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It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Strangely unexciting yet charming movie. Definitely not Hitchcock's best, one can even say that 'Under Capricorn' might belong in great master's few lesser films. Maybe that is the problem - most people probably went into the film expecting typical Hitchcock suspense, but there was very little of that. Even with saying that, 'Under Capricorn' still manages to be entertaining enough and almost two hour run time didn't feel like suffering (by that I mean, at least I didn't force to sit myself through - the film was entertaining). Costume dramas and Victorian soap operas are not Hitch's trademark, and that particular film is only recommended to those who feel the need to see every Hitchcock film, or fans of particular type of melodramatic period pieces.The casting, although all wonderful actors, is off. It needs to have suspense of disbelief to buy the characters as Irish - Wilding sounded like genuine Englishman, Cotten sounded like American, and magnificent Ingrid Bergman sounded like Swede. To put that aside the performances were little above 'just hamming it out' category thus making the film more tolerable.

Under Capricorn is a Hitchcock's movie far bellow acceptable level than others works from the master....the plot is about Sam Flusky (Joseph Cotten) an ex-convict who make fortune in Australia and have an unstable and alcoholic woman called Henrietta (Ingrid Bergman) but when he meet Charles Adare (Michael Wilding) as the Governor's cousin,he see the possibility to change your local status even accepting him to help your wife which already knew on Ireland before,they became friends but Adare falling in love for Henrietta...still interesting and a bit of humor too,as the Governor played by Cecil Parker who rules under the British book of way to unchanging command simply stolen the movie

I think it's a shame that this Alfred Hitchcock film was such a bomb at the box office, and with critics, if only for the reason that few may have seen Margaret Leighton's performance as Milly, the Flusky family's maid. She gives the character an evilness with even more depth that Judith Anderson's "Mrs. Danvers" (recognized as #31 villain by the American Film Institute) in Rebecca (1940). I say this because, as much as I love Anderson's character, the dialogue given Leighton's character is more complex, meaning the actress cannot rely as much on brooding scowls as Anderson did, which may not have been as sinister if that film, like this one, was in color.By the way, the Technicolor in this one (Hitchcock's second) makes the men's lipstick a bit too apparent. In any case, overall, the film is not a complete disappointment either, even though a costume drama is one of the last genres one would expect the "Master of Suspense" to direct.Adapted for the screen by actor Hume Cronyn, James Bridie wrote the screenplay from the novel by Helen Simpson, the film contains little intrigue, relative to the director's other more famous films. The central issue seems to be Mrs. Flusky's behavior, and the reasons for it; she's played by Ingrid Bergman (overacting, just a bit). Joseph Cotten (solid, as usual) plays her brooding husband Sam, a successful businessman who was once a convict, sentenced to serve seven years in prison in Australia, where the film is set.The film takes place many years later, and begins when Charles Adare (Michael Wilding, who seems perfect for the role) follows his uncle (Cecil Parker) to the continent; his uncle has just been appointed the Governor of the British Colony. So, Adare hopes to make his fortune in the "new" land, something virtually every young man with ambition, and a willingness to work hard, has been able to achieve. Unfortunately, Adare doesn't intend to employ the latter method, hence he makes an easy acquaintance of Sam Flusky, who wants to use the penniless Adare to purchase some land, legally if not ethically for his own purposes.Adare is not quite sure at first where he's heard Flusky's name before, but once he's invited to dinner, and meets his wife, he realizes why. She used to be Lady Henrietta, a woman who left home in scandal, having married her father's groom, Sam, who was convicted for murdering her brother. Henrietta followed him to Australia where she endured a squalid existence waiting for him to serve out his term.When Adare first meets Henrietta, she's a drunk, kept that way by another convict, now a maid who runs the household, named Milly (Leighton). Evidently, Henrietta suffered quite a bit while Sam was in prison such that Milly, with designs on the head of the household herself, has been able to comfort the Lady with drink such that Henrietta thinks of Milly as her friend. Ignorant of Milly's motivations, Sam believes this to be true as well, as does Adare, at least initially.Shocked by what he sees of the former Lady, and young enough to remember the beautiful woman that she once was, Adare leaps at the opportunity, provided by Sam, to help Henrietta, in hopes that she can return to her old self. And she does, with Adare's help, make a comeback such that she feels confident enough to run the household and even return to society and social engagements.It's at this point, however, that Milly, who'd been let go, returns coincidentally to work her magic on her former employer Sam. Using Adare's name and insinuating a relationship which doesn't exist between Henrietta and he, she manipulates Sam into a jealousy that ruins his wife's, and his, relationship with the Governor at a social event. Adare had forged an invitation for them (his uncle had "disowned" him per his relationship with the ex-con Sam) and had just succeeded in a Cinderella-like reception for the "restored" Lady Henrietta when Sam arrives in somewhat of a rage.Subsequently, the truth of Sam's relationship with Henrietta comes out, and the drama's final third feels a bit "trumped up" to lengthen the story (even though it's during this that we learn the full extent of Milly's evil deeds).

I've seen over 30 of Hitchcock's productions and there is plenty for everyone. Even so, most people vision his movies as suspense or thrillers or mysteries. Under Capricorn isn't really one of these. It should be compared to something like "Notorious" (1946), which also stars the amazing Ingrid Bergman.Reading other reviews shows a wide split on "Under Capricorn". My wife chose to do chores less than 15mins into the movie. It's a slow start that builds as it proceeds. I had to wonder about the history involved, a screen play written in the 40's based on a book written in the 30's about a man travelling to New South Wales 100 years earlier.Regardless of opinions about the Irish or the Australians, modern historians continue to describe a very real difference about the Nobility of those days and their belief of being truly better than the serving class. I feel that observation helps when watching a melodrama like this, and being able to enjoy it.By their nature, melodrama are life exaggerations, which often come across sad. This left like one of the saddest movies I've watched recently. The situations feel so out place from our reality. But maybe two centuries have isolated us -- Under Capricorn could be simply multiple examples of disparate people trying to survive the best way they know how.This movie left me wanting in the first several minutes, but I found myself getting drawn in. This may not be a movie for the majority to watch over and over, but I recommend everyone watch it at least once.