Alfred Hitchcock's first talking picture leaves one disoriented for quite a few minutes into the story before any words are spoken. There are scenes where people are speaking to each other, though no word screens appear, and this viewer was left wondering if the description on the slip cover of my DVD was in error. However, after reading other reviews of the film, it now makes sense that the film was originally commissioned as a silent, but was then given the go ahead as a talkie. Elements of the silent film style abound, and not just in the opening scenes. Prominent are the full screen facial closeups of the principal characters and the wide eyed demureness of leading lady Anny Ondra.
Ondra portrays Alice White, daughter of a shopkeeper and keeping company with Detective Frank Webber (John Longden). An admiring artist who's hand written note requests her presence at a local restaurant leaves Alice searching for ways to break off her date with Frank. I was rather amused by Crewe's (Cyril Ritchard) attempt to entice Alice with his etchings; I always thought that was a lame pick up line, and here it's being used in 1929.
What begins innocently enough quickly spirals into disaster, as Alice must fend off Crewe's advances, and with a knife at arm's reach her defense causes Crewe's death. Shades of "Psycho", the scene is conveyed off screen as an earlier silhouette shows the couple struggling wildly. That's only one of the Hitchcockian conventions used here, there's also the repeated use of a long stairway, it's downward view a precursor to what we'll see again in "Vertigo". Getting back to the knife though, perhaps it might have been too shocking for film audiences to accept back then, but after the struggle, Alice clearly displays the weapon, which has no blood on it! Also, she was wearing only a light colored slip, and there was no indication of a struggle or bloodstains to add grimace to the proceedings.
Donald Calthrop is convincing as the blackmailing schemer Tracy, whose bold plan is to extort both Alice and Frank who has been put on the case. The detective already knows who the killer is, his conflicted willingness to help Alice receives an unwitting boost when Tracy is fingered as a possible suspect in the artist's death. Taken into custody by Scotland Yard, one has to do a double take when the police van has to make a stop, and Tracy simply gets out and runs away! He receives his due though, as he meets his end falling through a skylight at the British Museum.
Loose ended plot points notwithstanding, I found "Blackmail" to be an intriguing film and a worthwhile effort from Alfred Hitchcock. It's not well known and that's unfortunate, as this early look at his directing style is peppered with elements for which he would later become famous, not the least of which is Hitchcock's own cameo on a train in the early part of the story. It's also educational, for example, I learned that in England, a police lineup is called an "Identification Parade"!
Ondra portrays Alice White, daughter of a shopkeeper and keeping company with Detective Frank Webber (John Longden). An admiring artist who's hand written note requests her presence at a local restaurant leaves Alice searching for ways to break off her date with Frank. I was rather amused by Crewe's (Cyril Ritchard) attempt to entice Alice with his etchings; I always thought that was a lame pick up line, and here it's being used in 1929.
What begins innocently enough quickly spirals into disaster, as Alice must fend off Crewe's advances, and with a knife at arm's reach her defense causes Crewe's death. Shades of "Psycho", the scene is conveyed off screen as an earlier silhouette shows the couple struggling wildly. That's only one of the Hitchcockian conventions used here, there's also the repeated use of a long stairway, it's downward view a precursor to what we'll see again in "Vertigo". Getting back to the knife though, perhaps it might have been too shocking for film audiences to accept back then, but after the struggle, Alice clearly displays the weapon, which has no blood on it! Also, she was wearing only a light colored slip, and there was no indication of a struggle or bloodstains to add grimace to the proceedings.
Donald Calthrop is convincing as the blackmailing schemer Tracy, whose bold plan is to extort both Alice and Frank who has been put on the case. The detective already knows who the killer is, his conflicted willingness to help Alice receives an unwitting boost when Tracy is fingered as a possible suspect in the artist's death. Taken into custody by Scotland Yard, one has to do a double take when the police van has to make a stop, and Tracy simply gets out and runs away! He receives his due though, as he meets his end falling through a skylight at the British Museum.
Loose ended plot points notwithstanding, I found "Blackmail" to be an intriguing film and a worthwhile effort from Alfred Hitchcock. It's not well known and that's unfortunate, as this early look at his directing style is peppered with elements for which he would later become famous, not the least of which is Hitchcock's own cameo on a train in the early part of the story. It's also educational, for example, I learned that in England, a police lineup is called an "Identification Parade"!