Product Description

The beautiful Mrs. Paradine is accused of poisoning her old, rich and blind husband. She hires Anthony Keane as her lawyer and the trial starts. The lawyer falls in love with the lady while Judge Hornfield tries to seduce Keane's wife. ++++ This officially licensed release from China, on BoYing, provides some information printed in Chinese on the case. The film is in ENGLISH with optional English or Chinese subtitles. NTSC All Region, original black & white, full screen display with Dolby Digital Sound.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #66564 in DVD
• Formats: Black & White, Full Screen, Import, NTSC
• Subtitled in: Chinese, English

Customer Reviews

Hitchcock's Paradine Case
The slick touch of Hitchcock is obvios throughout this film. Not as well known as many of his, this movie is more subtle than "The Birds" or "Witness for the Prosecution", but all the more wonderful for that. A study in personality and relationships rather than blood, gore and destruction make it more satisfying (in my opinion). Gregory Peck at his best with a good supporting cast and the matchless Hitchcock camera angles. I think one of his best.

Obession On Trial
Like the other reviewers here, I agree that this truly adult and enigmatic Hitchcock film has never gotten the attention it deserves. Tony Keane's fixation with the accused murderer Mrs. Paradine looks ahead to Scottie Fergusson's equally obsessed one with Madeleine in Vertigo. In a way, marriage and femininity are also on trial in this film. Mrs. Paradine marries a man she doesn't love for his money and ends going on trial for murder. Keane's wife Gay is loving, but she's also an enabler, endlessly making excuses for Tony's poor behavior as a husband (and lack of professionalism as a barrister). She stands by her man . . . but why? Gay's friend Judy is an unmarried woman who, denied a chance to be a lawyer because of her gender, provides Gay (and us) with her shrewd commentary on Tony's courtroom behavior. But will any man ever want to marry such an outspoken young woman? Maybe the most pathetic female character is the judge's wife, who passively puts up with his crude misogyny. Only when Mrs. Paradine is threatened with the gallows does she begin to confront the emotional deadness of her own marriage. None of the women (not to mention all the dour female courtroom attendants that Hitchcock's camera lingers over) are at real peace with themselves.

The two main male characters, (Tony and Andre) are, in a sense, contaminated by the women's malaise. Tony is accused by the judge of creating an "overly emotional" atmosphere in the courtroom. And the sexually ambiguous André's acts are driven solely by love. In the end, Keane's drained and vulnerable character foreshadows the equally drained Fergusson we see at the end of Vertigo. Neither man knows what hit them. But have they learned anything from their experience? And will they ever have the capacity to relate to women who haven't been through what Judy astutely calls "the mud"? The verdict's still out.

In and outs!
A beautiful woman is accused of murdering her husband; and a young criminal lawyer will try by all his means, to demonstrate her innocence, although on the road he will fall in love with her.

An uneven film considering the stature of his director.