REVIEW : "Blackmail" (sound) (1929) - Movie by Alfred Hitchcock

The early British Hitchcock movies are a mixed experience. He certainly had his trademarks already present in even the first one from 1925, but generally the films vary a lot in quality over the runtime. In my opinion this is often due to pacing issues, which is none more apparent here.

Blackmail marks the transition point from silent to talking pictures and there were made a version of the movie for each media. This is an important aspect to spend some time on, not least to explain the movie´s weaknesses.

Hitchcock was obviously fully aware that the talkies were there to stay and sooner or later push the silent cinema to the side. Therefore he deliberately planned the shooting of Blackmail so that in the event that the company decided to go the sound way, he was ready.

He meticulously planned the shots, so that the actors faces (and lips) were only visible to the extend they needed if dialogue was also to be given from that actor. Sound could then be added to many scenes later that were shot silent without it looking completely ridiculous.

This was not always possible, but he would only need to do a few pickups fill that in, which he could also plan ahead and be presenting a talkie version of the movie in comparatively no time. This turned out to be a brilliant idea, at least in some regards, as the company opted for a sound version midway through shooting.

The problems that went along with this setup is quite apparent though. The pacing of the movie is quite bad in my opinion. The silent scenes well made pretty much all of them and have all the trademarks of Hitchcock and an experienced silent director/auteur. But the intercut sound dialogue scenes are stiff, slow and at times just plain amateurishly made.

It is clear that Hitchcock really did not have too much idea about what to do with sound and how to make dialogues interesting and gel with the rest. A notable exception is the scene after the girl has killed the rapist, she sits eating lunch with her family in the back of the shop. A customer is going on about the murder and the girl, being burdened by her guilt, start hearing only the word “knife”...”knife”.... while the rest muddles up, until she drops a knife when the word amplifies out in the end. A very brave and stylish move. Only a director of Hitchcocks confidenve would dare such creativity.

Another point is that sound was merely seen as a gimmick, often times appearing only halfway into the runtime, i guess as a kind of surprise. As is often the case with new technology, it can be difficult to envision its full potential and some time is needed for it to settle in.

Another problem regarding sound appeared, which was European actor Anna Onda´s unsuitable accent. Hitchcock made sound checks with her (quite famously still with us , showing the naughty side of Hitch) and even if she sounds pretty decent, he discarded her voice. In stead he hired a British actor to sync the voice directly microphone while Onda mimed in her dialogue scenes. The voice and lip movement can often be seen out of sync.

It certainly didn´t help to make the dialogue scenes less stiff and uninspired, that Hitch chose this setup. It must have been awkward to have your debut in sound cinema while you opposite actor only mimes. They must have felt a bit like "is this the way cinema is going to go" (that old silent actors would have to be synced).

By far the best part of the movie is the silent scenes as pointed out and not least the chase through The British Museum. There are several iconic shots here, like the bad guy lowering himself down a rope next to a big Hell looking face (Metropolis) and the chase on the roof with the men in silhouette.

We also see the well known use of striped shadows for the cops arriving in the chamber in the first scenes. Staircases are used more than once. Another memorable shot to me, is the policeman becoming more and more imposing through the front window of a car, until it stops. Hitch´s fear of police, as he famously remarked himself, is yet again evident.

This is an uneven product, to say the least. I would only recommend it for Hitchcock fans, serious cinephiles or someone particularly interested in the transition from silent to talkies. It certainly has its share of classic Hitchcock trademarks, but it does not work too well as a coherent story. The rape/murder/suspense plot is basically fine, but the pacing is bad and some scenes are like watching talking statues. Watch it for the silent scenes and NOT the sound. I will review the silent version if I get hold of it sometime later.

5/10