{ "id": "epy2jcs959", "slug": "rich-and-strange", "title": "Rich and Strange", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "label": "Comedy and romantic films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedy-drama-films", "label": "Comedy-drama films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedy-drama-films" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.weu.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Western Europe · 1800 to 1945: Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "path": [ { "id": "geo.weu", "label": "Western Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1800", "label": "Western Europe · 1800 to 1945", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1800" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1800.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1800.culture" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1800.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1800.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1800.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1800.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Rich and Strange (aka East of Shanghai) is Alfred Hitchcock's 1931 British International Pictures romantic comedy about a London couple whose inheritance-funded world cruise nearly wrecks their marriage; a box-office failure he later defended.", "snippet": "Rich and Strange (aka East of Shanghai) is Alfred Hitchcock's 1931 British International Pictures romantic comedy about a London couple whose inheritance-funded world cruise nearly wrecks their marriage; a box-office failure he later defended.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedy-drama-films", "markdown": "# Rich and Strange\n\n**Rich and Strange** is a 1931 British romantic comedy-drama directed by [Alfred Hitchcock](https://www.edgepedia.org/alfred-hitchcock), in which a bored London married couple, Fred and Emily Hill, receive an advance on an inheritance, quit their routine lives, and set out on a world cruise that nearly destroys their marriage. It was Hitchcock's third sound feature, made at British International Pictures, and it was a commercial failure on release, though Hitchcock remained fond of it and later critics have seen it as one of his most visually inventive early films.[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/235324/rich-and-strange) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/rich_and_strange)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Release | December 10, 1931 (theaters); runtime 1 hour 32 minutes; mono sound[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/rich_and_strange) |\n| Source and script | Adapted from Dale Collins's 1930 novel by Alfred Hitchcock, Alma Reville, and Val Valentine[3](https://thehitchcockproject.wordpress.com/category/week-13-rich-and-strange-1931-2/) |\n| Principal cast | Henry Kendall (Fred Hill), Joan Barry (Emily Hill), Percy Marmont (Commander Gordon), Betty Amann (the Princess), Elsie Randolph (the Old Maid)[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/235324/rich-and-strange) |\n| Production | Produced by John Maxwell for British International Pictures; cinematography by John Cox and Charles Martin[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/rich_and_strange) • [1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/235324/rich-and-strange) |\n| Sound approach | Only about a fifth of the film has dialogue; most location footage was shot silent and the story develops visually[4](https://the.hitchcock.zone/files/pdfs/The%20Films%20of%20Alfred%20Hitchcock%20%28MQ%29.pdf) |\n| Alternate title | Released in America as *East of Shanghai*[5](https://www.metacritic.com/pictures/every-alfred-hitchcock-movie-ranked-worst-to-best/) |\n| Reception | 69% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 13 reviews; a box-office failure on both sides of the Atlantic[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/rich_and_strange) • [6](https://www.thedigitalbits.com/reviews/item/rich-and-strange-klsc-2022-brd) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nFred Hill is a bored accountant and Emily his contented but dutiful wife, living a regimented suburban life in London. A telegram from a rich uncle brings them a small fortune, an advance on their inheritance with the instruction to see the world now rather than wait for the money. Fred quits his job, and the couple travel to Paris before embarking on a luxury world cruise.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/rich_and_strange) • [7](https://hitchcockarchive.ch/rich-and-strange/)\n\nAboard ship and in the ports of call, both are drawn to other people: Fred falls for a mysterious woman presenting herself as a princess (Betty Amann), who cheats him out of much of the remaining money, while Emily is courted by the suave Commander Gordon (Percy Marmont), a middle-aged colonial Englishman.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/rich_and_strange) • [4](https://the.hitchcock.zone/files/pdfs/The%20Films%20of%20Alfred%20Hitchcock%20%28MQ%29.pdf) The second, more serious part of the story follows the wiser and unhappier couple on their homeward voyage aboard a cargo boat that sinks in a storm; they are rescued by a Chinese junk before returning to England disillusioned but closer together.[4](https://the.hitchcock.zone/files/pdfs/The%20Films%20of%20Alfred%20Hitchcock%20%28MQ%29.pdf) • [7](https://hitchcockarchive.ch/rich-and-strange/)\n\n## Production\n\nHitchcock adapted the film with his wife [Alma Reville](https://www.edgepedia.org/alma-reville) and Val Valentine from the 1930 novel by Dale Collins, an Australian journalist and writer; according to the Hitchcock scholar at *The MacGuffin*, Hitchcock had suggested to Collins that he compose the novel on the understanding that Hitchcock would film it.[3](https://thehitchcockproject.wordpress.com/category/week-13-rich-and-strange-1931-2/) • [8](https://hitchinfo.net/2019.html) Hitchcock said the story was partly inspired by his own honeymoon with Alma, and he told [François Truffaut](https://www.edgepedia.org/francois-truffaut) that before shooting it, \"Mrs. Hitchcock and I set out to do some preliminary research on the story.\" Biographer Donald Spoto called it one of his most openly autobiographical films.[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/235324/rich-and-strange) • [9](https://vintageclassicsfilm.co.uk/movies/rich-and-strange/)\n\n**Silent techniques in a sound film.** Although made in the early talkie era, the film reverts to a largely silent aesthetic, with droll title cards and long dialogue-free sequences; only about a fifth of the film has dialogue, because most location footage had to be shot silent. This allowed the story to develop visually at a time when static cameras typically recorded barrages of talk.[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/235324/rich-and-strange) • [4](https://the.hitchcock.zone/files/pdfs/The%20Films%20of%20Alfred%20Hitchcock%20%28MQ%29.pdf) The opening depiction of Fred's tedious commuter life is handled as a wordless, choreographed montage, moving from an accounts ledger back to reveal an office emptying at six o'clock.[3](https://thehitchcockproject.wordpress.com/category/week-13-rich-and-strange-1931-2/) The ship was realized with a full-size set in a water tank, one of the production techniques that prefigure what later became known as the Hitchcock touch.[9](https://vintageclassicsfilm.co.uk/movies/rich-and-strange/)\n\nSound recording itself constrained the shoot. Hitchcock explained to Truffaut: \"We shot with four cameras and with a single soundtrack because we couldn't cut sound in those days.\" Joan Barry, who had dubbed Anny Ondra's voice in the sound version of *[Blackmail](https://www.edgepedia.org/blackmail-1929-film)*, was uncomfortable with sound filmmaking and tended to freeze before delivering her lines, causing numerous retakes.[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/235324/rich-and-strange)\n\n## Title and themes\n\nThe title comes from Shakespeare's *The Tempest*, quoted in an early title card promising that the couple will \"suffer a sea change / Into something rich and strange.\"[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/235324/rich-and-strange) Critics have read the film as a satire of bourgeois complacency and a fable about sudden wealth: the money that promises adventure instead exposes the couple's confusion, selfishness, and wandering affections, and the shipwreck literalizes the marriage they have wrecked themselves.[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/235324/rich-and-strange) Time Out's reviewer found an unexpected parallel with Hitchcock's Cold War spy film *Torn Curtain* (1966): both are about couples abroad who are scathingly observed as innocence confronts experience and retreats into its shell.[10](https://www.timeout.com/movies/rich-and-strange)\n\n## Reception and legacy\n\nThe film did poorly both critically and financially. A contemporary reviewer wrote that \"Admirers of Mr. Hitchcock's work will be dissatisfied [...] Mr. Hitchcock is clearly out of form,\" and the failure may have hastened Hitchcock's return to the thrillers that made his fame.[11](https://moviegoings.com/2008/03/26/week-13-rich-and-strange-1931/) • [1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/235324/rich-and-strange) Hitchcock nonetheless defended it; he told Truffaut, \"I liked the picture, it should have been more successful,\" and per film historian Troy Howarth it was one of only two films he defended despite box-office disappointment, the other being *The Trouble with Harry*.[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/235324/rich-and-strange) • [6](https://www.thedigitalbits.com/reviews/item/rich-and-strange-klsc-2022-brd)\n\nLater assessments have been more generous. Dave Kehr of the *Chicago Reader* wrote that this early film \"shows more signs of the artist to come than any of his other British movies,\" pointing forward to the sexual themes of *Marnie* and the 1956 remake of *The Man Who Knew Too Much*; a retrospective account in *The Films of Alfred Hitchcock* called it \"one of Hitchcock's most interesting films and perhaps his bravest failure.\"[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/rich_and_strange) • [5](https://www.metacritic.com/pictures/every-alfred-hitchcock-movie-ranked-worst-to-best/) • [4](https://the.hitchcock.zone/files/pdfs/The%20Films%20of%20Alfred%20Hitchcock%20%28MQ%29.pdf)\n\n**Restoration.** A 2021 restoration was scanned in 4K by Silver Salt Restoration in the UK from a 35mm duplicating positive, with color grading and restoration completed by the same firm, as a STUDIOCANAL project supervised by Jahanzeb Hayat. The film has since been issued on Blu-ray, including in the \"Hitchcock: The Beginning\" box set with extras such as a piece on the film by the scholar Charles Barr and an audio commentary by Troy Howarth.[9](https://vintageclassicsfilm.co.uk/movies/rich-and-strange/)\n\n## Dating note\n\nSources disagree on the year: Rotten Tomatoes and several Blu-ray releases date the film 1931, with a theatrical release of December 10, 1931, while MoMA's Hitchcock chronology, Time Out, and some critics list it as 1932.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/rich_and_strange) • [12](https://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/1999/hitchcock/chronology/20s.html) • [10](https://www.timeout.com/movies/rich-and-strange)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Sean Axmaker, \"Rich and Strange,\" Turner Classic Movies](https://www.tcm.com/articles/235324/rich-and-strange)\n2. [Rich and Strange, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/rich_and_strange)\n3. [The Hitchcock Project, Week 13: Rich and Strange (1931)](https://thehitchcockproject.wordpress.com/category/week-13-rich-and-strange-1931-2/)\n4. [The Films of Alfred Hitchcock (PDF), The Hitchcock Zone](https://the.hitchcock.zone/files/pdfs/The%20Films%20of%20Alfred%20Hitchcock%20%28MQ%29.pdf)\n5. [Every Alfred Hitchcock Movie, Ranked Worst to Best, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/pictures/every-alfred-hitchcock-movie-ranked-worst-to-best/)\n6. [Rich and Strange Blu-ray review, The Digital Bits](https://www.thedigitalbits.com/reviews/item/rich-and-strange-klsc-2022-brd)\n7. [Rich and Strange, The Hitchcock Archive](https://hitchcockarchive.ch/rich-and-strange/)\n8. [The MacGuffin, Alfred Hitchcock Scholars (2019 page)](https://hitchinfo.net/2019.html)\n9. [Rich and Strange, Vintage Classics film page](https://vintageclassicsfilm.co.uk/movies/rich-and-strange/)\n10. [Rich and Strange review, Time Out](https://www.timeout.com/movies/rich-and-strange)\n11. [Week 13: Rich and Strange (1931), Moviegoings](https://moviegoings.com/2008/03/26/week-13-rich-and-strange-1931/)\n12. [Alfred Hitchcock chronology, MoMA (1999 exhibition)](https://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/1999/hitchcock/chronology/20s.html)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedy-drama films*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/rich-and-strange", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/rich-and-strange.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Rich and Strange\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/rich-and-strange. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Rich and Strange](https://www.edgepedia.org/rich-and-strange)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/rich-and-strange](https://www.edgepedia.org/rich-and-strange). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Rich and Strange\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/rich-and-strange. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Rich and Strange is Alfred Hitchcock's 1931 British International Pictures romantic comedy about a London couple whose inheritance-funded world cruise nearly wrecks their marriage; a box-office failure he later defended." }