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Blackmail (1929)

Blackmail (1929)
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Alfred Hitchcock's first sound film utilized the new sound technology in a rather creative way off-camera. Hitchcock's lead actress, Anny Ondra, had a strong Eastern European accent that was difficult for English audiences to understand, so Hitchcock's solution was to have British actress Joan Barry speak Ondra's lines of dialogue off-camera. The film concerns a woman who kills a man who tries to assault her. Ondra plays Alice White who, while having dinner in a fancy English nightspot with her husband-to-be Scotland Yard Detective Frank Webber (John Longden), begins to flirt with an artist (Cyril Richard) seated at the next table. The artist invites her up to see his studio, and she goes but balks when the artist asks her to pose in the nude. When the request becomes a demand, Alice stabs him to death. She rejoins her fiance and tries to forget the murder, but her conscience keeps bothering her. To make matters worse, sniveling rat Tracy (Donald Calthrop) materializes to blackmail Alice for the crime. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

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Starring:
Anny OndraSara Allgood, (more)
Director(s):
Alfred Hitchcock
Format(s):
DVD
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Synopsis of Blackmail

Alfred Hitchcock's first sound film utilized the new sound technology in a rather creative way off-camera. Hitchcock's lead actress, Anny Ondra, had a strong Eastern European accent that was difficult for English audiences to understand, so Hitchcock's solution was to have British actress Joan Barry speak Ondra's lines of dialogue off-camera. The film concerns a woman who kills a man who tries to assault her. Ondra plays Alice White who, while having dinner in a fancy English nightspot with her husband-to-be Scotland Yard Detective Frank Webber (John Longden), begins to flirt with an artist (Cyril Richard) seated at the next table. The artist invites her up to see his studio, and she goes but balks when the artist asks her to pose in the nude. When the request becomes a demand, Alice stabs him to death. She rejoins her fiance and tries to forget the murder, but her conscience keeps bothering her. To make matters worse, sniveling rat Tracy (Donald Calthrop) materializes to blackmail Alice for the crime. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Theatrical Feature Running Time:
86 mins

Complete Cast of Blackmail


Director(s):
Alfred Hitchcock
Writer(s):
Michael PowellBenn Wolfe LevyAlfred Hitchcock
Producer(s):
John Maxwell
Categories:
Mystery & Suspense
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Member Reviews
 
Mary K.

For the first 30 minutes, I wasn't sure about this movie. In fact, I was wondering if it was going to be a silent movie. Literally, nobody talked for 30 minutes. Then something happened and it got a lot more interesting. If you watch the intro by Tony Curtis, you'll find out that it was indeed intended to be a silent movie, until the Jazz Singer came out during production. Hitchcock changed it to a "talkie" at that point. If I hadn't read in the description that the leading lady's voice was dubbed in, I wouldn't have known that - well done. Anyway, good plot, suspense, interesting camera angles, fun seeing the old clothes and cars. Good stuff.

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