The Early Hitchcock Collection Details

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Context is the key

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.

Blackmail

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.