Blackmail (1929)

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

A Brilliant Conflict

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

"Blackmail" is more interesting than "The Lodger", but was just as ineffective at keeping my attention.I probably didn't concentrate on it for more than a few minutes at a time.I will describe the plot now, so that this review is long enough:A young lady has a man attempt to force himself on her and she kills him with a butter knife (which doesn't seem like a particularly lethal weapon).She gets away with the crime and is blackmailed by someone who knows what she did.The main actress was much better looking than the one in "The Lodger". I think she was also a more effective performer.

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.

Doing some reading on this film, this is Alfred Hitchcock's first talkie film and one of Britain's earliest "all-talkie" feature films (according to the Wiki and other sources). And it's a great talkie at that! This one starts good, goes slow for just a little but for a reason (gloves), then picks back up into a really good crime thriller. In all honesty the ending was a bit of a let down for me. The film was soaring high then the ending just fell flat to me. The whole blackmailer who was already a criminal (been in jail) thing with the cops after him for the murder and Alice not coming out with what happened just fell to the ground for myself. It seems to me they could have done a bit more in the end otherwise this is a good crime thriller but I wasn't overly crazy about the ending.Yes this Hitchcock classic is worth watching - it is good.8/10

Sir Alfred Hitchcock was already a well known film director mostly for his silent films. This film is his talking picture. Blackmail is a short film but worth noting in studying Hitchcock's film catalog. This film stars Anna Ondry who plays a shopkeeper's daughter. She is beautiful and charming. She gets into trouble when she defends herself by killing the artist and leaving the scene. Hitchcock's includes his favorites like Sara Allgood. The film doesn't have too much suspense but we do feel for Alice in her situation but the plot is predictable for the most part. The cast is small enough and focuses on Alice mostly.