No film director can rival Alfred Hitchcock. His uncanny ability to blend heart-thumping suspense with humor and romance could never be replicated. There are so many little details in Hitchcock films that make them widely recognizable as Hitchcock films, and they all trace their origins back to one of his earliest films: 1929’s “Blackmail.”
“Blackmail” was filmed in Britain, where Hitchcock worked in his early film career before moving to America around 1939. It was also Hitchcock’s first talking film. He actually began filming it as a silent film, but as “talkies” began to take the world by storm, the film’s producer, John Maxwell, gave Hitchcock permission to shoot the rest of the movie with sound. Hitchcock went one step further, filming an entire version of the movie in sound, as well as a silent version, since most theaters were still not yet equipped for sound. The result was Britain’s first “talking” picture, and quite an entertaining movie.
The main character is Alice White (Anny Ondra), a young woman whose boyfriend Frank (John Longden) is a Scotland Yard inspector. While out at a restaurant one night they have an argument and Alice leaves with a man (Cyril Ritchard) who she had agreed to meet earlier. But the man attempts to rape Alice, and she fatally stabs him in his apartment. Frank is assigned to the case, and discovers Alice is the culprit. An ex-convict who saw Alice at the apartment earlier then attempts to blackmail the two, but, as in any Hitchcock film, the tables soon turn.
Although “Blackmail” was Hitchcock’s tenth film, it was the first film to exhibit many of Hitchcock’s trademarks (besides his silent thriller "The Lodger"). In his signature cameo, Hitchcock appears on a bus being pestered by a child (this is also probably Hitchcock’s longest cameo appearance). The film also features a blonde heroine in distress, something featured in most of Hitchcock’s films, particularly his later ones. Then there’s the climax located in a famous place. In this film, there’s a well-shot chase scene in and on the domed roof of the British Museum. Hitchcock utilizes many famous locations around the world in his future films as well, such as Mount Rushmore (“North by Northwest”) and London’s Royal Albert Hall (1956 remake of “The Man Who Knew Too Much”).
But most importantly, like all of Hitchcock’s great movies, “Blackmail” is an entertaining film. Alice is an intriguing woman, though Ondra’s performance is flawed, most likely due to the fact that she had a heavy Czech accent, so her lines were dubbed by British actress Joan Barry. Several of the scenes directly after the murder, such as the repetition of images of knives, convey Alice’s guilt in a manner that words never could. The film slows down a bit after that, but later picks up again for the chase through the British Museum.
“Blackmail” is by no means a perfect film, and doesn’t hold a candle to Hitchcock’s later masterpieces, but it holds up as a testament to a fantastic director’s early work.
3 out of 5 stars.
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