Under Capricorn is a 1949 British historical drama film directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Production[link]

The film is based on the novel Under Capricorn (1937) by Helen Simpson, with screenplay by James Bridie, and adaptation by Hume Cronyn. The movie was co-produced by Hitchcock and Sidney Bernstein for their short-lived production company Transatlantic Pictures and released through Warner Brothers. The film starred Michael Wilding, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten, and Margaret Leighton.^[1]

The film was Hitchcock's second film in Technicolor and uses ten-minute takes similar to those in Hitchcock's film Rope (1948). It is believed that the audience thought Under Capricorn was going to be a thriller, which it was not—it was a domestic love triangle with a few thriller elements thrown in—which apparently led to its box office failure. However, the public reception of the film may not have been helped by the revelation in 1949 of Bergman's illicit relationship with – and subsequent pregnancy by – Italian film director Roberto Rossellini.^[2]

Plot[link]

In 1831 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, Charles Adare (Wilding) arrives with his uncle, the new governor (Cecil Parker). Charles hopes to make his fortune. He is befriended by Samson Flusky (Cotten), a prosperous businessman who is a former transported convict. Sam's wife, Lady Henrietta (Bergman), was a friend of Charles's sister in Ireland. Sam hopes that Charles will cheer up his wife, who is an alcoholic. Meanwhile the housekeeper, Milly (Leighton), secretly loves Sam, and encourages Henrietta's drinking. Sam was transported after he confessed to a killing actually committed by Henrietta, who followed Sam and waited for his release.

Cast[link]

The long take[link]

In Style and Meaning: Studies in the Detailed Analysis of Film, Ed Gallafent says:^[3]

The use of the long take in Under Capricorn relates to three elements of film's meaning.

1. Ideas of accessible and inaccessible space as expressed in the gothic house.
2. The form in which character inhabit their past
3. The divergence or convergence of eyelines – the gaze that cannot, or must meet another’s.

All of these three elements can be linked to concepts of Guilt and Shame. In 1 and 2, the question is how something is felt to be present. In 3, it is difference between representation or sharing, of the past as flashback, and of the past as spoken narrative, where part of what is being articulated is precisely the inaccessibility of the past, its experience being locked inside the speaker. As for 3, the avoided gaze is determining physical sign of shame.

Gallafent, professor of film at University of Warwick, also explains these aspects of Under Capricorn:

The inscription on the Flusky's mansion -- Minyago Yugilla –- means "Why weepest thou?" St. Mary Magdalene (the patron saint of penitent sinners) in religious iconography: the bare feet, skull, the flail, the looking glass in which beholder’s is not always reflected, the jewels cast down to floor. All of these images are in the film. Sources for the imagery that Hitchcock might have had in mind are the paintings St. Mary Magdalene With a Candle (1630-1635) and St. Mary Magdalene With a Mirror (1635-1645), both by Georges de la Tour.

Note: "Minyago Yugilla", according to one source,^[4] is not written in a real language; according to other sources,^[5][6] it is in Kamilaroi (Gamilaraay), a now moribund Australian aboriginal language. See also this similar translation^[7] of the phrase "Minyilgo yugila".

Background[link]

• Alfred Hitchcock cameo: A signature occurrence in three-quarters of Hitchcock's films, he can be seen in the town square during a parade, wearing a blue coat and brown hat at the beginning of the film. He is also one of three men on the steps of the Government House 10 minutes later.
• In Truffaut/Hitchcock, Hitchcock told François Truffaut that Under Capricorn was such a failure that Bankers Trust Company, which had financed the film, repossessed the film, which then was unavailable until the first US network television screening in 1968. In the Truffaut interview, Hitchcock also mentioned the New York Times reviewer, who wrote that the viewer had to wait almost 100 minutes for the first suspenseful moment.^[8]
• In Peter Bogdanovich's interview with Alfred Hitchcock, Bogdanovich mentions that French critics writing for Cahiers du cinéma in the 1950s considered Under Capricorn one of Hitchcock's finest films.^[9]
• Playwright James Bridie, who wrote the screenplay for Under Capricorn, is famous for his Biblical plays, such as his Jonah and the Whale. Other Christian references in Under Capricorn include a moment near the end of the film, where Milly says "The Lord works in mysterious ways", and Samson Flusky says "What is it they say in the Bible? Great Gulf Fixed."
• Cecil Parker's character is possibly a representation of General Richard Bourke, who served as the Governor of New South Wales from 1831 to 1837.

See also[link]

	Australia portal
	Film portal

• 1949 in film
• British films of 1949
• List of drama films
• List of films set in Australia

References[link]

This article uses bare URLs for citations. Please consider adding full citations so that the article remains verifiable. Several templates and the Reflinks tool are available to assist in formatting. (Reflinks documentation) (January 2012)

External links[link]

• Under Capricorn at AllRovi
• Under Capricorn at Rotten Tomatoes
• Under Capricorn at the Internet Movie Database
• Under Capricorn at the TCM Movie Database
• Under Capricorn Eyegate Gallery
• Under Capricorn is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]

v t e Alfred Hitchcock Filmography Unproduced projects Themes and plot devices Cameos Awards and honors Films directed 1920s Number 13 The Pleasure Garden The Blackguard The Mountain Eagle The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog The Ring Downhill The Farmer's Wife Easy Virtue Champagne The Manxman Blackmail 1930s Juno and the Paycock Murder! The Skin Game Mary Rich and Strange Number Seventeen Waltzes from Vienna The Man Who Knew Too Much The 39 Steps Secret Agent Sabotage Young and Innocent The Lady Vanishes Jamaica Inn 1940s Rebecca Foreign Correspondent Mr. & Mrs. Smith Suspicion Saboteur Shadow of a Doubt Lifeboat Spellbound Notorious The Paradine Case Rope Under Capricorn 1950s Stage Fright Strangers on a Train I Confess Dial M for Murder Rear Window To Catch a Thief The Trouble with Harry The Man Who Knew Too Much The Wrong Man Vertigo North by Northwest 1960s Psycho The Birds Marnie Torn Curtain Topaz 1970s Frenzy Family Plot Shorts Always Tell Your Wife Elstree Calling An Elastic Affair Aventure malgache Bon Voyage The Fighting Generation Watchtower Over Tomorrow Related topics Hitchcockian Alfred Hitchcock Presents Alfred Hitchcock Edition Clue Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine High Anxiety