law? the encounter with the man selling the skull and the tones of this set?

5. How did the screenplay make the audience enter this colony with Charles Adare and his character, his Irish background and poverty, relationship with the Governor and his status, the pressures on the Governor for his behaviour - or else, losing his status? lack of money, hoax, the encounter with Flusky end the fascination? His defying the Governor and loyalty to Flusky? The initial encounter with Henrietta, at the dinner? His response to her, the memories, his helping? The importance of their relationship, his love, her dependence on him for regaining her own pride? Lily in the background? The build-up to Adare helping Henrietta to the ball? The sense of achievement? The intrusion of Flusky? Adare's response to Henrietta, the story, her telling of the truth? The melodramatic significance of his going away, the death of the horse, the shooting?

6. How well did the film show Adare's influence on Henrietta, the way he was influenced by her? The importance of his injury, his being shielded by the Governor from the truth, the importance of his ultimate decision about guilt and innocence? The stance that he took and audience sympathy with this? His leaving the colony and return to what might have been a normal world?

7. The portrayal of Flusky: audience dislike of him and the belief that he was cruel and a murderer? The initial presentation, his land deals, sense of achievement, his hold over his household, Milly and the servant disturbances, welcoming the guests but not liking their snobbery? His reaction to Henrietta and her intrusion at the dinner?
Audience sympathy or lack of it? Antagonistic? His reaction to the man selling the skull? His response to Adare's helping Henrietta? The possibility of his being jealous and Milly's working on this? Why was he so susceptible? How important was it that the audience learnt the truth about his innocence from Henrietta, that he had suffered on her behalf? how did this alter audience opinion of him? Was it too late? The complications of' guilt and innocence? The stand that he took, the risk of letting Henrietta go back to Ireland, his willingness to let everything go for her? The fact that Henrietta and he were rewarded at the end? How interesting a character, a person who had a place in the old world, through innocence and guilt found new success and achievement in the new world?

8. How well did the film focus on Henrietta, the quality of Ingrid Bergman's performance? The shock of seeing her at first, barefoot at the dinner, her drinking, her seeming insanity? How well did she improve and why? The explanation of her background and what she had done in leaving for Australia to marry Flusky? Their happiness at the ball and the intrusion of Flusky? Comment on the dramatic presentation of her story telling the truth, the focus on her face? The emotion in the story and the revelation of guilt? Her willingness to accept the guilt and responsibility? Her love for Flusky and his interpretation of it in an unfavourable light?

9. The importance of the reconciliation and the possibility of building a new life? The presentation of the Anglo-Irish? attitudes to the colony, their advice, manners and way of life in the colony, not talking about people's past and so on? The sinister presentation of the Attorney General and his attitude towards Flusky? The various incidents at Government House, the ball? The explanations of law and justice in the colony?

10. The key importance of Milly? Her role in the household, her role over the servants, her own legal status? Her infatuation with Flusky, her manipulation of his emotion in her Iago-like speech? The sinister housekeeper and her persecution of Henrietta? The drink, the final melodrama with the skull? The poison? The suspense with Henrietta watching Milly going about her poisoning? The confrontation with Flusky and her downfall? Milly as an embodiment of evil?

11. The psychological aspects of the film: Mutual relationships, love and hate, misunderstandings, truth and appearances, guilt and innocence in conscience?

12. The suitability of a costume melodrama for an exploration of human psychology?