The Paradine Case (1947)

'The Paradine Case' is a surprisingly hard to find Alfred Hitchcock film that might actually be the directors worst, though I hear 'Under Capricorn' gives it a run for its money. The story of an English criminal defense lawyer (Gregory Peck) who falls for his accused murder client (Alida Valli) despite being married to a perfectly nice woman (Ann Todd) there is probably a good movie in here somewhere but this isn't it. The last movie that Hitchcock made under contract with the producer David O. Selznick (best remembered for 'Gone with the Wind'), their contentious relationship is practically on screen. Hitchcock blamed the failure of the film (both critically and financially) on Selznick's interference in the production, forcing him to cast people he didn't think right for their parts and finally editing 18 minutes out of Hitch's final cut (would these minutes have helped, or so shorting the movie the only think Selznick did right here?). The English court room drama can be done so very right, a Billy Wilder did with 'Witness for the Prosecution' about a decade later (a film which also featured Charles Laughton), while 'The Paradine Case' just does it wrong. *1/2