Amazon.com video review:
This set of five titles from the British phase of Alfred Hitchcock's
early
career serves as an outstanding reflection on the great director's evolving
preoccupations and pet themes in the 1930s. The earliest inclusion is the
1930 Murder, starring Herbert Marshall as a famous stage actor who
takes it upon himself to investigate a murder for which a young actress has
been wrongly convicted. Clever and witty, the film finds Hitch exploring
the blurry dualisms of reality and illusion, guilt and innocence, and
watching and doing. The 1932 Number 17 is Hitchcock in a
particularly playful vein. A bit bored by the "old dark house" Gothic tone
of the story, he uses the film as an opportunity to push the limits of
camera mobility, the emotional underpinnings of shots, and the sheer fun of
using model trains and other vehicles to create climactic chases. In the
1934 version of The Man Who Knew Too Much, the director matches a
sophisticated tone with a gut-wrenching tale of a child kidnapped by spies.
A fascinating study in contrast with Hitch's 1956 edition of the story (the
one starring James Stewart and Doris Day), this film highlights both his
interest in the burden of secrecy as well as his youthful efforts at visual
experimentation. The 1936 Sabotage is a stunning story of a naive
woman's revenge-killing of her husband, a German spy, and the subsequent
cover-up of her deed both by fate and by a police detective who chooses to
keep quiet about her guilt. Finally, the 1936 Secret Agent, starring John
Gielgud, Robert Young, Madeleine Carroll, and Peter Lorre in an espionage
story of concealed identities and assassination, is dense with ideas about
lies and the brutality of the hidden. A few features later, Alfred
Hitchcock belonged to Hollywood, and the American cinema took a giant leap
forward. But in this boxed set can be seen the blueprint of his genius. The
prints of the films used in this box set are serviceable and probably
comparable to average 16mm classroom or museum presentations. The DVDs also
include Hitchcock filmographies, trivia questions, a director biography, and
scene access. --Tom Keogh
Amazon.com video review:
Alfred Hitchcock himself called this 1934 British edition of his famous
kidnapping story the work of a talented amateur, while his 1956 Hollywood
remake was the consummate act of a professional director. Be that as it
may, this earlier movie still has its intense admirers who prefer it over
the Jimmy Stewart-Doris Day version, and for some sound reasons. Tighter,
wittier, more visually outrageous (back-screen projections of Swiss
mountains, a whirly-facsimile of a fainting spell), the film even has a
female protagonist (Edna Best in the mom part) unafraid to go after the bad
guys herself with a gun. (Did Doris Day do that that? Uh-uh.) While the '56
film has an intriguing undercurrent of unspoken tensions in nuclear family
politics, the '34 original has a crisp air of British optimism glummed up a
bit when a married couple (Best and Leslie Banks) witnesses the murder of a
spy and discovers their daughter stolen away by the culprits. The chase
leads to London and ultimately to the site of one of Hitch's most
extraordinary pieces of suspense (though on this count, it must be said,
the later version is superior). Take away distracting comparisons to the
remake, and this Man Who Knew Too Much is a milestone in
Hitchcock's early career. Peter Lorre makes his British debut as a
scarred, scary villain. The print of the film used in the DVD release is
serviceable and probably comparable to an average 16mm classroom or museum
presentation. The DVD also includes a Hitchcock filmography, trivia
questions, a director biography, and scene access. --Tom Keogh
