A revelation...Michael Wilding in Under Capricorn.

Under Capricorn is underrated as a Hitchcock film. While there is a plot twist, there is no suspenseful climax and no "on the edge of your seat moments". Instead we are given a costume drama set in early 19th Century Australia and a story which is a different take on Wuthering Heights.

Imagine if you will that old Mr. Earnshaw had lived a bit longer, was a bit grander and that Heathcliff was a trusted servant and horseman. Cathy and Heathcliff still fall in love, and actually marry. Old Earnshaw is not so egalitarian after all, and Hindley is sent after the lovers brandishing a gun and is killed. Heathcliff is transported to Botany Bay....but this time Cathy sells everything she owns and follows.

In this story, Cathy is played by Ingrid Bergman, Heathcliff by Joseph Cotton, and the closest thing to Linton by Michael Wilding. Bergman and Cotton were adequate but Irish lovers, hardly. Wilding was a joy, a revelation! While he does not get the girl, Wilding's Adare is handsome, charming, attractive and exceptional in every way that David Niven's Linton was not. In Wuthering Heights, the movie, Linton's only charm was monetary, recast with Wilding, we'd have seen Cathy's motivation in a different light (just as either Tyrone Power or Errol Flynn as Ashley Wilkes would have made Scarlet's infatuation believable).

Under Capricorn would be worth the watch if only for Wilding, I enjoyed the story. Bergman had moments of radiance, but was never and Irish aristocrat, Cotton was given less to do (the love scene was Wildings)than was warranted. Wilding was incandescent.

If you wanted Wuthering Heights to have a happy ending, this was a nice way to spend two hours!