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The Early Hitchcock Collection details

Format:	PG DVD
Starring:	Anne Grey, Lillian Hall-Davis, C.V. France, Betty Balfour, Jameson Thomas, Anny Ondra, Gordon Harker, Helen Haye, Norah Baring, Leon M. Lion, Henry Kendall, Carl Brisson, Joan Barry, Malcolm Keen, Herbert Marshall
Director:	Alfred Hitchcock
Genres:	Comedy - British, Drama - General, Romance - General, Thriller - General, Whodunnit
Studio:	ELEVATION

DVD 9 discs

Name	Discs
Early Hitchcock - Blackmail	PG Disc 1
Early Hitchcock - Murder!	PG Disc 2
Early Hitchcock - Skin Game	PG Disc 3
Early Hitchcock - Rich And Strange	U Disc 4
Early Hitchcock - Number Seventeen	U Disc 5
Early Hitchcock - The Ring	U Disc 6
Early Hitchcock - The Manxman	U Disc 7
Early Hitchcock - The Farmer's Wife	U Disc 8
Early Hitchcock - Champagne	U Disc 9

DVD Information

Run time:	12 hours 35 minutes
Rental release:	26 Feb 2007
Main languages:	English

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Most helpful review The Early Hitchcock Collection

Context is the key

By fatherlogan (5 reviews) from Plymouth , 13 May 2008

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS Show review anywayHide

[Highly rated reviewer]

When viewing the Alfred Hitchcock Collection it is important to understand the times in which they were made. Technologically talkies were in their infancy and many directors including Hitchcock were experimenting with new sounds and equipment.

For that reason the silents here like 'The Ring' are the most polished and Hitchcockian in style (not necessarily content).

For the talkies I'd pick out 'Blackmail' as incredibly inventive and resonant of later Hitch works (transference of guilt, the struggle between duty and love and of course a fair bit of sex and violence).

It is worth noting that when compared to movies of the same decade almost all of these stand up well, although apart from a few camera tricks 'Champagne' does fall a little flat.

'Rich and Strange' is an oddity that not everyone gets. Another review mentioned racism about the Chinese. The scene at the end of the film shows 'difference' of cultures, and it is the reaction of the English characters that is the focus (they can't understand how Chinese fishermen can kill and eat a cat...the couple find them cute and furry and why they leave a comrade to drown. The film itself points up the fact that this couple were small fish (naive ones at that) in a big pond.

If you watch these movies you will find entertainment, but you must engage with the era to gain full appreciation.
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Early Hitchock - Blackmail

By a customer from North of Watford , 02 Nov 2010

This was director Alfred Hitchcock’s first talking picture. Czech actress Anny Ondra, whose voice was replaced by a British actress, plays a pretty young blonde woman who suffers attempted rape and kills her assailant (all this is done chillingly but not too graphically). She is spotted at the scene by a crook (Donald Calthrop) who attempts to blackmail her. Hitch makes his customary cameo appearance as a passenger on a train, and the climax at the British Museum is quite something. There is a silent version preferred by some. Either way ‘Blackmail’ is a treat for fans of old movies.
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Rich and Strange - HitchcockThis movie i

By a customer from Stranraer , 02 Nov 2009

This movie is now quite dated and based on a very moralistic plot. Only for dyed-in-the-wool Hitchcock afficionados.
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Blackmail

By a customer from Ashbourne , 28 Apr 2009

Made in 1929 (! 80years ago!) it started out as a silent film, but Hitch knew that the Talkies were on their way and cleverly shot lots of scenes with the actors' backs to the camera. Sure enough the producers decided they wanted a talking picture, and although he had to re-shoot a lot, he managed to record sound over a lot of the original scenes too. Not only is it a good film in its own right (better than some of his later ones like 39 Steps, Vertigo, Spellbound and Notorious) but it's fascinating to study which scenes were the original silent ones. The only problem is that the female star was Czech, with an accent too strong for the audience, so her lines had to be spoken by someone else. As there was no history of dubbing and no technique for synchronisation, the words were spoken simultaneously as the scene was filmed, with the actress just miming. So there is a lot of mismatching of lips and sound, which is a shame as her acting is superb.
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Skin Game - poor quality transfer, avoid

By a customer from North of Reading , 02 Dec 2008

Very difficult to enjoy this movie because of the terrible sound quality at times when you can barely hear the actors and rasing the volume only raise the background hiss. The story is also fairly mundane and melodramatic and tries to give an account of morals being corrupted in a clash between old and new money. As a new-ish director Hitchcock may have had some sympathy with the brash new money antogonist but the story does seem to side with the upper class family. Due to the technical problems, only watch if your are a completist.
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Early talker

By a customer from Lydbury North , 14 Nov 2008

Obviously suffering from the limitations of the medium at the time, this film should really

only be watched by Hitchophiles. The story is an interesting one, particularly for those who thought that sex was only invented in 1963, and some of the scenes remind one of later Hitchcock classics, in particular 'Psycho'. The cinematography is at times great, for example look at the scene when the girl thinks she's going to be accused and the shadow of the window reflects a noose round her neck. A great early film from the undoubted master of British cinema. Look out for him as a passenger being pestered by a little boy on the train.
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