Under Capricorn
The second color film he made (it came one year after 1948's Rope) Under Capricorn is set in Australia in 1831. There's a new governor in town, and he has brought with him his rakish cousin (Michael Wilding). Wilding ends up meeting one of the richest men in the area (Joseph Cotten). Wilding is told not to ask about his past, as Australia is full of ex-convicts and it is rude to do so. Cotten, a former stable boy, takes a liking to Wilding, and discovers that he knew his wife back in Ireland. She's Ingrid Bergman, and she's a hopeless drunk.
Wilding endeavors to clean her up and introduce her to society, and Cotten is grateful, until his jealous housekeeper (Margaret Leighton) puts thoughts in his head that Wilding is after Bergman. This leads to some violence.
Under Capricorn, especially for a Hitchcock film, is dull as dishwater. The first hour or so is really just a set up for the last act, in which things pick up so fast you may get whiplash. There are lots of nuggets that he used before: a sinister housekeeper (from Rebecca); a close-up of a possibly drugged drink (from Suspicion), and extremely long takes (Rope). But there isn't a lot of suspense.
Much of the interesting aspects of Under Capricorn come off-screen. The film may not have done well because audiences were expecting a typical Hitchcock film, but also because this was at the height of Bergman's scandalous affair with Roberto Rossellini. Wilding is probably best known today not for acting but for being Elizabeth Taylor's second husband. And many years later he married Leighton.
Hitchcock made missteps in his career, mostly when he strayed into different genres, such as his one comedy, Mr. and Mrs. Smith. But he would back on track with Strangers on a Train in 1951, and go on to have about the best decade a director could have.
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