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Blackmail

Blackmail

  • Status: Released
  • 11-07-1929
  • Runtime: 86 min
  • Score: 6.549
  • Vote count: 257

London, 1929. Frank Webber, a very busy Scotland Yard detective, seems to be more interested in his work than in Alice White, his girlfriend. Feeling herself ignored, Alice agrees to go out with an elegant and well-mannered artist who invites her to visit his fancy apartment.

Anny Ondra

Alice White

Sara Allgood

Mrs. White

Charles Paton

Mr. White

John Longden

Detective Frank Webber

Donald Calthrop

Tracy

Cyril Ritchard

The Artist

Hannah Jones

The Landlady

Harvey Braban

The Chief Inspector

Ex-Det. Sergt. Bishop

The Detective Sergeant

Alfred Hitchcock

Man on Subway (uncredited)

Johnny Ashby

Boy (uncredited)

Joan Barry

Alice White (voice) (uncredited)

Johnny Butt

Sergeant (uncredited)

Phyllis Konstam

Gossiping Neighbour (uncredited)

Sam Livesey

The Chief Inspector (silent version) (uncredited)

Phyllis Monkman

Gossip Woman (uncredited)

Percy Parsons

Crook (uncredited)

CinemaSerf

I saw the silent version recently with an expertly played piano accompaniment that added loads to an, admittedly rather too long, drama. "Alice" (Anny Ondra) has a silly spat with policeman boyfriend "Frank" (John Longden) and then rather foolishly hooks up with an odious artist (Cyril Ritchard) who attempts to push his luck too far and whom she accidentally, rather brutally, despatches. Terrified that nobody would believe her, and rather than call the authorities, she flees the scene - but not before she is spotted and subsequently has to deal with the venal aspirations of her blackmailer (a perfectly cast Donald Calthrop). Meantime, the police get the wrong end of the stick during their investigation and another tragedy ensues - leaving poor old "Alice" riddled with even more guilt! The one thing that takes a bit of getting used to is the really rather static nature of the photography, but once you adopt a perspective that you are in the same seat (in the cinema) as the cameraman then that actually starts to work quite well as we become more immersed in a solid story of fickleness and deceit. The inter-titles are sparing but do all that is necessary to augment Hitchcock's innate ability to tell us a story using the limited technology available in 1929, that capitalises on light, shade, and the environment around the characters. Somehow, I reckon that the talkie version that followed almost immediately would be anywhere near as effective.