Hitchcock seems stuck between eras here, with a few magnificent sequences that play out in total silence, including a gorgeously chaotic opening scene depicting the hustle and bustle of a London commute.

Sadly, these visually-striking moments are few and far between, as the film primarily focuses on the escapades of an awful couple bickering on holiday. The director’s handle on visual storytelling remains strong, but he hasn’t quite figured out how to direct dialogue, which is a massive problem for a movie with so much talking. There isn’t any particular weight to the conversational scenes, nor any sense of rhythm. And it doesn’t help that the off-kilter editing makes for atrocious pacing — certain scenes seem to end mid-sentence, while others drag for minutes longer than necessary.

they sure were rich and strange

Hitchcock Ranked
FTWs 2018

While this is the worst Hitchcock film I've seen to date, I strangely liked the first half of the film (at least to some extent). The second half is close to unbearable. Especially the last twenty minutes are awful and even contain racial slur. The acting was amateur, the characters were uninteresting and completely bland and I haven't even mentioned the plot yet which is paper-thin and vacuous (probably even thinner than paper to be honest). The editing was one of the strangest I've ever seen and the set designs were cheesy. Hitchcock created very good and enjoyable films during his career but this early effort was just heart- and soulless.

By the way, this film has also one of the worst posters I've seen on Letterboxd. It is so ugly that I even considered not logging this film just so that it doesn't appear on my profile.

A strange departure for Hitchcock stylistically; Rich and Strange works but feels unbearably slight. Exploring a couple's personal disappointments and fantastical ambitions while they grow apart on a cruise ship; Hitchcock straddles an oddly comedic line throughout. The story is fine, nothing to write home about but very much in line with much of his early British stuff...that meaning the films are somewhat experimental, modest in ambition and just a little unpolished. The transitions felt pretty weird here, and it was rather inconsistently paced also. Still, a capable effort from the master himself early in his career.

Hitchcock Ranked

The working title was Primitive and Dull but that tested badly with audiences.

Film #6 - Alfred Hitchcock Challenge 2020

This tale about a couple's sea-voyage of a lifetime following a windfall feels more like a silent movie (except when people are talking obviously) and changes genres throughout the film. What appears to start off a comedy moves on to a romance then a drama and ends as a semi-disaster movie. This might be alluded to in the title which comes from
Ariel in the 'The Tempest' where the spirit is describing how a drowned man has undergone a 'sea-change' into something 'rich and strange'. And so here the story transmutes as the journey continues across different seas and oceans.

Again, not Hitchcock at his best but he is testing the waters for his own cinematic-voyage to come.

Added to 52 Years in 52 Other Weeks: The Way Way Back

The title is very fitting.

In a blind test I'd have never guessed it was Hitchcock. But I did like the opening sequence of London commuters - oddly familiar, not much has changed in the last 90 years.

This was an unusual Hitchock film. This was Hitchcock making a comedy which was actually kind of funny. This is one of the films I was surprised was actually decent. Just a fun movie.

Absurdly underestimated, this movie is maybe the most grotesque one by Sir Alfred, especially for the ease it passes from love to hate, from romance to comedy to horror, from realism to onirism. And the absurdity of the relationship’s evolution has the rage and the ambiguity of the most notorious “autoresque” movies about husband-wife crisis of late 900s. The last 20 minutes could be a dream.

Hitchcock ist an einem Punkt angelangt, an dem er solide und routiniert inszeniert. Leider auch ziemlich öde.

Hitchcock seems stuck between eras here, with a few magnificent sequences that play out in total silence, including a gorgeously chaotic opening scene depicting the hustle and bustle of a London commute.

Sadly, these visually-striking moments are few and far between, as the film primarily focuses on the escapades of an awful couple bickering on holiday. The director’s handle on visual storytelling remains strong, but he hasn’t quite figured out how to direct dialogue, which is a massive problem for a movie with so much talking. There isn’t any particular weight to the conversational scenes, nor any sense of rhythm. And it doesn’t help that the off-kilter editing makes for atrocious pacing — certain scenes seem to end mid-sentence, while others drag for minutes longer than necessary.

Oh, it's strange. It's somewhere in-between a silent and a talkie. The sound is kind of funny. Sometimes the dialogue is a bit hard to hear, but you can hear the footsteps really well. As if the Foley guys couldn't control the volume. These people and their fooling around! No wonder they couldn't buy happiness with money.

I think the way its stuck between a silent film and talkie works in a charming way, with the silent parts being some of his most inventive in his talkie films up to that point. And the talkie parts do have a peppy, romcom zest to it. But not enough to carry the whole film, and the egregiously racist overtones throughout just soured it for me. Damn these early British flicks are pretty brutal in their social views lol

Weird romantic dramedy not really suited to Hitchcock. There's moments of sharp satire and the beginning is very promising, but once the characters get on the boat it's pretty dull. The worst Hitch I've seen, but it was very early.

Perplexing.