Blackmail (1929)

BLACKMAIL (DVD MOVIE) Product Description

Blackmail Review

This is very early Hitchcock. It's a pretty good film but not one of his best. One thing I found interesting is that there's no speaking during the first several minutes of the film. It starts out as if it's going to be a silent film. The plot is good, acting is fine. The visual quality of the copy that I received was sub-par. I realize this is an old film and one can't expect the clarity of a modern film, but I was hoping for it to be at least slightly better than it is. But perhaps I got a dud and maybe there are better looking copies available out there. But overall I liked the story, actors and the film in general. July 7, 2008

Bad video quality, great film

Here's another public domain copy of one of Hitchcock's early films. The video is just entirely too fuzzy, and I don't recommend it. Won't someone take an interest in restoring Hitchcock's early films for DVD in Region 1? This film may not hold up among Hitchcock's great films from his golden years of 1948 through 1963, but compare it to any other talking picture from 1929 and then tell me what you think.

The fact is, this film is shot part silent. Yes there is sound, but there is no synchronized dialogue until about ten minutes into the film when the police detective and his girlfriend who are the central characters speak to one another. Shooting the film primarily silent with synchronized effects and leaving the talking sequences for segments of the film where dialogue was necessary and then having the judgement to know how much dialogue was enough and stop at that point was something Hitchcock got from the beginning. Watch some of the long-winded speeches from some other 1929 films and realize that many of Hitchcock's contemporaries struggled with this skill.

The story is a good one. Alice is feeling neglected by her detective boyfriend, and follows a handsome artist up to his flat. After some flirting the artist turns suddenly violent and assaults her. She defends herself by grabbing a knife and stabbing the man. Stunned and sure she has not been seen by anyone entering the man's flat, she attempts to erase all signs of her presence there and returns home. She mentions the incident to noone, but is weighted down with guilt.

Frank, Alice's boyfriend, investigates the crime scene and sees Alice's glove. He confiscates it. Unfortunately, someone else who is not Alice has the other glove. The lovers don't discuss anything but the threat of the blackmailer until the end of the film. Like many of Hitchcock's later works, much of his art is in furtive glances and in objects that recall the crime rather than specific dialogue. An example of this is a jester in the artist's painting that Alice sees as pointing at her and thus accusing her. The jester meets Alice's eye both immediately after the crime and at the end of the film.

Highly recommended as one of the best talking pictures of 1929. However, I am yet to find a satisfactory copy on DVD.
May 9, 2008

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