Hitchcock - The Beginning

This year marks the 125th anniversary of one of the most influential and successful directors of all time: Alfred Hitchcock! What better way to celebrate than with this special edition Blu-ray box set, containing 10 of the director’s early works – including his first ‘talkie’ BLACKMAIL (1929). All the films have been restored and come with plenty of Extras, including the bonus disc ‘Becoming Hitchcock – The Legacy of Blackmail’, plus a 64-page booklet and poster. A cinematic treasure trove if ever there was one!

Obviously, we don’t have the space here to go into the details of all of the films on offer and while mentioning them, we will discuss some of them in more detail. Let’s start with the featured works from his silent film era and first up is THE RING (1927), which best can be described as a bit of a hybrid: part love-triangle, part sports drama, the story is set in the world of boxing and revolves around a previously undefeated fairground boxer named "One Round" Jack Sander (Carl Brisson), whose girlfriend, Mabel (Lillian Hall-Davis), also works at the fairground. Trouble ensues when Jack is challenged by a man who not only has an eye on a trophy but on Mabel… To complicate things further, the man turns out to be Australian Heavyweight champion Bob Corby (Ian Hunter), whose manager sees potential in Jack and offers him the chance to become Bob’s sparring partner. Not only is Jack’s reputation at stake but Mabel, whom he recently married, suddenly seems more interested in Bob due to his status. Can Jack turn fate around with the help of his trainer (Gordon Harker)? The plot is relatively simple and as the title suggests, a fair amount of time takes place in the boxing ring though the love triangle drama adds spice to the sweat. It also stands out as Hitchcock’s one and only original screenplay!

Viewers will notice that in his silent films especially, Hitchcock often used some of the same actors again and again and it’s no different with THE FARMER’S WIFE (1928), a comedy of errors so to speak. Set in the countryside, it is an adaptation of Eden Phillpott’s 1916 play of the same name and concerns recently widowed Samuel Sweetland (Jameson Thomas) who, after his daughter leaves home following her marriage, suddenly finds himself alone in the world, only with his attractive young housekeeper Minta (Lillian Hall-Davis) and his grumpy old handyman Churdles Ash (Gordon Harker) for company. Thus Samuel embarks on an odyssey in the hope of finding a new wife though despite his best intentions, every attempt usually ends in disaster (to the amusement of us, the viewers) until he comes to realise that his new love interest is closer than he thinks… Jameson Thomas, who one year later played nightclub owner Valentine Wilmot in the romantic drama PICCADILLY (starring Anna May Wong) is excellent in transmitting all his emotions with a range of exaggerated facial expressions while Gordon Harker’s make-up as cantankerous handyman Ash is enough to place him in a horror film. This is great fun from beginning to end!

On a much grander scale with regards to the set designs and costumes, but also with a considerably thinner plot, is CHAMPAGNE (1928) in which spoilt young heiress Betty (pint-sized Betty Balfour) not only fritters daddy’s money away left, right and centre - much to the chagrin of her boyfriend (played by Jean Bradin). She also incenses daddy Mark (Gordon Harker) by hooking up with her beau, who happens to be on a luxury ocean liner bound for France, by using an aeroplane! Dad Mark reckons it’s high time to teach Betty a lesson and pretends that his champagne business went bust… Camera work and editing are innovative and Balfour’s performance is as bubbly as a glass of, err, champagne!

Another love triangle drama is THE MANXMAN (1929), after the novel by Hall Caine and set on the Isle of Man. When young but rather poor fisherman Pete Quilliam (Carl Brisson) falls in love with pretty Kate (Anny Ondra), the daughter of pub landlord Cregeen (Randle Ayrton), he isn’t interested in Pete’s proposal and even reprimands him for wishing to marry “above his station”. Not accepting defeat, Pete vows to travel to Africa and return a rich man. In the meantime, his childhood friend Philip Christian (Malcolm Keen), a well-educated lawyer on the verge of becoming a deemster (a judge in the Isle of Man judiciary), is supposed to ‘chaperone’ Kate during Pete’s absence. But Philip and Kate fall for each other and when Pete, initially assumed dead due to an illness caught in Africa, unexpectedly returns, tragedy is waiting in the wings…

Disc 5 offers both the silent and the sound version of BLACKMAIL (1929), one of Hitchcock’s early masterpieces and a perfect example of things to come. Striking imagery influenced by German expressionism and clever montage editing, not to mention its breathtaking climax taking place in the British Museum, make the director’s first ‘talkie’ one of the most iconic of all of his London-set films. Alice White (Anny Ondra) is in love with Scotland Yard Detective Frank Webber (John Longden) but feels bored and neglected due to his job commitments. She makes the fatal mistake of beginning a fling with Crewe, an artist who invited her to his studio with the intent of raping her. In self-defence, she stabs him with a bread knife. When Crewe’s body is found by the housekeeper, Scotland Yard investigates and it’s Frank in charge of the investigation. Searching the studio for clues, he finds a glove on the floor and recognises it as Alice’s… Not only is he faced with the dilemma of professional duty versus juxtaposed against protecting his girlfriend - but an unsavoury individual named Tracy (Donald Calthrop) saw Crewe and Alice walking into the artist’s studio on the night of his murder… and now he begins to blackmail her and Detective Frank… One of the best thrillers ever made, BLACKMAIL has stood the test of time!

We remain in the realm of thrillers with the next film, MURDER! (1930) which also offers the German version, MARY (same sets but German actors and German dialogue). Visuals and camera work in MURDER! once again draw from the influences of German expressionism although the plot, by nowadays standards, may well offend some viewers! When aspiring actress Diana (Norah Baring), member of a travelling theatre troupe, is found sitting next to the murdered body of Edna Druce – a fellow thespian who was considerably more established – everything points at Diana as the culprit and the fact that she can’t seem to remember anything doesn’t help. The gallows surely beckons but during the trial, one juror, Sir John Menier (Herbert Marshall), who conveniently happens to be a successful actor-manager, has his doubts and begins his own investigations. Along the way, he finds out that Diana harbours a secret involving Handel Fane (Esme Percy), a trapeze artist and… wait for it… a “half-caste” – something he desperately tried to keep secret but someone must have known the truth…

A rather usual project for Hitchcock was JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK, after the play by Seán O’Casey. Those casting their doubts on Hitchcock’s take may well be surprised to learn that his cinematic adaptation of the popular tragicomedy does the play full justice and even features Barry Fitzgerald as ne’er do well patriarch ‘Captain Jack Boyle’, having already played the part in the original stage production in Dublin’s Abbey Theatre. Set in an impoverished part of Dublin during the Irish Civil War in 1922, the story revolves around the dysfunctional Boyle family and with its acerbic wit and all ‘round bona-fide performances, is a master class in how adaptations should be done!

The final three films are, in this reviewer’s opinion, not among the finest but of course, that depends on one’s personal taste. RICH AND STRANGE (1931) is a romantic comedy concerning a young and middle-class London couple, Fred Hill (Henry Kendall) and his wife Emily (Joan Barry). It’s Fred who is particularly dissatisfied with the daily routine of his existence (travelling on the Tube looks as much like hell as it does these days…) and having steak & kidney pudding every other day. When, by sheer coincidence, he comes into money, the couple book a passage on an ocean liner destined for the orient. It is a journey that will test their marriage to the limit…

THE SKIN GAME (1931) is based on the play by John Galsworthy and depicts the rivalry of two families, namely the upper class Hillcrists and the ‘nouveau riche’ Hornblowers. When Mr. Hornblower (Edmund Gwenn) decides he wants to buy up land belonging to the Hillcrists, it’s Mr. Hillcrist (C. France) who senses an alternative motive and refuses to sell to Hornblower. Soon, the stage is set for an all-out warfare, with tragic consequences…
Finally, we have NUMBER SEVENTEEN (1932) which is publicised as a comedy-thriller but is neither one or the other. When Detective Barton (John Stuart) tracks down a bunch of criminals who are hiding out in a deserted house above a rail depot after a jewel robbery, he gets more than he bargained for… including a script which is nowhere as slick as it could have been or should have been. Nonetheless, the film’s dramatic climax somewhat compensates.

All films come with bonus material and multiple scores to choose from (silent films only) and as always, viewers will no doubt have fun spotting the director in his legendary brief cameo appearances!