Friday, May 11, 2012

Random Hitchcock: Blackmail (1929)






Alfred Hitchcock's first talkie (though there is also a silent version, see clip above) and one of his earliest for credit screenplay adaptations, it was based on another popular London play.  The plot is a chiller and very closely resembles the plot of Dial M For Murder, so much so that Dial can almost be considered to be a remake of this film.  The action revolves around a young woman, the daughter of a London shopkeeper, who is engaged to a young Scotland Yard man who is consumed with his police work, so much so that she becomes bored.  This leads her to succumb to the charm of another man who then lures her back to his flat, where he then tries to rape her.  In defending herself, she kills him.  Naturally her fiance' is assigned the case and he quickly uncovers that she is the killer, but so has someone else, and they have blackmail in mind.

















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