Hitchcock stumbles into sound era with ‘Juno and the Paycock’ (1930)

“Juno and the Paycock” (1930) was, even early in his career, an unusual adaptation for Alfred Hitchcock, as the material is misery-laden and lacking in energy. While it has some insights into the tragic side of the human condition – Juno (Sara Allgood, the film’s least-bad actor) laments after a string of misfortunes that God is no match for the stupidity of man – it’s hard to imagine any modern viewer slogging through to parse out those moments (unless they are doing a complete Hitchcock viewing for a blog, podcast or YouTube channel).

The misery of wartime, squalor … and boredom

The misery of Sean O’Casey’s play set during the 1920s Irish Civil War does ultimately register, but there have been many other movies about the stupidity of war that deliver more punch. The character arc of Juno’s son Johnny (John Laurie), who had an arm blown off in the war against Britain prior to the civil war, consists of him sitting morosely in his family’s shabby apartment. Perhaps this represents shell shock.

Watching “Juno and the Paycock” – the last word represents the Irish pronunciation of peacock and refers to Juno’s strutting but ridiculous husband, Captain Boyle (Edward Chapman) – is like watching a community theater play that’s both bad and not of interest to begin with. About 75 percent of the scenes feel unnatural, with everyone silent until it’s their turn to say the line. I didn’t expect Sorkinian rapid-fire dialog in Hitchcock’s very first all-sound film (“Blackmail” is part-sound, part-silent), but dang these scenes are stodgy.

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Hitch shoots an occasional close-up to distinguish it from a play, and he includes rare alternate angles within a scene even as the audio continues (something I’ve heard was technically complex at the time). And an opening scene in a bar – Hitchcock’s one addition to O’Casey’s play – opens things up from the mostly apartment-set activities.

I had heard this is a bare notch above a filmed stage play, and that’s not quite fair, but Hitch directs without zest. Some shots crop out people in the scene like your grandmother shooting a still photo. (Maybe this is a workaround in restoration?) The criticism of “Juno’s” poor sound quality didn’t apply to the Plex version I saw. The sound is as crisp as the baseline standard of the era, although at times I couldn’t grasp every word spoken in Irish accents.

The technical aspects are a notch above incompetent, but I never engaged with the material. I’m no scholar of the Irish Civil War, and I learn nothing about the nuances via the film. Hitchcock punctuates many scenes with shots of the window and audio of machine-gun fire. We get no sense in the movie itself of what side stands for what, and while that does serve the “War isn’t worth the cost” theme, it makes it hard to get invested in these play-actors.

Hitchcock’s worst film

At least the tragedy does come through on an intellectual level, as the family is hit with an expected inheritance collapsing, daughter Mary (Kathleen O’Regan) getting pregnant out of wedlock (a fate worse than death at the time), son Johnny seemingly waiting for the escape of death, and the general fact that they’re poor as hell.

For neighbors, they have old women wailing about their sons and husbands killed in the war. To take advantage of sound, there are a few scenes of everyone singing Irish folk songs. Somehow these are among the worst scenes, as the melancholy sort of pauses for us to wade in.

“Juno’s” brand of comedy is best illustrated in an absurdly long scene where the Paycock has jester-type pal Joxer (Sidney Morgan) over for breakfast. Boyle roasts and eats a single sausage, which he finds in the pantry (!?), and gives the grease drippings to Joxer. They have a loaf of bread and tea, at least.

This brand of tragicomedy played well on the stage, and it’s still respected to this day (especially in Ireland, where the history resonates). But “Juno” perhaps wouldn’t translate to film in any case; no further attempt has been made (although it’s been filmed in stage-play style on TV many times, and has been adapted to radio).

Even with that caveat, this movie is unable to scrape up the basics of story momentum that Hitchcock managed in the other films of his learning era, let alone touches of dynamism. I really loathe “The Farmer’s Wife” and “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” but I have to acknowledge that the majority opinion is on point: “Juno and the Paycock” is the worst film Hitchcock directed.

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