There is much to enjoy in YOUNG AND INNOCENT, entitled THE GIRL WAS YOUNG in the USA. The film opens with a great sequence on a beach, with a wave turning up the body of an actress who was involved with the male lead, Tisdall (played by de Marney). Despite the tragic find, there is a humorous undercurrent even as a couple of nerdy girls find the body, and Tisdall runs to assist them only to be deemed the main suspect.
That comic undercurrent runs right through the film and, in my opinion, raises it to masterpiece levels.
The brief sequence in which Tisdall is scammed by his defense lawyer is as succint as it is deft, but three sequences have stayed with me for all time: the bar brawl, the one in which the car taking the female lead falls into a mine shaft, and the famous long tracking shot in which the murderer is identified.
Cinematography is superlative in its simplicity, dialogue is dated in parts but saved by wonderful comic touches, and only the leads left me feeling that if Robert Donat and Madeleine Carrol were in this film, it would be rated at least as good as THE 39 STEPS. Pillbeam and de Marney make a charming couple, but both come across as somewhat weak.
Hitchcock's direction is flawless, and this to me is his best British period film, after THE LADY VANISHES and THE 39 STEPS.
That comic undercurrent runs right through the film and, in my opinion, raises it to masterpiece levels.
The brief sequence in which Tisdall is scammed by his defense lawyer is as succint as it is deft, but three sequences have stayed with me for all time: the bar brawl, the one in which the car taking the female lead falls into a mine shaft, and the famous long tracking shot in which the murderer is identified.
Cinematography is superlative in its simplicity, dialogue is dated in parts but saved by wonderful comic touches, and only the leads left me feeling that if Robert Donat and Madeleine Carrol were in this film, it would be rated at least as good as THE 39 STEPS. Pillbeam and de Marney make a charming couple, but both come across as somewhat weak.
Hitchcock's direction is flawless, and this to me is his best British period film, after THE LADY VANISHES and THE 39 STEPS.