Blackmail - Alfred Hitchcock

Blackmail (from 1929) is the first sound film that Hitchcock directed. It is interesting because he filmed it as a silent film, or at least portions of it feel that way as there are no outside sounds. You don't hear street noises, or anything other than what you are supposed to hear which makes me feel that the whole film was dubbed later. According to Spoto, Hitchcock had finished filming Blackmail and was in the process of editing it when British International approached him and told him they had the sound equipment all set up if he wanted to make the first British Talkie. With that, he reshot some sequences. The trouble was that Anny Ondra (from The Manxman) was a Czech actress with a pronounced accent. Because of that, her voice was dubbed by Joan Barry. Anny was filmed speaking her lines but not producing any sound, while Joan was next to the mic speaking the lines out loud to be recorded. Because of this situation there are many parts of the film that still feel like a silent picture. However, this is the first film since The Lodger that Hitchcock really gets his thriller on.

The story, based on the play by Charles Bennett, is this. Alice (Anny Ondra) is dating Detective Frank Webber (John Longden) from Scotland Yard. The opening is an exciting sequence that starts on the wheels of a car and eventually show a police car rushing to the scene of a crime. They get the criminal, and after getting him booked - Frank says he has to go because he has a date. Alice is waiting there for him and complains about always having to wait. He takes her to get food and the place is packed. There is some humor with them trying to find a place to sit, as well as get the attention of the waitstaff. Unknown to Frank, Alice has been talking to an artist (Cyril Ritchard, probably best known as playing Captain Hook in the Mary Martin led musical Peter Pan). Alice and the artist had set up meeting and so after a tiff in which Frank leaves, Alice and the artist leave together. Frank follows them and see that they go up to the artists flat. While in the flat, the artist makes advances that are rebuffed, but eventually he goes too far. Alice, in self defense, grabs a knife and kills the artist. She leaves and goes back home - in a daze, not sure what to do. The attack is shown through some shadowplay, but also the movement of the curtain surrounding the artist's bed. You can see from the movement that a struggle is happening and suddenly you see a hand reach out and grab a knife that happens to be on the bedside table. The next thing coming out of the curtain is the arm of the artist as he dies on his bed. This is one thing I truly appreciate about Hitchcock, the implication of violence and gore without showing it. 

The next morning Alice is awake and told that she is late to work - which happens to be her father's shop downstairs. They are breakfasting in room to the side of the shop, taking turns ringing up customers as they come in. A neighbor woman comes and talks about the murder that happened. She keeps going on about how he was killed with a knife. As she goes on, the focus is on Alice's face, and all you actually hear is the word "knife" repeated - supposedly every time the woman says it. It is a bit of wonderful direction. There is also a moment where Alice opens her mouth to scream, but the sound you hear is the scream of the housekeeper finding the dead artist. For the first sound feature, Hitchcock does sone really great things.

Eventually Frank shows up, fresh from the crime scene where he is part of the investigation. He brings one of Alice's gloves that she had accidentally dropped there. The other glove was found by a man who comes into the store and tries to blackmail Alice and Frank. The rest of the story...I will let you discover on your own. There are some fantastic transitions in this film, and so great chase scenes as well. Hitchcock is also back for a cameo...in the underground being tormented by a little boy playing with his hat. The version I watched was put out by Kino Lorber and includes the film as a silent, as well as a sound film. It also has audio commentary, audio of an interview with Hitchcock, an introduction by Noël Simsolo, and Anny Ondra's screen test (for her voice). I have not watched this with commentary yet, but look forward to doing so.