If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

I'm crazy about Alida Valli. I'd seen every film she's ever done except "The Paradine Case" until today that is. Today I met Mrs Paradine for the first time. Strangely enough it doesn't feel like Hitchcock it feels more like Carol Reed the director who gave her a major International hit with "The Third Man" a couple of years later. I fell in love with Alida Valli in the 1954 Luchino Visconti's tragic romantic epic "Senso". Now having seen "The Paradine Case" I see a glimpse of the woman in "Senso" where her actions, are also atrocious but govern by love. A love who will only lead to tragedy. Visconti showed us an Alida Valli that other than a great beauty was also a great actress. Hitchcock introduced her as VALLI in this film, a gimmick with very short legs. Here she plays the widow of a blind man that "allegedly" she killed. The casting of Gregory Peck is a major problem, maybe not for the box office in 1947, but it certainly detrimental to the suspension of disbelief, so needed in a thriller. Charles Laughton is superb in his few, short scenes. I wonder if Hitchcock himself was the inspiration for his role. A judge, a lascivious man with an roving eye for young pretty women. Ethel Barrymore plays his wife, to absolute perfection. Then, Louis Jourdan, beautiful of course, Charles Coburn, Ann Todd but, it is Alida Valli who gives this film that extra something. Considered a "minor" Hitchcock by most but not by me. 9/10

The courtroom can often be a place of high drama in cinema (think: A Few Good Men). In "The Paradine Case", however, there just isn't enough compelling material to make its "verdict" a success.For a basic plot summary, this movie focuses on Mrs. Paradine (Alida Valli), an English women accused of murdering her husband. When lawyer Anthony Keane (Gregory Peck) is called onto the case and falls for the widow in an instant, however, his ethical responsibilities to the bench are pulled to the fraying point.The number one problem with this movie is that the plot is terribly predictable. I won't give away any details here, but there are enough hints and innuendos given throughout the film that the verdict that should have been "shocking" at the film's climax is rendered relatively inert. Perhaps such film-making tactics were commonplace in the 1940s and easier for audiences to digest, but more seasoned film fans will find it annoying that nothing in this movie is ever questioned or rendered remotely suspenseful.The other problem with "Paradine" is the whole "love at first sight" angle between Peck's character and the lead female role. This is a flimsy plot contrivance that should have been delved into more deeply instead of just accepted in the blink of an eye. While watching, I wanted to know more about that main relationship, but instead we are just supposed to buy-in from the get-go and, again, not question a thing.About the only redeeming value in this film for me was that the ethical struggles are indeed endearing and important to the law profession. Those are the issues that the film should have focused on instead of spending so much time on a romance angle that viewers can see will not be surprising in the least come conclusion time.Thus, this is one of Hitch's poorer efforts in my book. It may be slightly (2.5 stars would be my perfect rating) better than his Cold War stinkers, but lags far behind his thoughtful, suspenseful fare. Skip this one if you are not a Hitch nut.

THE PARADINE CASE is an interesting but slightly contrived Hitchcock film fraught with sexual tension. I enjoyed most of this film but it could have used better editing and lesser number of characters. The film has some truly strange characters for eg. the wife who longs for her lawyer husband to save her sexual rival in court so that they can fight fairly over the man. ANN TODD and ALIDA VALLI are smoking hot, the two of them even look alike. Hitchcock knew how to select beautiful women for his movies.CHARLES LAUGHTON provides some comic relief during the intense court proceedings.

most of all, a very unnatural and again, very pretentious movie. the whole film just looked so badly scripted. watching it was like watching those characters on a staged theater. the poor dialog had forced every one in this film to act awkwardly and again, very pretentiously. peck's performance was one of the worst in his career. the young wife of the attorney already slept in a separate room. why all the couples in most of the films came out of that era were without any kids? why this specific director always wanted to show himself in all the films he directed as a passersby, a non-described person? and he walked out of the Cumberland train station this time. this film storyline was so flat and boring with a terrible scenario and plot, and the courtroom part was extremely boring too. there's nothing to be praised, no wonder it's been overlooked so far.