27. Rebecca (1940)

In 1939, Alfred Hitchcock signed with David O. Selznick Pictures and picked up right where he left off sort of by adapting another Daphne Du Maurier novel. Unlike Jamaica Inn, Rebecca ranks not only as the best of Du Maurier's works but as one of the best mystery novels ever written. (In 2000, Bouchercon named the book as the best novel of the 20th century).

The movie starts out in Monte Carlo concerning a young woman (Joan Fontaine) who falls in love with a recent widower Maxim de Winter (Laurence Olivier). Before she is about to leave due to her employer ending the vacation, Maxim proposes to her and whisks her away to be married. Arriving back at Maxim's mansion, Manderley, the new bride can still feel the presence of Maxim's first wife, Rebecca (who died in a boating accident), especially from Rebecca's personal maid, Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson). The young woman tries her best to establish herself but can never erase the memory of Maxim's first wife, which is only going to get complicated when Rebecca's body is found and questions arise to whether she was murdered.

As I mentioned before, Du Maurier's novel is a masterpiece of gothic mystery and Hitchcock's directing and all of the production values do justice to the novel (There is one main difference between the book and novel, but that would be spoiling it, so you would need to do your homework and indulge in both versions). George Barnes' Academy Award winning cinematography really makes this seem like an early entry into film noir capturing Joan Fontaine's (her character in the movie, like the book, is never given a name) uneasiness and inferiority.

Joan Fontaine won the main role, but reportedly Laurence Olivier wanted his then wife Vivien Leigh (who had just won the Best Actress Oscar for Gone with the Wind) to play the woman. When Fontaine got the role, Olivier did not get along with her and Hitchcock used it to her advantage by telling Fontaine that everyone on the set was not happy with her getting the role. Whether or not that story is true, there is no getting past the fact that Fontaine given as a great performance as does Olivier. Judith Anderson steals every scene she's in creating one of the best villainesses in film history. George Sanders has a memorable part of Rebecca's cousin who has his plans for upsetting Maxim's idyllic setting.

The movie earned $3 million dollars in the USA in its first release and was the most popular film in England in 1940. Critics raved about the film as well with the New Yorker praising Hitchcock's staging of the film which seemed to be more stirring than its source material. Film Daily raved about every aspect of the movie. The movie captured the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1940 as well as the aforementioned Best Black & White Cinematography. It also received nominations in 9 other categories including a Best Director nod for Hitchcock (his first of five), Adapted Screenplay, Best Actress (Fontaine), Best Actor (Olivier) and Best Supporting Actress (Anderson). Currently its one of the four Hitchcock films to receive a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Hitchcock makes his cameo appearance late into the movie (a rarity for him) about 127 minutes into the film walking past the telephone booth after George Sanders finishes his call.

Rebecca is available on DVD and Blu-ray from Criterion which can be purchased here and the novel can be obtained here.

26. Jamaica Inn

In March 1939, Alfred Hitchcock signed a seven year contract with David O. Selznick and would be soon leaving for Hollywood. No longer signed with Gainsborough Studios, his remaining film in England, Jamaica Inn, would be for Mayflower Productions, co-produced by its star Charles Laughton and Hitchcock's first adaptation of a Daphne Du Maurier work.

Set in 1820 Cornwall, Mary Yellan (Maureen O'Hara) is a young Irish woman coming to move in with her aunt following the death of her parents. The stage driver doesn't want anything to do with the Jamaica Inn (Mary's destination) and instead drops her at the estate of the local squire Sir Humphrey Pengallan (Charles Laughton). He gives her a horse and she arrives at the inn to see her Aunt Patience (Marie Ney). At the door, she encounters Patience's husband Joss Merlyn (Leslie Banks), who unknown to Mary is runs a band of wreckers that causes shipwrecks, rob the loot and kill any survivors. In reality, the wreckers are run by Sir Humphrey who uses the proceeds to live an extravagant lifestyle giving Joss and his men a mere pittance of the proceeds. Joss and his men believe that a new member of their group Jem Trehearne (Robert Newton) is stealing from the group and attempt to hang him, but Mary cuts the rope. Mary and Jem make their escape from the inn and we later learn that Jem is an undercover officer investigating the wrecks. Jem then tries to get Sir Humphrey to arrest Joss and the wreckers, not knowing he is their ringleader. Things go amiss and Mary ends up being abducted by Sir Humphrey as hostage for his freedom.

After a string of successes, Jamaica Inn is definitely a bit of a letdown where much of the atmosphere and suspense Du Maurier put in her 1936 book is toned down really leaving a bit of a stuffy film that really didn't hold my interest. There are a few reports that say Hitchcock's directing often clashed with Laughton, who often had his own ideas of his characterizations. Hitchcock said the picture should have been a whodunnit (more like the novel) but having Laughton in the key role spoiled any suspense that it could have created. (Supposedly, Laughton was supposed to play Joss, but opted for the main villain).

Maureen O'Hara is good in her first major role despite Hitchcock's reluctance to hire her. She was hired based Laughton's insistence. Mary is a great character but I think it was more or less not appreciated as much as it should have been. Robert Newton is decent but is more or less miscast where he's best as characters who really dominate the screen (see Oliver Twist (1948), Treasure Island (1950) and Around the World in 80 Days (1956)). Banks gives a good turn as Joss but that character should have had more to do on screen and was set aside by Laughton's hammy performance.

The film was a financial success (making $3.7 million in the US) but didn't sit well with critics who faulted the directing and poor working of the book. Du Maurier reportedly was taken back by the film and tried to take back the rights for Hitchcock's adaptation of her most famous book, Rebecca, but as we'll see next week, we can be thankful she had a change of mind. Contemporary critics have been harsher to the film where it currently has a 55% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which while not horrendous, but its his fourth lowest rating.

This is also the last feature film where we don't see a Hitchcock cameo or appearance.

The movie is available from several streaming sites due to its public domain status and has recently been restored and put on blu-ray by Cohen Media Group. Du Maurier's source novel can be purchased here.

25. The Lady Vanishes (1938)

Ever since The Man Who Knew Too Much was released in 1934, Alfred Hitchcock's directorial career had one of the biggest shots of adrenaline than any director up until that time. One more barrier to full success would have been an invite to Hollywood. With The Lady Vanishes Hitchcock caught the eye of producer David O. Selznick and the wheels were in motion to go to the United States, but before we get there, we'll pay attention to the wheels of a certain train.....

The movie opens at an inn in some Bavarian ski resort where we're introduced to several of our characters. Most prominent is Iris Henderson (Margaret Lockwood) having one last romp before her upcoming wedding. The next train headed back for England leaves in the morning, Iris is hit on the head with a paint can (which it seems could have been meant for someone else) and she just is able to catch the train but in a daze. She goes to the dining car for tea with a governess Miss Froy (Dame Mae Whitty) who takes care of Iris and the two head back to their compartment where Iris falls asleep. When she awakens, Miss Froy is not there and when she asks what happened to her, she is told by everyone she encounters that no one has seen Miss Froy. Everyone thinks Iris must be suffering after effects of her injury and she has a hard time convincing anyone. One passenger Gilbert Redman (Michael Redgrave) goes along to help Iris sort everything out, but later on, he encounters proof that corroborates Iris's story. What happened to Miss Froy, where could she have gone and why would anyone want to do harm to such a sweet old lady?

The above plot really only covers the basics of the film and I feel it's a real shame since screenwriters Sidney Gilliat and Frank Laudner wrote one of the best scenarios and screenplays in any movie. (It is based on Ethel Lina White's 1936 novel The Wheel Spins and does follow the book pretty closely). Combined with excellent direction from Hitchcock, the movie slowly unfolds keeping the audience glued to the screen and then unraveling the mystery brilliantly. Reportedly, the screenwriters had the script ready for director Roy William Neill (who'd later go onto direct numerous Sherlock Holmes films at Universal) but the project was scrapped. The project was then offered to Hitchcock who worked with Gilliat and Laudner to redo the opening and ending of the movie.

Hitchcock went with two relatively unknowns for the leading roles which worked out very nicely. Margaret Lockwood is really great at a person trying to come to grips with her sanity as she is for the lack of a better word gaslighted. (Reportedly, Lockwood was a big fan of White's books and she was more than happy to take on the role). Michael Redgrave has a good swagger about him as he tries to humor Iris, but you can really see his performance change once he becomes convinced she's telling the truth. Dame Mae Whitty is charming as the elusive Miss Froy where she just encounters every bit of trouble she has with as someone who missed their bus. Future Oscar winner Paul Lukas received much deserved praise as the suave but secretive doctor.

Not in White's novel, Gilliat and Laudner added the characters of cricket enthusiasts Charters and Caldicott played respectively by Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne. They proved popular with audiences and appeared in future films such as Night Train to Munich (1940 - also written by Gilliat & Laudner with Margaret Lockwood), Crooks Tour (1941 - which can be seen as an extra on the Criterion edition of The Lady Vanishes) and Millions Like Us (1943). Radford and Wayne would also appear together playing different characters in films like Dead of Night (1945 - Highly recommended), Quartet (1948) and Passport to Pimlico (1949).

Upon release the movie was an immediate commercial hit and the same when it made its way to the United States. The film was named the best picture of 1938 by the New York Times and Alfred Hitchcock would win his only competitive award for directing with the New York Film Critics Circle Award. The BFI Monthly Film Bulletin called it an "out of the ordinary and exciting thriller". The Times praised every bit of the film from its suspense, pacing, cast and humor. The New York World Telegram called it "the thriller treat of the year".

Hitchcock makes his cameo very late into the movie. When the train arrives in Victoria Station, he is seen walking past shrugging his shoulders and making a face.

The film is currently available for viewing on Criterion Channel (as well as several other streaming services due to its public domain status). The Criterion edition (which as mentioned before contains the Charters and Caldicott film Crooks Tour) can be purchased here. The Wheel Spins can be purchased here.

24. Young and Innocent (1937)

Hitchcock rarely did whodunnits. We already discussed one with Murder (1930) and we'll be seeing ones who a loose interpretation of the genre later. Here with this film, Hitchcock gives his own interpretation on Josephine Tey's 1936 novel, A Shilling for Candles and with copious parts removed and interesting angles added.

The plot focuses on Robert Tisdall (Derrick De Marney) who finds the body of Christine Clay washed up on the beach. Two women see him run away. Since a belt from a coat that Tisdall owned was the weapon, he is accused of the murder. He manages an escape before the trial and convinces Erica Burgoyne (Nova Pilbeam) the daughter of the local constable to take him to where he lost the coat. Robert finds a lead that a tramp obtained the coat and he & Erica locate him in a flophouse. They get the coat back but its missing its belt and the tramp, Old Will (Edward Rigby) says the belt wasn't there when he was given the coat by a man with a twitch in his eye. Can Robert & Erica find the man before the police find them?

The film was a real treat to watch especially for the chemistry of De Marney and Pilbeam who just work very well together. De Marney does seem to have a James Stewart approach to his acting and is very fluid and watching Pilbeam again following her role as the abductee from The Man Who Knew Too Much does make you wish there was more to her career. Another acting highlight was Mary Clare and Basil Radford (we'll see him again next week in The Lady Vanishes) as Erica's aunt and uncle.

Hitchcock's directing is a highlight here especially probably for the most well known scene in the film where Erica and Old Will in restaurant dance room where Will tries to locate the killer and we see an unbroken shot across the dance floor straight to the killer and his eyes which twitch. Granted there's not much of a spoiler as to who the killer is due to there was only one person introduced the movie who wanted Christine Clay dead. Granted, for those in the PC police, the scene does contain an orchestra in blackface, but it is a very well done unbroken shot similar to a future scene in Notorious.

The movie does follow the theme of the book of Robert trying to convince others of his innocence of killing Christine, but the film goes off in different directions: The killer in the book is not mentioned in the movie and vice versa; Erica is only introduced in passing and is more of a secondary character than the lead from the movie; the book focuses more on the investigation of Inspector Alan Grant (a character Tey used in 5 of her books) who is given another name and only seen at the beginning and end of the movie.

Like our last film Sabotage, our film currently has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes (Rebecca and Shadow of a Doubt are the other ones). Critics back in 1937 thought it another notch in Hitchcock's belt with the Monthly Film Bulletin citing Hitchcock's blend of romance, comedy and suspense and Harrison's Reports saying the story, plot and direction kept the viewer drawn from beginning to end.

Hitchcock's cameo occurs around 13-14 minutes in after Tisdall's escape, Hitchcock can be seen standing outside the police station holding a small camera. This is probably the longest of his cameo's lasting about 20 seconds.

Young and Innocent can be seen on several streaming sites due to its stay in the public domain but as usual, I'll recommend the print that's on Criterionchannel.com. A Shilling for Candles can be purchased here.

23. Sabotage (1936)

NOTE: This review will contain some spoilers concerning the film. Read at your own peril.

Hitchcock continues the momentum he has built up with his last three films and expands on his abilities as a director with an excellent look into suspense and a character's ability to cope with horrific events.

Anton Verloc (Oscar Homolka) throws sand into a generator which causes a blackout in London. He returns almost unseen to the movie theater he owns where his wife (Sylvia Sidney) is trying to appease the patrons who demand their money back. When she talks to her husband, he tells her to refund the money since he has some money coming to him. The power is restored and the patrons return to watch the film. The next day Verloc goes to the aquarium to meet a contact who is disappointed that the blackout wasn't taken seriously by Londoners. He tells him to pick up a parcel and place it in Piccadilly station which will cause some "fireworks". Verloc meets the bombmaker and is told when the bomb will explode. Meanwhile, a Scotland Yard detective Spencer (John Loder) believes that Verloc is the saboteur and is caught eavesdropping on a gathering between Verloc and a group of criminals. Suspicious that the police are aware of him, Verloc has his wife's kid brother Stevie (Desmond Tester) carry the bomb package to the train station as a favor. What will happen when the bomb goes off with its abominable results?

Sabotage is one of Hitchcock's more overlooked films probably due to confusion with its title. The movie is loosely based on Joseph Conrad's novel Secret Agent which just happened to be the title of Hitchcock's previous movie. The title also bears similarity with his 1942 movie Saboteur. Despite the confusion, the film does stand out as I mentioned before with its deliberate pacing and building of tension as Verloc's plan goes into effect. I remember in college seeing a clip of the film where Stevie is on the bus unaware of the bomb (while the audience knows it) he's carrying in a study of how suspense is built up as the clock gets closer and closer to the explosion. In his interview with Francois Truffaut, Hitchcock did express regret for Stevie's death, but in my opinion it just made the audience hate Verloc's character even more.

Sylvia Sidney gives a great performance throughout the movie but especially after the explosion where she hardly says a line but every viewer knows what she is thinking. The confrontation between she and Verloc at the climax of the film is expertly handled. Oscar Homolka is very effective in his role not playing the character as some sort of psycho, but as one completely indifferent to the consequences of his actions. John Loder's role was supposed to be originally played by Robert Donat, but when he was unable to take it due to his asthma, the role was reduced. Loder is ok, but he's a victim of the role since he's been more effective in other movies.

Critics raved about the film (the movie currently holds a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes - one of four Hitchcock films to do so) especially about the directing. The New York Times praised Hitchcock's use of suspense. The Monthly Film Bulletin attributed the directing as something unique to Hitchcock (the critic didn't use Hitchcockian) and being very precise. Graham Greene in the Spectator praised the film (except for Loder and Tester's performances) and say that the film marked where Hitchcock has really "come off".

Special credit in the movie is given to Walt Disney for the use of his 1935 Silly Symphonies cartoon, Who Killed Cock Robin?

Hitchcock's cameo appearance is about 9 minutes in when after the power is restored outside the movie theater, you can see Hitchcock look up at the street lamp.

Sabotage is in the public domain and can be viewed on several different streaming sites as well as be on DVD from anyone who can dupe and print cover art for a disc. I recommend the Criterion Channel's print of the film. While not being a faithful adaptation, Hitchcock does follow a bit of the theme of Joseph Conrad's Secret Agent which can be purchased here.

22. Secret Agent (1936)

Hitchcock had reclaimed his prestige with the release of his last two films, The Man Who Knew Too Much and The 39 Steps. Using the spy genre from the last film, Secret Agent would adapt the Campbell Dixon play which merged two Somerset Maugham short stories about his British Agent Ashenden.

The story, set during WWI, has Edward Brodie (John Gielgud) return home on leave only to read his obituary in the newspaper. He is then sent to a man known as R, who gives him a new identity (Peter Ashenden) an assignment to take over a recently departed agent. He goes to Switzerland to stop a German who plans to stir up the Arabs. He is teamed with an attractive blonde (Madeleine Carroll) and an assassin called the General (Peter Lorre).

Ashenden and the General go to a church to meet up with an organist who is a double agent, but he is found dead at his organ with a torn button as the only clue to the killer. At a casino later that night, the button is dropped on the roulette table and is identified by a tourist named Caypor. While on a mountain hike, the General pushes Caypor off a cliff (Ashenden doesn't want to do much with murder) only to find out that Caypor is not the man they're after. Elsa no longer wants anything to do with this line of work and runs off with an American tourist Robert Marvin (Robert Young). Ashenden and the General visit a chocolate factory to obtain a clue and then learn that Marvin is the man they're after. Can our heroes catch up with the train the spy is on before reaching enemy territory?

Secret Agent is good, its just not great. When The 39 Steps was released, some of the press focused on the film having a romantic angle between Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll. I wonder with the release of this film, Hitchcock decided (or was told) to play up more of the romantic angle with Elsa being torn out of her love for Ashenden and the duty to her assignment, which I really felt slowed down the film. The movie does move at a good pace for the majority but I started to lose interest around that point in the film. Granted, Hitchcock was later informed that audience did not appreciate the wrong man being murdered.

John Gielgud was a great actor who had just come off runs of Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet, but his character just doesn't have the same interest or connection with the audience like Robert Donat had in The 39 Steps. Madeleine Carroll also gave me the same vibe with a good performance, but a character I don't think was well written. Peter Lorre probably steals the show again playing the General with enough buffoonery to laugh at, but when you come right down to it, he's a psychopath. Robert Young is the all-American boy character but the writing was predictable enough that anyone would have known he was the enemy spy.

Critics were mixed in their reviews. The New Yorker called it a good picture and a nice followup for Hitchcock after The 39 Steps. The Monthly Film Bulletin said the acting was good, as was the technical aspects but the ending seemed rushed and trying to convey a message which it didn't do so clearly. The New York Times liked Lorre's performance but thought Carroll's wasted her talent and the camerawork and sound recording were subpar. Graham Greene writing reviews for The Spectator, said the film was a series of melodramatic episodes that didn't seem to follow each other or lead to anything spectacular.

The film is available on several streaming sites being in the public domain, even though I haven't seen a version available that is superior to others.

21. The 39 Steps (1935)

Hitchcock's career got a much need shot in the arm with the release of The Man Who Knew Too Much in 1934. Now looking back at his previous successes The Lodger and Blackmail, his followups to those films didn't follow the same genre (The Ring, Downhill, Juno and the Paycock). Hitchcock avoided that by finding his next source of inspiration from John Buchan's 1915 novel, The Thirty-Nine Steps.

Here Richard Hannay (Robert Donat) a Canadian staying in England attends a music hall performance where chaos ensues after a shot rings out. The woman who fired the shot Annabella Smith (Lucie Mannheim) asks Hannay for protection back at his flat. There, she tells him that her life is in danger and because he helped her, he is at risk as well. She tells of the 39 Steps, a spy organization who is trying to procure government secrets out of England. She is on her way to a town in Scotland, to see a man who may be able to assist her. That night, she enters his room with a knife in her back saying they'll get him next. He manages to sneak out of his place in the morning past her assassins and finds out en route to Scotland to carry out her mission, that he is wanted for her murder. Hannay then later escapes the train, encounters a farmer, who may be tempted to turn her in, meets up with the head of the 39 Steps, speak on the fly at a political rally and be handcuffed to a woman (Madeleine Carroll) who is certain that he is a murderer. And still, how are the 39 Steps going to smuggle their loot out of the country?

The film is pure fun from beginning to end with Hitchcock giving the tale the required suspense, adventure and humor to keep the audience curious as to what happens next. Hitchcock told Francois Truffaut that he would have rather done Buchan's next book, Greenmantle, but he had a thing about adapting works of fiction that were considered the best of an author (Hitchcock apparently 10 years later planned to adapt Greenmantle, but Buchan's estate wanted to much for the rights). The movie follows the spirit of the book, even though a bunch of things were changed. The book had Hannay try to prevent the assassination of a visiting diplomat, but since that was pretty much the main focus of The Man Who Knew Too Much, Hitchcock and screenwriter Charles Bennett came up with this new take on the book.

Hitchcock's camerawork uses the same fluidity that we saw in his previous film, while using smart edits to his advantage. Two that stand out is when the apartment maid opens Hannay's apartment, sees Annabella and screams, its sound blends into the train whistle at the station. Second would be after the Professor shoots Hannay and falls over dead, the screen fades to black where we are taken back to the farmer's cottage to see what saved him.

Robert Donat was cast in a role well suited for his talents and just at the right time since he had just come off filming The Count of Monte Cristo and was reported to sign a contract with Warner Brothers (unfortunately, Donat's battle with asthma put a stop to this as he never ventured across the Atlantic again after returning to England). He is able to play the Hitchcock everyman with an added touch of dignity and and yet showing his chops at humor, menace and nervousness in probably one of the best male performances in a Hitchcock film.

Madeleine Carroll does a really good turn as Pamela with a snippy attitude when she thinks Hannay is going to be jailed but when handcuffed together, you can really think she's going through torture (reportedly Hitchcock as a practical joke handcuffed the two together and then "lost the key"). Peggy Ashcroft has a small but memorable performance as the farmer's abused wife who wishes for a better life. Lastly who can forget Wylie Watson as one of the most unforgettable characters in a Hitchcock film, Mr. Memory.

 In England, the film was a roaring success both commercially and critically. The film was promoted there more as a romantic adventure to entice the women to the audience. The New Galley 1400 seat theater was filled to capacity practically for every showing during its 5 week run there giving it an impressive 16 week run at the West End. The film did very well in Canada, primarily since the novel's author John Buchan was recently named Lieutenant Governor. It did well in various cities in the US, but advertising was mainly through word of mouth and executive producer Michael Balcon was somewhat disappointed by the results.

The Times said called the movie "a first rate film of adventure edged with comedy". The Manchester Guardian praised Madeleine Carroll and said despite the implausibilities of the story, said the movie was "something that is entertainment in the best sense of the word". The Motion Picture Daily said, "This has the speed, suspense and imagination in detail characteristic of a director with an American sense of box-office values and the humorous values, emphasized, nicely balance the melodrama."

Hitchcock makes his cameo appearance about 7 minutes in after Hannay and Annabella leave the music hall, Hitchcock walks across the frame tossing a piece of litter on the ground.

The movie is pretty popular and is available streaming of numerous sites. I'd recommend the Criterion edition on DVD and Blu-Ray (which can be bought here) or currently streaming on the Criterion Channel. Buchan's novel can be purchased here.

20. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)

Following three dismal efforts, Hitchcock was given another chance in a genre that suited him best, suspense. The film here mixed with espionage and a slew of touches which would become Hitchcock staples for the next few decades, drew rave reviews both here and in the USA where the director would be getting a larger appreciation of his work.

Bob and Jill Lawrence (Leslie Banks and Edna Best) are vacationing in St. Moritz with their daughter Betty (Nova Pilbeam). Jill participates in a clay pigeon shooting contest, but loses when she is distracted by the sound of a watch belonging to a man named Abbot (Peter Lorre). That night, Jill dances with a French skier, Louis Bernard (Pierre Fresnay), when he is shot through the window. Dying, Bernard instructs Jill to get a brush containing a note from his room and deliver it to the British Consul. Bob goes after the brush and finds the note which gives a clue to the assassination in London of a foreign leader. When Bob is to give the authorities this information, he receives a note saying that Betty has been abducted and she will only be safe if the Lawrences keep their mouth shut. Arriving back in London, Bob and his secretary (Hugh Wakefield) go after clues to the spy ring (headed by Abbot) which leads the adventures to a dentist chair, a church revival, a concert at St. Albert Hall and a climactic shootout.

The movie apparently had its origins in the early 30's with a script by Charles Bennett for a Bulldog Drummond film called Bulldog Drummond's Baby. British International Pictures didn't go ahead with the production (not sure if it was because Wardour films would be doing The Return of Bulldog Drummond in 1934 and held the rights to the character). When Hitchcock moved to British Gaumont in 1933, the script came with him and was reworked into The Man Who Knew Too Much (the title taken from a series of G.K. Chesterton short stories).

As mentioned before, we have a lot of touches to the film which often are associated with Hitchcock films: the MacGuffin (Bernard's note), the average person thrust in a situation beyond his/her scope of control, a climactic scene in a public landmark (St. Albert Hall), subtle bits of humor. The music heard in the film is all source material (music coming from a radio or performance) but Hitchcock's directing is so fluid that you hardly notice the absence of a score.

His directing skills really bounced back with this effort. Since Blackmail, many of the Hitchcock's films had been slowed down to a crawl with long takes that slowed the film down and made the viewer think that they were watching the filming of a play. His camerawork here is very effective. One scene in particular that stands out is when being questioned by a British intelligence officer, Jill receives a phone call from the kidnappers. Now circa 1932, it seemed Hitchcock would have done a medium shot with with Bob and the officer huddled around, but here we get a closeup of Jill, in her own confused state, with only Bob's chin peeking in. Suspense is also brilliantly built in the concert performance when the assassin plans his act when the cymbals clash, so we get an excellent lead up with the cymbal player, Betty looking around, the assassin getting his gun ready, a shot of the intended victim and the spy ring waiting listening to the concert on the radio.

The acting is top notch here with obviously, Peter Lorre stealing every scene he's in. Lorre, in his first English speaking role (unless you count the alternate English language version of M (1931), available on Blu-ray from Criterion) conveys all of the menacing touches he would show over the next few decades. Edna Best is also very good in her scenes (even though they number fewer than you'd think) but results in her taking charge at the end.

Critics raved about the film. The BFI Film Monthly called it first class cinema and a high water mark in British film production. The Kinematograph Weekly noticed that Hitchcock had found the genre that worked best for him calling the movie artless fiction staged on a spectacular scale. The New York Times called it a notably written and acted bit of story telling praising Hitchcock as one of England's most imaginative directors.

Hitchcock told Francois Truffaut that he closed St. Moritz as the opening location since he had honeymooned there. He wanted a scene at the beginning where a figure skater is skating a code to the spies, but he couldn't make it work. He had also wanted Bob to go to a barbershop rather than a dentist and have him not noticed by the spies because of the hot towels covering his face pre-shave, but a chose not to because of a similar scene a couple of years earlier in I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang. Lastly he wanted Jill to be hypnotized into becoming the assassin, but it just wouldn't have been as effective.

The film would be remade by Hitchcock in 1956 with James Stewart and Doris Day in the leads and the opening scenes moved to Marrakesh, but following the same basic premise. Hitchcock would call this version the work of a talented amateur and the remake was one made by a professional.

Hitchcock's cameo occurs around 34 minutes in the film right before Bob enters the church, a man is a black trenchcoat is seen walking on the sidewalk. While not as noticeable as his other cameos, it is supposed to be the director (one rumor is the man walking with Hitchcock is Charles Bennett, but its only a rumor).

The movie is in public domain, but I really urge you to watch the Criterion version on DVD, Blu-ray, (available for purchase here) or on the Criterion Channel. I will have to admit, my enjoyment of the movie did increase with a better looking version rather than some print that anyone could put on the market for a couple of dollars.