Sunday, April 12, 2020

17. Rich and Strange (1932)




"The story was about a young couple who won a lot of money and took a trip around the world." That is how Alfred Hitchcock described the film to François Truffaut in their series of interviews and that is apt a description as you can get. Watching it in 2020, I enjoyed the movie. Watching it in 1932, I probably would not have comparing it to its competition.

Going further than Hitchcock's description some 30+ years later, the synopsis (based on a novel by Dale Collins, which is really difficult to find) concerns office worker Fred Hill (Henry Kendall) and his wife Emily (Joan Barry) living a modest existence in their small London apartment. Fred receives a letter from his uncle giving the couple their future inheritance. Fred quits his job and the two leave for a once-in-the-lifetime vacation starting in Paris and then a cruise in the Orient. En route (while Fred is stuck in his cabin with seasickness), Emily is charmed by Commander Gordon (Percy Marmont) and when Fred recovers (thanks to spinster busybody played by Elsie Randolph), he is becomes taken by a German princess (Betty Amman). By the time the cruise ship docks at Singapore, the couple plans to leave each other with their suitors. Eventually things don't work out and the two have to head back to England.

Rich and Strange is a bizarre movie. The plot plays more like a series of vignettes rather than a single storyline. There are long sequences where there are absences of dialogue and there are even intertitles, some of which are needless (One instance, after Fred meets the princess, we see an intertitle, Fred Meets a Princess. Gee thanks Captain Obvious). There are also copious amounts of stock footage (which would be clearly used for background scenery in a low budget picture), so you really wonder what British International Pictures was thinking about Hitchcock's abilities when they set up the budget.

I found it kind of funny that in a future film like The Man Who Knew Too Much, where a couple goes on vacation and encounters espionage and danger, here we get a low key romantic assignations or we would have in later films a cast that might have Cary Grant or Grace Kelly as the couple, but here we have non-descript Henry Kendall and Joan Barry, who are decent in their roles, but are not that memorable. Marmont is too stuffy as Emily's intended and Amman is too over the top as the tease.


The film was a disappointment both financially and critically. Variety said that the film seemed to be a matter of taste and praised the performers, but the review makes it seem like its trying to circumvent the fact that its an artsy film rather than commercial fare. The Times really felt Hitchcock was out of his element and despite his skills, could make a purse of a sow's ear. Hitchcock did seem to be happy to talk about the film, but felt that the cast should have been stronger.

The movie was released on DVD in 2007 by Lionsgate Entertainment, but I believe its out of print. The film is also in the public domain, so it can be viewed on Youtube or other streaming sites.

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