Monday, June 21, 2010

Day 26: Rich and Strange (1931)

Another Hitchcock film. Another attempt at a comedy.

Fred Hill is unhappy with his life and believes that an inheritance will make him happy, so he sets off with his wife Emily to travel. Once on a large ocean liner, they each develop a relationship with other people and carry on flirtatious affairs. They both realize the folly of their ways, and help each other escape the sinking ship before returning home to an acceptance of their normal life.

The most notable aspect of the film is that despite being a "talkie", the vast majority of the film is shot and presented in classic silent format with exaggerated actions and most notably title cards! Despite it being a simple story, there are a few examples of Hitchcock's flare with the camera. He experiments with items leaping towards the screen, the travel montage in Paris is clever, and the visual play on the use of the number 19. The film has a very haphazard feel to the editing of the film, with moments of comedy being broken up by long periods of montages with no talking. It's not a typical Hitchcock film, and while it may be reminiscent of comedies of the 1930s, it is not particularly funny either.

No comments:

Post a Comment