Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

This is not so much a review as it is a comment. But since we no longer have message boards, I guess I'll make it here.I have read a variety of reviews and synopses of this movie, including every one on this website, but nobody ever mentions the fact that Fred and Emily are going to have a baby. Perhaps no one thinks that is important, but to me, that is the ultimate absurdity of their marriage.While Fred and Emily are on the Chinese junk, a woman has a baby. From the way they look at each other, there seems to be the suggestion that Fred and Emily are inspired to have a baby themselves, now that they are reconciled. Back home, Fred wonders whether they can get a "pram" (baby carriage) up the stairs, and Emily responds that they are going to have to get a bigger place anyway, presumably because they will need an extra bedroom.But I could not help wondering, "Whose baby is it?" The movie is not explicit about how far these two went with their philandering, although one gets the sense that Fred and the "princess" went all the way, while Emily and Gordon never went beyond kissing. But with these old movies, so much is left to the imagination that it is hard to tell.Then again, even if we assume that Emily and Gordon did not have sex, I can't help but wonder how long it will take Fred to start wondering whose baby it is.And in any event, if Fred gets so irritated with their cat, what is he going to be like when the squalling baby arrives?Are we really supposed to regard this as a happy ending?

Well, well, well! Very surprising. I suppose it is the first movie about Titanic. And indeed, rich and strange. Rich in enthusiasm, youth, dreaminess, naivety. Strange in realization.I skip the love tension and stop on the place. It shows the parallel between titanic power of the industry and the constant tempo of the family tradition and organized individuality, metal boat and wooden schooner, fast food and Chinese food. Curved space in which the parallel straight lines can cross each other and over Atlantic dream is not authentic and possible enough without eastern diligence.When I compare this movie with its newer variant which is so famous and watched I see that the plot is being changed. Sober from the distance of time some have decided to delete the honesty and their foresight and replace them with egocentric lordliness and mass commerce accompanied with a very good soundtrack.So, this movie is rich and strange, different. My rating is little increased but notice the year of the production!http://vihrenmitevmovies.blogspot.com/

I saw this movie under the title "Rich and Strange" and the last word certainly describes the movie.Fred and Emily are a couple like most of us. Despite working all day, they never seem to be able to get ahead. They eat frugally and Emily makes her own clothes from patterns with cheap cloth.Suddenly, out of the blue, a wealthy uncle (I wish I had a wealthy uncle out of the blue) decides not to make Fred and Emily wait until he dies. He gives them enough money to travel the world and, for a time, break Fred out of the dreary office routine (rich uncle, where are you?).First, they go to Paris, where they live the high life. Then they ship off on a long cruise.Fred is not a good sailor, and this leads to some excellent touches in the first half. While Emily enjoys herself on board, Hitchcock makes unexpected, and hilarious, jump-cuts to Fred ill in bed. A great moment in early Hitchcock is when the terribly seasick Fred is presented with the ship's menu. It lasts only a few seconds, but it's worth the wait.The tension (in the movie and between Fred and Emily) builds when Emily meets a "Commander" who is smitten with her. Again, Hitchcock's humor shines through. The Commander always seems at a loss for words and Emily is forever interrupting him. Eventually she compliments him by telling him he's easy to talk to. After Fred finds his sea legs, he meets a Princess inexplicably smitten with him -- or is it his money? Fred's romance with the Princess is the silly side of infidelity; but when Emily begins returning the Commander's affection, it looks like coming into money destroyed Fred and Emily's marriage.One charm of "Rich and Strange" is that, though it's a talkie all the way through, Hitchcock has inserted titles between the scenes, as in the silent movie days, making a droll running commentary on Fred and Emily's new life.The problem is, about the half-way mark, "Rich and Strange" (sometimes going under the romantic alias "East of Shanghai") feels like it's stretching out. I don't know if Hitchcock got bored with it, but I certainly did. When Fred and Emily were stranded alone on a sinking ship I hoped they would go down with it. But even at that point, I had a lot of movie to go.Hitchcock made few straight comedies. "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" (1941) is another wry take on marriage benefiting from the considerable talents of Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery. The under-appreciated "The Trouble with Harry" is a romantic comedy with couples brought together by an inconveniently dead body. Despite having a great sense of humor that followed Hitchcock through his television show and right up to his last movie ("Family Plot"), his comedies (even "Harry") have soggy bottoms. Hitchcock is really at the top of his game when his dark comic sensibility creeps into movies of almost unbearable suspense. When "Rich and Strange" begins to sound melodramatic, I had a sense Hitchcock felt (pardon the pun) all at sea.Nevertheless, for a Hitchcock completist, this film is a must. It has wonderful touches here and there.

While Alfred Hitchcock is my personal favourite director, he's not been without his disappointments. None of his films that I've seen are terrible, or even bad, but there are a few that have underwhelmed. Rich and Strange doesn't see him at his best(and for reasons other than it not been typical Hitchcock), nor does it see him at his worst. It is beautifully shot and has very evocative scenery and very well done special effects for the time. Hitchcock also does bring some great stylistic touches that does give a feeling that you're watching a Hitchcock film(something that I did not find with Juno and the Paycock, Jamaica Inn and Under Capricorn), and with the opening sequence, Paris travel montage and climax there are some strong moments. The music has a lushly orchestrated jauntiness that fits well with Rich and Strange's tone. Joan Barry is stunningly elegant and gives Emily a real likability. The story is disjointed though, with a darker-edged second half that doesn't bode entirely with the first, and is also very slight in structure, giving a rather tedious feel to some of the less eventful moments. The dialogue has some nice bits of subtle humour but did need a more playful touch and it got turgid in the scenes that weren't paced all that well. Of the characters, Emily is the only one who comes across as interesting or likable, the rest are too thinly sketched and emotionally detached for my tastes. Henry Kendall also seemed to me a little too sophisticated and trying too hard in his role, part of why his and Barry's chemistry didn't convince was that you never really see what it is that Emily sees in Fred in the first place. All in all, strange but still interesting. 6/10 Bethany Cox