Pre-Order Under Capricorn (1949)(Blu-ray) Available for Preorder (1 Viewer)

[Josh Steinberg]

Under Capricorn remains my least favorite Hitchcock movie from his post-British period onward.

I'm inclined to agree. This disc was actually the first viewing of the movie and I thought I'd like it more than I did. Normally, I'll watch a movie and have one opinion of it, and then as I think about the movie in the hours and days after my viewing, I'll come away with a higher opinion of it. (Which is one of the reasons that I prefer to wait until the next day after watching a movie to when I start writing the review.) But this one doesn't get any better in my memory. Instead, it's more a feeling of, "with all the talented people involved, how did no one spot that this was a dud until it was too late?!"

I found the commentary on the disc frustrating because the commentator took the attitude that it was impossible for Hitchcock to make a poor film. So instead of spending the film either examining why it came out as it did, or analyzing why the movie didn't work, the commentator just insisted it was a good movie and then offered no more critical analysis of the film, because it was apparently a self evident truth that no Hitchcock film could be bad. This struck me as a tremendous missed opportunity.

 

[Matt Hough]

Ah, I knew there was a commentary on it, but I didn't take any time to listen to it. Now maybe I won't or at least, it'll be a long while before I sample it. The disc is now on the shelf in the "Hitchcock Section" of a bookcase.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I watched this today, and I must say this is the closest the movie has ever come to looking "normal" (i.e. for a British color movie of the era). The sharpness is finally acute enough to see quite clearly the corduroy weave in Michael Wilding's blue coat and the intricacies of the tweed in Cotten's jacket, too. The color saturation is another story. It's very erratic: nicely saturated and appealing in some scenes and a bit washed out and unimpressive in others (though red always registers very richly and brightly). Overall, I can now watch the movie without my eyes feeling that they're out of focus or watching something that's been Kodachromed.

Whatever made this story appealing to Hitchcock? Yes, he's had love triangles in his films before (memorably even with Ingrid Bergman before in Notorious), but it's all talk and very little "action," so to speak in regard to the feelings bursting out of these people. And to have a villain in Margaret Leighton's character so obvious and yet her victims so ridiculously manipulated to rile the audience up into feelings of frustration and exasperation! I wanted to whack the lot of them upside the head and tell them to wake up and look what she's doing. She's not even being subtle about it like Judith Anderson's character was in Rebecca! Sad to say, even after this great improvement in presentation from what I had seen before, Under Capricorn remains my least favorite Hitchcock movie from his post-British period onward.

Sadly, I haven't gotten around to watching my BD. However, I have to say I have to agree with you that it's not among Hitchcock's best or even good films for that matter.

 

[LeoA]

Having second thoughts about ordering this now. Couldn't get through it on TCM a few years ago, but thought surely it must've been the poor transfer and my mood since with the talent involved it surely couldn't be a dud.

I'll still see for myself and give it a second try, but I think I'll catch this one on sale.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I picked this up during Kino Lorber's last sale, but it's probably my least favorite Hitchcock film. If the movie was from any other director, it's pretty much guaranteed it wouldn't be sitting on my shelf.

 

[Matt Hough]

If the movie was from any other director, it's pretty much guaranteed it wouldn't be sitting on my shelf.

I think you're absolutely right. And, there seems to be very little "Hitchcock" to be found here. Apart from the long, long takes which he became fond of using in Rope and continues with here, the suspense is just lacking almost completely throughout the film.

 

[Mark-P]

It's not frequent here and when it occurs it's really minimal. Nothing like for instance reel 2 of Duel in the Sun or similar. Worst case most recently was the burnt in fringin on Mank's Barefoot COntessa which was a late European 3 strip but the source looks like a bad Eastman recomb. Almost the whole film is out.

I finally have the disc in hand, and I'm going to have to respectfully disagree about the degree of misregistration/fringing. I guess you are more forgiving than I am. I found that the fringing was rather frequent though at varying degrees, sometimes hardly noticeable and other times quite extreme. I've posted a screencapture of one shot where it was probably at its worst. Projected on a large screen you absolutely can't miss it.

 

[KMR]

View attachment 49244

Wow, that's quite something. Is this a problem with misalignment of the three negatives? If so, this title appears to be in dire need of restoration, which it sadly is unlikely to get, considering its reputation.

 

[Robert Harris]

Wow, that's quite something. Is this a problem with misalignment of the three negatives? If so, this title appears to be in dire need of restoration, which it sadly is unlikely to get, considering its reputation.

No. Simply needs a nice digital recombine.

 

[KMR]

No. Simply needs a nice digital recombine.

By that, do you mean the original negatives have already been scanned?

 

[Robert Harris]

By that, do you mean the original negatives have already been scanned?

Negative

 

[benbess]

I don't own this disc, but I guess I'm one of the very few who actually likes this movie. What do I like about it? The production design (including all the things needed to get the c.8 minute takes), the moodiness of it, the performances, the fact that it's a completely unexpected movie from Hitchcock, and the Technicolor. In terms of Hitchcock movies released in the 1940s, it probably does make my top ten list. Let's see...

1. Rebecca ("A+")
2. Shadow of a Doubt ("A")
3. Rope ("A")
4. Spellbound ("A")
5. Notorious ("A")
6. Lifeboat ("A")
7. Saboteur ("A-")
8. Foreign Correspondent ("B")
9. Under Capricorn ("B-")
10. The Paradine Case ("C+")
11. Suspicion ("C")
12. Mr. and Mrs. Smith ("D")

Under Capricorn is a seriously flawed movie, but I still wish they had actually restored it properly. In any case, it was a great decade overall for Hitchcock.