Blackmail

Blackmail (1929)


Runtime: 85 minutes


Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock


Starring: Anny Ondra, Charles Paton, Sara Allgood, John Longden, Cyril Ritchard


From: British International Pictures


Yes, this is another early Hitchcock film. I picked this one out so that I could finish all that I had recorded on a VHS tape; yes, that's how I still tape things on TV in 2013. Anyhow, now that tape can be used later. This movie is usually considered the first “British talkie”, or at least the first popular one. There's a silent version of this movie but that's obscure and real hard to find.


The plot, from the IMDb: “Alice White is the daughter of a shopkeeper in 1920's London. Her boyfriend, Frank Webber is a Scotland Yard detective who seems more interested in police work than in her. Frank takes Alice out one night, but she has secretly arranged to meet another man. Later that night Alice agrees to go back to his flat to see his studio. The man has other ideas and as he tries to rape Alice, she defends herself and kills him with a bread knife. When the body is discovered, Frank is assigned to the case, he quickly determines that Alice is the killer, but so has someone else and blackmail is threatened.” Of course, during this time period, all you see of the attempted rape is he grabbing her, their figures in the shadow, then you only hear the struggle and you see her grab the knife to stab him.


Overall, I do have to say that I enjoyed this more than I did Murder! It wasn't as slow or dull at times like that one was. I'll say this was a little above average, with some ambiguity and it was finely acted. As expected, it was well-filmed and had some quality shots done that you'd expect from Hitch.


There was even some nice audio gags. Speaking of audio, silent star Ondra had to be dubbed as she had quite the Czech accent. She was a pretty blonde (of course, with who was directing it) whose career went kaput once the talkies began. Anyhow, the actual blackmailing is a small part of the plot, and I'll leave it at that and say that things can be a two way street sometiems; there are some twists and turns along the way, and the ending was at least memorable.



I'll be back tomorrow night.