Sir Richard ignores Henrietta's claim that Sam is innocent of both crimes. The Governor, Sir Richard, has Sam arrested and charged with the attempted murder of Charles. She is caught in the act, and ordered out in disgrace. Milly then attempts to kill Henrietta with an overdose of sedatives. Milly, still plying Henrietta with drink, is using a real shrunken head to fake hallucinations. By law she should be deported back to Ireland to stand trial. At the hospital, Henrietta confesses to the Governor that Sam was wrongly accused of the first crime of murder she was the one who shot and killed her brother. Sam will now be prosecuted again for attempted murder. Sam has to shoot her dead and, in a subsequent struggle over the gun, seriously wounds Charles. Taking Sam's favourite mare in the dark, Charles has a fall and the horse breaks a leg. She followed him and waited seven years in abject poverty for his release.Īfter listening to Milly's greatly exaggerated stories of what Charles did in Lady Henrietta's bedroom, Sam becomes furious and orders Charles to leave. Sam made a false confession to save her and was sent to the penal colony in Australia. Her brother shot at them and missed she then shot her brother fatally. Henrietta's brother, furious that aristocratic Henrietta had paired up with a lowly servant, confronted them. Overcome with desire, they ran away and married at Gretna Green. But Henrietta explains that she and Sam are bound together most profoundly: when she was young, Sam was the handsome stable boy. They become closer and closer, and eventually they share a passionate kiss. Gradually, Charles restores Henrietta's self-confidence. The housekeeper, Milly, has completely taken over the running of the household, and is the one who secretly supplies Lady Henrietta with alcohol, hoping to destroy her and win Sam's affections. Sam invites Charles to stay at his house, hoping it will cheer up his wife, who is on the verge of madness. Lady Henrietta is now an alcoholic who is socially shunned. Though the Governor orders him not to go, Charles is invited to dinner at Sam's house.Ĭharles discovers that he already knows Sam's wife, Lady Henrietta, an aristocrat who was a good friend of Charles's sister when they were all children in Ireland. Sam says that, because he has bought the legal limit of land, he wants Charles to buy land and then sell it to him for a profit so that Sam can accumulate more frontier territory. The new Governor, Sir Richard, arrives with his charming and cheery but indolent second cousin, the Honourable Charles Adare.Ĭharles, who is hoping to make his fortune, is befriended by gruff Samson Flusky, a prosperous businessman who was previously a transported convict, apparently a murderer. In 1831, Sydney is a frontier town, full of rough ex-convicts from the British Isles. Capricornus is a constellation Capricorn is an astrological sign associated with the goat. The title Under Capricorn refers to the Tropic of Capricorn, which bisects Australia. Although the film is not exactly a murder mystery, it does feature a previous killing, a "wrong man" scenario, a sinister housekeeper, class conflict, and very high levels of emotional tension, both on the surface and underneath. Under Capricorn is one of several Hitchcock films that are not typical thrillers: instead it is a mystery involving a love triangle. The film is set in colonial Sydney, New South Wales, Australia during the early 19th century. This was Hitchcock's second film in Technicolor, and like his preceding color film Rope (1948), it features 9- and 10-minute long takes. The screenplay was written by James Bridie from an adaptation by Hume Cronyn. The film is based on the play by John Colton and Margaret Linden, which in turn is based on the novel Under Capricorn (1937) by Helen Simpson. Under Capricorn is a 1949 British historical thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock about a couple in Australia who started out as lady and stable boy in Ireland, and who are now bound together by a horrible secret.
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