Most Hitchcock films have their adherents somewhere - I'm sure there are even a few lunatic Topaz boosters out there - and sure enough when I hopped on the web a few writers would talk about this being "underrated"and a "hidden gem". For crying out loud. It's an absolute shocker - the most interesting thing about it is the Australian setting, and the fact it ended Transatlantic Pictures, Hitchcock's attempt at being an independent. Along with Paradine Case it marked the nadir of Hitch's career, before he recovered with Strangers on a Train.
Thing is, this needn't have been so bad. While Hitchcock never made areal success out of a period film (his stars were never as glamorous in them) he was defeated by poor scripts for both this and "Jamaica Inn".This has promising elements, many of which were used in Rebecca - a spooky mansion, a troubled wife (Ingrid Bergman) being driven insane by a malevolent maid (Margaret Leighton), a brooding husband with a past, a secret involving murder, a new man on the scene. But it plots along at as low pace, there is no hero to latch on to - Bergman is either mad,recovering from being mad or in danger of going mad again (and doesn't look particularly fetching - indeed when she wears those silly bonnets she looks stupid), Michael Wilding (as the newcomer) is a bit too pleased with himself (and also what's the story here? Is he in love with Bergman or not), and Cotton too brusque. Either Cotton or Wilding needed to turn really nasty - instead we've just got Leighton who isn't really allowed to cut loose (or couldn't cut loose or whatever - she's certainly no Judith Anderson).
There are some shockingly stilted scenes,especially when you consider the director was Hitchcock. The final confrontation between Cotton, Bergman and Leighton is particularly awkward - its like some amateur dramatically society in 1830s Australia.Its doubly surprising when Hitchcock moves the camera around for some other scenes. Dull and leaden. Of the cast, only Cecil Parker has the right style (as the Governor making him Maj General Sir Richard Bourke)
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