FILM · 1947
The Paradine Case
30 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (30)
- #001
When Sir Alfred Hitchcock delivered the finished film to the studio after ninety-two days of shooting, it ran nearly three hours. This rough cut was initially shortened to two hours and twelve minutes, the version shown for the Academy of Arts and Sciences; in that version Ethel Barrymore can be seen as Lord Horfield's half-mad wife, which explains her Oscar nomination for the performance (there was apparently a magnificent museum scene in which Lady Horfield asks Anthony Keane to save Mrs. Paradine, and another scene in which Lady Horfield tries to hide her cough from her husband). Producer David O. Selznick then cut the film to two hours and five minutes, and then to its present length of one hour and fifty-four minutes, in which Barrymore's total screen time is about three minutes. In 1980 a flood was said to have destroyed the original, uncut version, making restoration of the cut scenes impossible, though some of these cut scenes were reported to be held at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York.
- #002
Although Sir Alfred Hitchcock liked the actors and actresses, he felt that Gregory Peck, Alida Valli and Louis Jourdan were unsuited to their roles. Producer David O. Selznick, as studio head, used his power to insist that Hitchcock use them.
- #003
Sir Alfred Hitchcock wanted Ingrid Bergman for the role of the woman tried for murdering her husband; the role ultimately went to Alida Valli. Bergman did not want to make another film for producer David O. Selznick.
- #004
It was the last film Sir Alfred Hitchcock made under his contract with David O. Selznick.
- #005
A complete replica of the Old Bailey courtroom was built for the court scenes at a cost of $400,000.
- #006
When Keane (Gregory Peck) goes to the Paradine house in Cumberland, he walks over to Mrs. Paradine's (Alida Valli) piano. There is a close-up on the piano of a sheet of music titled Appassionata Op. 69, written by Francesco Ceruomo, an Italianized version of Franz Waxman, who wrote the film's background music. The music shown on the piano is the music playing on the soundtrack at that moment.
- #007
One of the film's unforgettable images comes when Mrs. Paradine is taken from her luxurious life and locked in a bare prison cell. The iron door slamming behind her as she enters the cell recalls one of Sir Alfred Hitchcock's own memories, that of being locked in Leytonstone prison at the age of six.
- #008
Ben Hecht and James Bridie wrote the original screenplay, based on Alma Reville's adaptation. However, producer David O. Selznick was not satisfied and rewrote the screenplay, taking sole screenwriting credit.
- #009
Greta Garbo turned down the role of Mrs. Paradine in The Paradine Case (1947), just as she had turned down the role of Martha in I Remember Mama (1948). She is known to have remarked: "No murderesses, no mamas."
- #010
Two photographs of the Old Bailey courthouse in London show the left front wing in ruins. Although many important sites in London were damaged by German bombing during the Blitz of 1940-1941, repair work was still ongoing in 1946, when the film's story takes place. The partly destroyed courthouse symbolizes, despite the damage, the British will to carry on business as usual, in this case a murder trial.
- #011
It was Sir Alfred Hitchcock who chose Ann Todd for the role of Gay Keane.
- #012
The film's cost was almost exactly the same as that of Gone with the Wind (1939); most of the budget overruns were due to producer David O. Selznick's constant interference in Sir Alfred Hitchcock's carefully budgeted production and Hitchcock's insistence on doing extensive reshoots. Because Hitchcock contractually demanded his fee of $1,000 a day, Selznick took over the work, including supervising the editing and the musical score.
- #013
Sir Alfred Hitchcock wanted Sir Laurence Olivier or Ronald Colman for the role of Anthony Keane, Greta Garbo for the role of Mrs. Paradine, and Robert Newton for the role of William Marsh, which became André Latour.
- #014
Sir Alfred Hitchcock and producer David O. Selznick wanted Ronald Colman or Laurence Olivier for the role of Malcolm Keane, but neither was available: Colman was producing A Double Life (1947) and Olivier was producing Hamlet (1948). The role went to Gregory Peck, and the name "Malcolm Keane" was changed to "Anthony Keane."
- #015
Producer David O. Selznick initially wanted Bernard Herrmann to compose the film's music, but Herrmann was unavailable due to other commitments, so he decided to go with Leith Stevens, borrowing him from Universal Pictures for eight weeks for $10,000. Stevens composed and recorded nine cues, but Selznick rejected them, returned half of Stevens's fee to Universal Pictures and returned the music and recordings to the composer. Franz Waxman was ultimately hired to do the score.
- #016
Sir Alfred Hitchcock wanted Robert Newton for the role of William Marsh. The role went to Louis Jourdan, and William Marsh's name was changed to the French André Latour.
- #017
James Mason was considered for the role of Anthony Keane.
- #018
In Alma Reville and James Bridie's original Sir Alfred Hitchcock adaptation, there was a physical resemblance between Mrs. Paradine and Anthony Keane's wife, Gay Keane. However, because of casting changes, the idea was abandoned entirely.
- #019
According to François Truffaut, director Stanley Kramer may have watched this film before shooting the Nuremberg trial in Judgment at Nuremberg (1961). In his audio interview with Sir Alfred Hitchcock, Truffaut pointed out certain similarities between the two films.
- #020
On May 9, 1949, "Lux Radio Theater" broadcast a sixty-minute radio adaptation of The Paradine Case, with Louis Jourdan and Alida Valli reprising their roles and Joseph Cotten playing Keane.
- #021
Louis Jourdan, who plays André Latour, does not appear in the film until more than forty minutes in. When he died in 2015, he was the last surviving credited cast member.
- #022
It is one of several David O. Selznick films sold to ABC as a film package.
- #023
The film is set in 1946.
- #024
In the screenplay, Malcolm Keane (Anthony Keane) is an Irishman. Gregory Peck was of Irish descent.
- #025
The murder victim, Colonel Richard Patrick Irving "Dickie" Paradine, died on May 6, 1946.
- #026
Anthony and Gay Keane married in 1935.
- #027
Sir Alfred Hitchcock said: "People have told me many times how much they enjoyed Witness for the Prosecution (1957). They thought it was my film instead of Billy Wilder's. And Wilder told me people asked him about The Paradine Case (1947) and thought he had made it." (Both are Charles Laughton courtroom dramas.)
- #028
When this film was shot, Gregory Peck was 30-31 years old and Ann Todd, who played his wife, was 39-40. Charles Laughton was 47 and Ethel Barrymore, who played his wife, was 67.
- #029
The character André Latour tells the court he is thirty years old, meaning he was born in 1916. During filming, Louis Jourdan, who played Latour, was 25.
- #030
The Paradine Case was not a box-office success; worldwide revenues covered only half of the production cost.
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