The Paradine Case

Theatrical Release Poster

Alida Valli

Charles Laughton

**The Paradine Case** is a 1947 American film noir courtroom drama film, set in England, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and produced by David O. Selznick. The screenplay was written by Selznick and an uncredited Ben Hecht, from an adaptation by Alma Reville and James Bridie of the novel by Robert Smythe Hichens. The film stars Gregory Peck, Ann Todd, Alida Valli, Charles Laughton, Charles Coburn, Ethel Barrymore and Louis Jourdan. It tells of an English barrister who falls in love with a woman who is accused of murder, and how it affects his relationship with his wife.

## Plot

In London, Maddalena Anna Paradine is a very beautiful and enigmatic young Italian woman who is accused of poisoning her older, blind husband, a wealthy retired Colonel. It is not clear whether she is a grateful and devoted wife who has been falsely charged, or a calculating and ruthless *femme fatale*.

Mrs. Paradine's solicitor, Sir Simon Flaquer, hires Anthony Keane, a brilliant and successful barrister, to defend her in court. Although Keane has been happily married for 11 years, he instantly becomes deeply infatuated with this exotic, mysterious, and fascinating client. Keane's kind-hearted wife, Gay, sees his obsession and, although he offers to relinquish the case, presses him to continue. She knows that a "guilty" verdict, followed by Mrs. Paradine's hanging, will mean that she will lose her husband emotionally forever. The only way that she can regain her husband's love and devotion is if he is able to obtain a "not guilty" verdict for Mrs. Paradine.

Meanwhile, Keane himself starts to focus his legal efforts on Colonel Paradine's mysterious servant, André Latour. Consciously or subconsciously, Keane sees Latour as a suitable scapegoat on whom he can pin the crime of murder, but this strategy backfires. After Keane has pressured Latour in court, triggering an angry outburst, word comes that Latour has killed himself. Mrs. Paradine is coldly furious that Keane has destroyed Latour, who was, in fact, her lover. On the witness stand, she tells Keane she hates him, and that he has murdered the only person she loved. She goes so far as to say that she poisoned her husband in order to be with Latour.

Keane is overwhelmed, physically, intellectually, and emotionally. Attempting to sum up, he improvises a brief and faltering speech, admitting how poorly he has handled the case, but cannot continue speaking, and has to leave the court. He stays overnight at Sir Simon's office, feeling that his career is in ruins. His wife finds him there; she offers reconciliation, and hope for the future.

## Cast

* Gregory Peck as Anthony Keane
* Ann Todd as Gay Keane
* Alida Valli as Maddalena Anna Paradine
* Charles Laughton as Judge Lord Thomas Horfield
* Charles Coburn as Sir Simon Flaquer
* Joan Tetzel as Judy Flaquer
* Ethel Barrymore as Lady Sophie Horfield
* Louis Jourdan as André Latour
* Leo G. Carroll as Sir Joseph
* Isobel Elsom as Innkeeper
* John Williams as Barrister Collins

## Trivia

* An exact replica of the Bailey courtroom was constructed for the court scenes at a cost of $400,000.
* While Alfred Hitchcock liked the actors, he felt that Gregory Peck, Alida Valli and Louis Jourdan were unsuited to their roles.
* Alfred Hitchcock's last film under contract with David O. Selznick.
* When Alfred Hitchcock delivered the completed film to the studio, after a Hitchcock record of 92 days of filming, it ran almost three hours.