Year: 1929
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Country: US
Language: English
Master of Suspense Alfred Hitchcock directed ten silent films at the beginning of his career, nine of which survive. They are little known today- mainly due to being silent, but also because their video quality was absolutely dreadful. In 2012 the British Film Institute completed restorations of of all nine and, from what I've seen with Lodger & Blackmail, they look absolutely breathtaking. To have those pictures in such quality is a miracle.
After killing a man in self-defense, a young woman (Anna Ondry) is blackmailed by a witness to the killing.
Filmed at the close of the silent era in the West, Blackmail exists in both a silent and sound version, with the silent version being considered the superior by the majority of Hitchcock enthusiasts. Though The Lodger is seen as the most Hitchcock-like of the silents, there is much to be said about Blackmail in regards to his signature touches. We get the blonde femme fatale, exaggerated stair heights (similar to Vertigo) and a climatic finale in an iconic set (similar to North by Northwest) among others.
Spinning a familiar web of murder and intrigue in metropolitan London, Alfred Hitchcock employs a remarkable expressionist style of set design and cinematography to heighten the eerie atmosphere and keep his audience on his toes. Though the film was made in 1929, very little of it feels dated. The acting is fairly exaggerated, as was desired in the silent era, but otherwise Blackmail makes for a good late night flick nowadays.
Is it Hitchcock's most iconic film? No. I'd argue that it wouldn't make the top ten, but considering the amount of masterpieces Hitch has made one can hardly fault this picture. It's a good work of art that only improves with age.
No comments:
Post a Comment