1929 was not only a
crucial year in Hollywood history, with the coming of sound, but was also in
Britain. With local film production in decline and the British film industry having
to compete with the more polished and financially successful American studio
product, British films were fighting for survival.
That year, Alfred Hitchcock’s
Blackmail began as a silent film production. However, the producer,
John Maxwell, was anxious to cash in on the new technology and gave Hitchcock
the okay to reshoot some of the film as, what was called back then, a “talkie.”
However, it has been reported that Hitchcock wanted to reshoot the entire film with
sound. However, the finished film was a combination of the two technologies.
The first six and
half minutes of the sound version are lifted from the silent film. So much so,
that at one point you might be wonder if you’re watching the silent version
before you hear non-synchronized dialogue. There are other sequences of the sound
film that are also from the silent version as well.
There was some other obstacles to get over, including the fact that the lead actress, Prague-born Anny Ondra, had a noticeable Czech accent, and according to some, a "reedy voice", that was judged unsuitable for the film. With sound in its infancy, something like dubbing was not possible. Rather that re-casting the lead, Hitchcock hired actress Joan Barry to read the dialogue off-camera while Ondra lip-synched her lines.
The film opens in
London on April 26, 1929. The police are seen being dispatched to arrest as a
suspect. When they get to his apartment, Tracy (Donald Calthrop) attempts to
draw a gun on the police in the room. He is overpowered and arrested. He fights
with the police as they put him in a cell.
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| Criminal Tracy (Donald Calthrop) in police custody. |
After cleaning up, Detective Frank Webber (John Longden) finally meets up with girlfriend, Alice White (Anny Ondra), who is tired of waiting. On the way, they take public transport where Hitchcock makes his cameo.
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| Hitchcock's cameo with Frank (John Longden) and Alice (Anny Ondra) on their date. |
The two continue to argue, even after they find a seat at a restaurant. It’s crowded and they at first end up “sharing” a table for two with another couple. When another table opens up, they grab it but, in the rush, Alice forgets her gloves, which Frank retrieves.
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| Alice seems happy to see Crewe arrive. |
While Frank is busy trying to get the waitress’s attention, Alice checks her purse and a note invites her to meet another man at the same place. When it looks like he’s not there, Alice agrees to go to the movies with Frank. However, when Mr. Crewe (Cyril Ritchard) arrives, Alice changes her mind again and decides not to go.
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| Frank sees Crewe (Cyril Ritchard) leave with Alice. |
Tired of the arguing, and unable to get the waitress’s attention, Frank decides to bail on the date, puts down enough to pay for dinner and leaves. Before his seat is even too cold, Crewe comes over and sits down with Alice. But once outside the door, Frank starts to reconsider his rash decision. He’s pondering about going back and making amends, when he witnesses Alice and Crewe leaving together.
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| Crewe checks on a message with his landlady (Hannah Jones). |
Later, Crewe persuades a reluctant Alice to come see his studio. Before going in, they are accosted by a man from the neigborhood, Tracy, looking for a hand out. Once inside, and before they go up to his room, Crewe finds a message left for him and goes to see the landlady (Hannah Jones). She tells him that a man has been by several times looking for him.
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| Crewe shows Alice how to paint. |
Upstairs in Crewe’s top story studio, while he’s making drinks, Alice admires a painting of a laughing clown. She’s curious and asks him how to hold his palette. He shows her and she paints a cartoonish drawing of a face. Taking her hand, he adds a few strokes of a naked feminine figure and, guiding her hand, they sign the picture with her name.
She becomes curious
about a dancer's outfit that's hanging up. He encourages her to try it on.
Reluctantly, she does, while Crewe sings and plays "Miss Up-to-Date"
on the piano. She wants to know how she looks and Crewe is encouraging.
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| Crewe won't take no for an answer. |
But when Crewe steals a kiss, Alice is disgusted. She decides to leave and starts changing her clothes. In an effort to get her to come from behind the vanity screen, he takes her dress from the changing area.
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| Alice reaches for something and finds the knife. |
When she goes to retrieve it, Crewe pulls her behind the curtain and onto his bed, where he attempts to rape her; her cries for help are not heard on the street below. In desperation, Alice reaches out for something to fend him off with and grabs a nearby bread knife. She kills him.
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| Alice is in a state of shock following the murder. |
Alice is in shock over what had just happened. When she sees the painting of the laughing clown and thinks he’s laughing at her predicament, she tears a hole in the painting.
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| Alice manages to sneak out of Crewe's apartment building. |
Then, she quickly dresses and makes sure to make sure there was no evidence of her being there. She stops to paint over her signature on the painting. She manages to sneak out. But as she hits the street, we see the shadow of a man.
She walks the
streets of London all night in a daze. When she sees a street beggar holding
out his hand in the same way Crewe’s hand landed, she screams.
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| Alice see's a beggar's arm posed in the same way... |
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| ...the landlady finds Crewe's arm. Both women scream. |
At the same moment, Crewe’s landlady discovers his body and it is her scream that we hear.
Alice goes home and
feigns having been in bed all night when her mother (Sara Allgood) brings her
morning tea.
Downstairs at her father’s
(Charles Paton) tobacconist, the day is starting but in the living area, the
family is about to have breakfast. A gossiping customer (Phyllis Konstam) wants
to talk about the murder and is shocked that a knife was used.
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| Gossipy customer (Phyllis Konstam) inadvertently tortures Alice with the word "knife." |
While Alice is seated at the table, she’s not really there, only thinking about the murder. As the customer prattles on, she only hears one word “knife” every time it is said and eventually, when asked to cut the loaf of bread, Alice drops the knife she’s holding.
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| Frank pockets Alice's glove when he finds it in Crewe's studio. |
Meanwhile, Frank is assigned to the murder. When he arrives on scene, he’s told to take a look around. He recognizes the dead man and the only bit of evidence he finds is Alice’s glove, which he recognizes and pockets.
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| Frank shows Alice the glove he'd found. |
He goes to the shop to see Alice. Taking her into the phone booth, he shows her the glove he’s found, but Alice won’t or can’t speak.
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| Tracy lets Frank and Alice know he's in charge. |
While they’re in the phone booth, Tracy enters the shop. And when they get out, he shows them that he has the other glove. They can’t talk openly in front of Alice’s family, but Tracy uses his knowledge to force Frank into buying him an expensive cigar and forcing Alice to make him breakfast, despite her mother’s protest.
During his meal,
Frank gives him the money he has, which Tracy takes as a down payment.
Frank is called to
the phone and learns that Tracy is wanted for questioning: he was seen near the
scene and has a criminal record. This is based in part by Crewe's landlady, whom the police have interviewed. Frank sends for backup.
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| Tracy makes a run for it, knowing he'll be framed for the murder. |
Frank makes sure all the doors are locked and when they hear the sirens, Tracy tries to give the money back and then threatens to tell the police about Alice. But when the police arrive, Tracy makes a run for it, going out through the window. The police take chase.
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| Tracy tries to elude the police at the British National Museum. |
The chase leads to the British National Museum, where he runs through the exhibits and then clambers onto the domed roof of the Reading Room. At the top, he tries to get the police to focus on Frank, but he slips and crashes through a skylight, falling to his death inside. The police assume he was the murderer.
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| Alice writes a note to Frank telling him she plans to confess. |
Meanwhile, Alice has been contemplative and eventually writes a note to Frank that she’s going to confess to the murder. Unaware that the police have closed the case, she goes down to police headquarters, Scotland Yard, to speak with the Chief Inspector (Harvey Braban in the sound version) to confess.
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| Chief Inspector (Harvey Braban) waiting to hear what Alice has to say. |
Frank is also there and just before Alice can confess, a phone call comes in and the inspector asks Frank to deal with Alice.
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| Frank and Alice share a laugh with the Sergeant (Johnny Butt). |
Out in the all, Alice tells Frank the truth—that it was self-defense against an attack she cannot bear to speak of—and they leave together. Frank makes the decision to protect her and the two exit the station, talking with the Sergeant (Johnny Butt) like nothing has happened.
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| The joker laughs at you. |
On their way out, they pass a policeman, carrying the damaged painting of the laughing clown and the cartoon canvas where Alice painted over her name.
When the film was released,
on July 28, 1929, incorrectly, as Britain “first all-talkie”, it was met this
high praise and was one of the top British releases box-office-wise, being
shown in both silent and sound formats across the country. In a public poll,
Blackmail was voted the best British film of 1929, largely based on the silent
version, which, as mentioned above, was more widely seen.
Arriving in America
in early October, 1929, the film also received praise. The reviewed in The
New York Times, however, wasn’t as good. The reviewer wrote, “It is a
murder story based on a play by Charles Bennett and in spite of its many
artificial situations and convenient ideas it possesses a dramatic value that
holds the attention.” Not necessarily high praise.
Blackmail’s reputation
has grown over the years, as it can be seen as the beginning of Alfred
Hitchcock’s style and contains many qualities that will be seen repeatedly in
his films. There is the use of sound, which was new at the time. When we see
Alice screaming, we cut to another woman screaming at the same moment. This would
be duplicated, of sorts, in films like The 39 Steps (1935) when a body
is discovered and the woman turns to scream and we hear the horn of the locomotive
carrying the accused killer away.
Then there is the
subject of false accusation, which Hitchcock uses in The 39 Steps but also
famously in The Wrong Man (1956).
Murder by knife
also shows up in other films, like Psycho, the remake of The Man Who
Knew Too Much and North by Northwest to name a few.
And, as The New
York Times reviewer points out, “…Mr. Hitchcock, to heighten the dramatic
effect, often calls upon his actors to move with exasperating slowness.” This would be a characteristic of many of his
films, including most notably Vertigo (1958), which at times seems like a
car tour of San Francisco.
And, finally, there’s
the blond at the center of the film. Hitchcock is known to have a thing for
blondes, including Grace Kelly, Tippi Hedren, Eva Marie Saint, Kim Novak, Janet
Leigh, Doris Day, and Madeleine Carroll. Hitchcock supposedly liked to present
his blondes as having hidden reserves of sexual ardour.
The first
“Hitchcock blonde" is portrayed by Anny Ondra, who appeared as Alice in Blackmail.
Since she does not actually say her dialogue, there are moments that seem
like bad lip-syncing, as that’s what they are. However, her acting is very good
throughout. (Note: the NYT reviewer, who didn’t know about Joan Barry, noted
Ondra “does not speak with any noticeable foreign accent.”)
Born in what is now
Poland, Ondra began her career in 1920 and appeared in Czech, German, Austrian,
French and English films. She had previously appeared in Hitchcock’s silent
romance The Manxman (1929). Later in 1929, she would move to Germany and
appear in mostly German films throughout the 1930s, occasionally making a
French or Czech film.
She would later
marry former heavyweight champion Max Schmeling and the two would live in Nazi Germany.
And while they never collaborated with the Nazis, even hiding two Jewish children,
the regime tried to exploit their fame and popularity. After the war, they would,
nevertheless, be penalized for the association.
John Longden would
appear in six Hitchcock films, of which Blackmail is his most famous. He
sometimes comes off as a bit stiff, but it's maybe that his character was going through
some inner struggles. He may love Alice but to set her free, like he does, goes
against all of his training as a policeman. His acting career would go on for several
more decades.
This is not
necessarily the role that Cyril Ritchard is best remembered for. A stage actor,
he is probably best remembered for playing Captain Hook in the Mary Martin 1954
Broadway production of Peter Pan. The attempted rapist and murder victim
is a good actor. He comes across as mostly harmless until he attacks Alice.
The blackmailer is
played by Donald Calthrop, a veteran of five Hitchcock films, brings both a touch
of comedy and menace to the role. Even the NYT reviewer would comment, “Donald
Calthrop in most of his scenes is excellent.” He does good work throughout the
film and would go on to appear in movies until his death in 1940.
There is much to like about Blackmail not only is it a precursor to what Hitchcock would later achieve, it shows that the director when faced with a new technology was able to not only transition to it, but make it work in ways Al Jolson couldn’t have imagined when he said “You ain’t heard nothing yet,” in The Jazz Singer. Sound and British cinema would never be the same after Blackmail.
Addendum
Blackmail (1929) starring Anny Ondra, John Longden, Cyril Ritchard. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock Screenplay by Alfred Hitchcock, Benn W. Levy. Produced by John Maxwell. Run time: 76 minutes (silent). Black and White. United Kingdom. Thriller.
I’ll save you the scene-by-scene breakdown between the two versions, because for the most part, both films tell the same story in the same sequence, and for the most part use similar shots, though even the silent footage in the sound film can be different than this silent version uses. That’s a little more in the weeds than I want to go through, or you may want to read. However, if you’re curious, the website Nitrate Ville, has a pretty detailed examination, in which the writer watched both versions simultaneously; something I cannot do.
Some of the changes are noticeable between the two films, while others might escape a casual viewer’s attention. Crewe’s painting of the jester, is slightly different, as is the hole that Alice makes in it. And the painting that Alice does with Crewe, of the naked woman is also different in both films, with the sound version having an incomplete crotch. However, the silent version of the painting shows up again in the sound version. When we last see the painting being carried away at the end of the film, it is the silent version’s.
There are other changes, however, between the two versions which are noticeably different and play differently as well. To me, the most noticeable is Alice’s post-date scenes with Crewe. And it starts as soon as they arrive in front of Crewe’s apartment building.
In the story, Crewe is trying to talk Alice into coming up to see his studio. While in the sound version, Alice takes a lot more convincing than she does in the silent version. Oh, she puts up some resistance, but she capitulates a lot quicker sans sound. It does make her seem a little looser of a character and maybe why Crewe might get ideas.
Up in his studio, things are very different. We’ve discussed the paintings, but the changes go beyond that here. There is no piano or singing going on while Alice is changing, and the Chinese folding barrier is the only thing separating Alice from Crewe, seems less protective. Crewe seems much more menacing in the silent version, too. He seems more forward as well, kissing her multiple times before deciding to rape her. The attack itself is more violent, with more cuts; though the murder in both takes place off screen and behind the curtains.
Also missing in the silent version, is some of the humor that comes later, as when Tracy makes the tobacconist, Alice’s father’s (Charles Paton), retrieve the finest cigar he sells. One of the Hitchcock trademarks is the dark humor in his films, and there really isn’t any in the silent film at all.
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| The same scene. The sound version on top and the silent on bottom, show that the two versions of Blackmail are not shot-for-shot the same. |
But the most glaring omission is, of course, the sound. Blackmail is known for it revolutionary use of sound, especially when the gossiping customer (Phyllis Konstam) says the word “knife” and we see the tension build up within Alice each time she hears the word. In the silent version, there is no speaking, so the “knife” motif is not used and when Alice drops the knife it’s because of the shop bell ringing that shakes her from her thoughts. Oddly, the family also sits differently around the table in the two versions. I’m not sure why unless they were shot at different times, which they definitely appear to be given the difference in the dress of the gossiping customer.
One beneficiary of the silent version is the acting of Anny Ondra. Without having to lip-sync to Joan Barrett’s voice off camera, Ondra gives a better performance, sort of like she's been freed from the burden. Alice is one character that didn’t benefit from the sound transition.
I’m not aware of how and when in the production, the sound sequences were shot as opposed to the silent takes. For the most part, they have the same personnel, however, a certain credits change appears to show the Chief Inspector in the silent version, Sam Livesey, was replaced by Harvey Braban when sound was shot. However, another article about the film, from 2019, on the pop matters website, seems to prove this wrong. In the article, “Hitchcock Breaks the Sound Barrier in Early Films ‘Blackmail’ and ‘Murder!’”, writer Michael Barrett claims, “The talkie credits are incorrect, and both actors appear in both films. Braban plays Webber’s older partner who takes the lead in the opening arrest (not a Chief Inspector’s job) while Chief Inspector Wills (Livesey) is the elderly man in the huge office.”
Originally, the silent version was voted the best British
film of 1929, largely because it was more seen in Britain at the time. However,
over time, the silent one has faded from the public's view. A restoration of
Blackmail's silent version was completed in 2012, as part of the BFI's £2
million "Save the Hitchcock 9" project to restore all of the
director's surviving silent films. Now, nearly 100 years after it was released, the film can be seen as it was originally released.
While the silent film is worth a look, I really think the sound version of the film is better and the story seems more organic.
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