Blackmail (1929)

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Starring Anny Ondra, John Longden, Cyril Ritchard, Donald Calthrop, Sara Allgood, Charles Paton, Harvey Braban, Hannah Jones.

Hitchcock’s first synchronized-sound picture (the first in all of Britain, in fact) tells a simple and straightforward dramatic thriller story, but the now-familiar Master’s touch is felt off and on throughout. Ondra steps out with another man, but when he assaults her in his apartment and she kills him in self-defense, a criminal witness (Calthrop) blackmails both her and her Scotland Yard boyfriend (Longden). Some intriguing and exciting moments, including a climactic chase that exposes the director’s fascination for high-style set pieces at landmarks and public locations, but uneven pacing, heavy-handed psychological torment (e.g., repeated knife motifs), and the expected clunky early-talkie performances keep it from ever really getting going. Several sequences, including the first seven minutes, are filmed without sound aside from the musical score accompaniment and the odd creaky sound effect; also released in a completely silent version due to so many theaters in England being unequipped to handle the new format at the time.

63/100