13. Juno and the Paycock (1930)

Sean O'Casey's 1924 play made an impression so much that it went to London in November of 1925. Hitchcock upon viewing the play was eager to make it into a movie, but O'Casey had his reservations, but was talked into visiting Hitchcock at Elstree studios (while making Champagne or Blackmail depending on who was telling the story). The two reached an agreement to bring the play to the screen as well as O'Casey writing a new opening scene for the film.

The play (taking place during the Irish Rebellion in 1922) deals with the Boyle family with Captain Boyle (Edward Chapman) who spends more time in the local pub that finding a job, wife Juno (Sara Allgood) and their two children Mary (Kathleen O'Regan) and Johnny (John Laurie), the latter of which lost his arm in bomb attack and is on edge throughout the film. Mary starts dating a lawyer Charlie Bentham (John Longden) who informs Captain Boyle that he has an inheritance coming from an old cousin and the family starts spending frivolously. Unfortunately a bookkeeping error nulls the inheritance and the family has to not only worry about the creditors but all of the friends they shunned while living "the high life".

The movie (by accounts) is a faithful adaptation of the play (Hitchcock's wife Alma Reville is credited as the screenwriter) and Allgood reprises her role from the original production. (Barry Fitzgerald, who played Captain Boyle originally in Dublin, has a smaller role as an orator at the beginning of the film, marking his movie debut). The cast does a great job here and the scenes do move along. The fault unfortunately lies in Hitchcock's directing with an overabundance of long takes that don't make the film look more like a filming of a play performance rather than a movie.

Critics took note of that as well, with the Times saying it had great acting but Hitchcock seemed to forget what medium he was working in. The Manchester Guardian said the film wasn't as good as Hitchcock's previous movie (Blackmail) proclaiming a lack of imagination in the grouping and cutting but some moments of beauty and good uses of sound (keep in mind that this film was Hitchcock's first fully realized foray into talking pictures).

Despite his enthusiasm for making the film, Hitchcock seemed disappointed by it telling Francois Truffaut that despite loving the source material, he couldn't turn it into cinema. He later told the director that he would rather not distort a famous work just to make it appear cinematic.

Juno and the Paycock is one of many of Hitchcock's films that's in the public domain. Despite a print existing in the British Film Institute, there doesn't seem to be any rush for a restoration.