Blackmail (1929)
Directed by: Aldred Hitchcock
Starring: Anna Ondra, John Longdon, Donald Calthrop
Length: 84 min
Genre: Crime Drama
Based on: Play "Blackmail" written by Charles Bennett
Alfred Hitchcock's first talkie.
Alice White (Anna Ondra) gets into a fight with her boyfriend, Frank Webber (John Longdon) who works as a detective. She goes back to an apartment of an artist she had previously met and they flirt back and forth. Things turn ugly when he has had enough flirting and wants more. He tries to physcially force himself on her, and Alice grabs a knife and stabs him to death.
She panics, tries to erase all evidence that she was there, but not only did she leave a glove behind, a petty criminal called Tracy (Donald Calthrop) sees her. Frank is put on the case and finds the glove. He confronts Alice the next day, and shortly after, Tracy confronts both of them. Tracy tries to blackmail them, but things turn around on him when he is made the prime suspect.
The film started out production as a silent movie and was switched to a talkie. The awkwardness is very noticeable, especially at the beginning. Apparently, the studio wanted just the last reel in sound (they were influenced by The Jazz Singer, a mostly silent part-talkie). Hitchcock thought that was absurd and secretly filmed the whole thing in sound. Another point of trivia, Anna Ondra had a thick German accent, so they had Joan Barry speak her lines into a microphone as they filmed. That may have been the first ever "dub".
The sound-on-film equipment was bulky and not easily moved. The camera had to stay stationary in these early sound pictures. It seemed like Hitchcock experimented as best he could with what he had, but the technology just wasn't there. But some scenes are very "Hitchcock-esque", mainly the chase scenes where there are no talking (and so they would be using the easier-to-use silent equipment).
A good movie, though, despite the limitations of the technology. Definitely a transitional movie for Hitchcock as he continues to evolve into the director everyone knows about, and one that should be seen by any fan of his work.
My Rating: 7/10
IMDB Rating: 7.0/10 (2,646 voites)
Rotten Tomatoes: 89% - 9 reviews (8 fresh, 1 rotten) - 6.7/10 average
This isn't on the above list. I forgot that this was on the same disc as Easy Virtue, so instead of renting the DVD twice, I watched it back when I had watched Easy Virtue. Consider it a bonus movie.
Lastly, thanks for the kind words and welcome aboard SI and Colt!