Rich and Strange (aka East of Shanghai)

Fred and Emily Hill (Henry Kendall and Joan Barry) are bored with their humdrum and tedious lives. But then an uncle leaves them a large amount of money, and the Hills set off on a round-the-world trip. Emily falls in love with Commander Gordan (Percy Marmont), and Fred with a phony princess (Betty Amann). Eventually the Hills become shipwrecked and are rescued by a Chinese junk. The film ends with their return to the drab existence which they had tried to escape from.

Rich and Strange was Hitchcock's favourite English period film, a fact which is all the more telling in view of its box-office failure. It is a film which is brave and bold in its departure from the safe mainstream, and from the safety-net of the thriller genre. It relies heavily on visual cues (only one-fifth of the film consists of dialogue), and rarely for a film of this age makes little use of studio filming.

The film is not easily categorised and deals largely with a subject close to Hitchcock's heart - the disintegration of a marriage. As the couple progress on their sea voyage, the film gives a series of sweet reflections on the change in progress in their largely empty lives. But with various odd touches in the final reel Rich and Strange verges on the absurd - and becomes a true commentary on the absurd. One sees how the whole strange adventure shows how worthless riches can be, and that vacuous lives need more than mere money to fill them.

Review by Matthew Bull
Taken from EUFS Programme 1994-95