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Scene from Blackmail, directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Over the holiday weekend I had the pleasure of watching some early Hitchcock films on VHS. The most well-known of the three may possibly be The Lady Vanishes (due to Michael Redgrave’s stellar performance), and The Secret Agent had serious star power in John Gielgud, Peter Lorre and Robert Young. But my favorite of the three was Blackmail.
Released in 1929, Blackmail was the first talkie made in England. I enjoyed the way the actors’ voices were treated at times just like extraneous street noise; they would float in and out just like streetcars or the crowd in a café. I’m not sure whether this was intentional on Hitchcock’s part or due to the technological limitations of the time, but it worked. At times he may have worn his influences on his sleeve – the use of light and shadow was reminiscent of German films of the same time period, as was some of the camerawork.
But Blackmail utilized various themes that crop up again and again throughout Hitchcock’s work, particularly using a well-known or landmark area to shoot a pivotal scene (the chase scene in the British Museum was stunning, see video above) and a gorgeous but deeply flawed lead female character. Anny Ondra’s voice had to be dubbed; her Czech accent was deemed too thick for a British audience. Her film career ended soon after Blackmail, which is a shame…she gave great face.
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