bland guilt: selznickized hitchcock

The Paradine Case features a plot/premise that should be very familiar to people who have seen Jagged Edge (which hits the extremities of the obsession) or its outrageous embarassing Hindi remake Kasoor (which made the news for the "bold"[sic] bedroom moments shared by dubbed-by-Divya-Dutta-in-all-probability Lisa Ray and the dubbed-by-Vikram-Bhatt-in-all-probability Aftab Shivdasani).
This was Hitchcock's last film for Selznick and the burden and obligation of their association shows. The film feels more like a Selznick mush romp rather than a work of the master. The Hitch touches are there (the expressionist use of blinds, POV shots, a cool high angle courtroom shot) but the annoyances dominate (Waxman's running undulating strings-heavy score only augments my respect for Herrmann's work, the tacked-on pointless ending). If only Hitch could have exploited the moral dilemma at the core of the tale to greater effect. Still, I've seen it now. Just for the record.