It's fascinating to watch early movies by great directors. From the perfect structure of Kubrick's The Killing to the masterful visual storytelling of Spielberg's Duel, from the audacious camera work of Argento's The Bird with the Crystal Plumage to the gorgeous composition of Scott's The Duellists, one gets to spy the first hints of genius.
Blackmail was Hitchcock's first talking picture, the story of a young woman who kills a man in self-defense and is later approached by a shady witness who wants money in exchange for his silence, while the protagonist's boyfriend, a Scotland Yard detective, gets involved in the case.
The director's visual talent shines through, with touches like a match-cut between a fingerprint and the face of a suspect, a vertiginous view of a flight of stairs, the quietly sinister way the killing is shot. Blackmail includes also some of Hitch's recurring themes (an ordinary person involved in a crime, the fear of the police which dominates most of the director's work) and his black humour (the leering portrait of an old man who appears to mock the protagonists at their weakest moments).
The movie peaks with the attack and killing halfway through; the last act is weaker. Still, for a picture which is almost 90 years old as I type this, it feels remarkably fresh and well-paced - a sure sign of a master at the helm.
7/10
Blackmail was Hitchcock's first talking picture, the story of a young woman who kills a man in self-defense and is later approached by a shady witness who wants money in exchange for his silence, while the protagonist's boyfriend, a Scotland Yard detective, gets involved in the case.
The director's visual talent shines through, with touches like a match-cut between a fingerprint and the face of a suspect, a vertiginous view of a flight of stairs, the quietly sinister way the killing is shot. Blackmail includes also some of Hitch's recurring themes (an ordinary person involved in a crime, the fear of the police which dominates most of the director's work) and his black humour (the leering portrait of an old man who appears to mock the protagonists at their weakest moments).
The movie peaks with the attack and killing halfway through; the last act is weaker. Still, for a picture which is almost 90 years old as I type this, it feels remarkably fresh and well-paced - a sure sign of a master at the helm.
7/10