Blackmail (1929)

People are voting emotionally.

Just perfect...

Great Film overall

As Good As It Gets

Alfred Hichcock could make a good movie. This is not one of the them. If you want to see a good Alfred Hichcock movie see Psycho. Do not see this. This has an awful story line. It has an awful ending. It is not a good movie.

2.5/4This is one of Hitchcock's earliest works and his first notable "talkie", but as a story, there is a lot lacking. The performance delivered by Ondra was impressive, and definitely the best on the set, as her hallucinations and trauma seemed very convincing. The fate of the story really rests on the lead's shoulders, and in Blackmail, it was a particularly heavy burden.The first 5 or so minutes is silent. You can see people talking, but no sound, only a score. Then, all of a sudden, our female lead steps in and the voices kick in. Her boyfriend is a cop, but she has dinner arrangements with an aspiring artist. When she goes home with him, he tries to rape her and as he does, she fatally stabs him. She quickly covers up any evidence that she was there, and makes an escape. Her boyfriend finds out and tries to cover it up for her so she won't get arrested, but an unlikely witness blackmails her.Interestingly enough, the plot never truly felt wrapped up. To my surprise, they didn't reconcile and establish the outcome of the case, and instead left it to the interpreter. It definitely isn't Hitch's best, even for the late 20's and early 30's, but it's definetely good in both the objective and subjective sense.

Dating myself here. "His Master's Voice" was on the labels of RCA Victor records 80 years ago and even longer than that. My summary is woven from that slender thread - The heroine (Anny Ondra) had a pronounced accent and was dubbed. But even a dubbed-in voice didn't prevent her from nearly sinking the picture, as once again Ms. Ondra comes up short in the acting department. Recall, she was in "The Manxman" (1928) and displayed the same lack of acting skill.In "Blackmail", she is passable until the rape scene. Thereafter, she becomes catatonic and wanders in a daze for the rest of the picture. It was very unconvincing - how could Hitchcock put up with such an inept acting turn? The savior of the film is Donald Calthrop, the blackmailer in question, with a performance that turns an exercise in the ordinary acting-wise into something special.Oh yes, the story. This was a first-rate movie in all respects. It was taut and with very little down time, thanks to Hitchcock. It moves along quickly and is absorbing despite divulging the contents in the first half hour. Back to the acting - since this was the dawn of the talking era, it was overacted except for Calthrop, who struck the right chord and was convincing as well as loathsome. Anyone remember Cyril Ritchard? he was the murder victim, and a veteran of the stage and not often seen on the screen.May I offer an opinion? From a brutally realistic standpoint, why should the actions of a victim of a rape attempt be considered criminal, and didn't she do what she had to do to fend off her attacker? Sometimes in this world one has to do what one must, in order to survive - even if it is at great variance with society's, as well as one's own, code of ethics. Tough luck for the would-be rapist - justifiable homicide would be my verdict. Just my own thought. Most of the time my own thoughts wouldn't hold up in a court of law.

Alfred Hitchcock was one of the more prominent directors working during one of the greatest technical innovations the cinema world ever saw. The innovation I'm referring to is, of course, sound. The jump from silent movies to talkies was a major one and not all directors could cope with the change incredibly well. Blackmail is Hitchcock's first ever talkie, and it's admittedly a bit rough, but not too bad. It tells the story of Alice White, the daughter of a shopkeeper in London. One night she meets a man who ends up inviting her into his art studio. While there this man tries to rape Alice, so she murders him. The guilt and paranoia immediately sets in as Alice's world comes crashing down around her as the cover up gets out of hand. Alice's boyfriend, Frank, is the police detective assigned to the case. He finds out about Alice's guiltiness, but so does someone else. Thus, a twisted tale of blackmail and treachery occurs. It's a tale that is simple enough, and provides for a mildly entertaining little flick.Hitchcock is obviously a very stylistic director who has his own very specific ways of going about things. He builds suspense in his own unique ways and weaves his intricate stories so carefully. When making the awkward jump to talkies Hitchcock had to change his formula up a bit with the new resources available to him. Blackmail marks his first attempt at creating his suspenseful atmosphere with sound. Thus it is a little rough around the edges and is missing that air of Hitchcockian brilliance. There isn't anything particularly special about Blackmail. It's a simple, even somewhat dull, story without a lot of complexity or sophistication. However, we can see the first inklings of Hitchcock's style begin to establish here in the way the characters banter, the way the plot tries to twist and turn, and the way the film ends. These innovations are a bit restricted here, but we all know where Hitchcock would be headed after this film.There isn't much else to say about Blackmail. It isn't a terribly engaging film and it's fairly forgettable. For die hard Hitchcock fans it is interesting to watch because of the significance of this film within his filmography. As Hitchcock's very first talkie this film is one worth noting, if only for that fact. Everything else about the film is decent, but there's nothing tremendous here.