"....knife....knife...knife....(etc.)" -this is probably the most celebrated line of dialog from early Hitchcock. In 1929, Alfred Hitchcock was halfway thru production of "Blackmail", a silent film, when the studio told him to remake the film at once as a talkie. He did, and it became the first films to boldly experiment with the art of talking pictures.
The plot is so simple, it's almost boring: a detective and his girlfriend, Alice, argue during a dinner date and go separate ways. She goes off with an artist to his loft, where he tries to rape her. In self defense, she stabs the artist to death. A local neer-do-well (Donald Calthrop in a fine, sleazy performance!) goes to blackmail her and her cop boyfriend. The police accidently blame the blackmailer for the murder. After a chase thru the British Museum, the blackmailer falls to his death. The police close the case, and the girl and her boyfriend have to live the feelings of guilt. "Blackmail" abounds with the Hitchcock touch. It begins with a silent, detailed study of a typical arrest, letting us know, Scotland Yard is a fearful force not to be messed with. When Alice leaves the artist's corpse in his loft, the streets are filled with gruesome reminders of the crime. In her eyes, a neon advertisment showing a cocktail shaker becomes a hand holding a dagger, whenever anyone extends a hand in the street, it reminds her of her victim's extended dead hand, and there's the most famous scene from this film: a neighbor gabs on and on about the murder, repeating the word knife. Hitchcock had the entire gabbing reduced to a low mutter except for the oft- repeated word knife, which is made louder. The chase thru the British Museum seems to be an early rehearsal for all the other Hitchcock films where somebody is chased thru a famous landmark. "Blackmail" is credited as the first British talkie. It solidified for the then 30 year old Alfred Hitchcock that thrillers were his territory.
The plot is so simple, it's almost boring: a detective and his girlfriend, Alice, argue during a dinner date and go separate ways. She goes off with an artist to his loft, where he tries to rape her. In self defense, she stabs the artist to death. A local neer-do-well (Donald Calthrop in a fine, sleazy performance!) goes to blackmail her and her cop boyfriend. The police accidently blame the blackmailer for the murder. After a chase thru the British Museum, the blackmailer falls to his death. The police close the case, and the girl and her boyfriend have to live the feelings of guilt. "Blackmail" abounds with the Hitchcock touch. It begins with a silent, detailed study of a typical arrest, letting us know, Scotland Yard is a fearful force not to be messed with. When Alice leaves the artist's corpse in his loft, the streets are filled with gruesome reminders of the crime. In her eyes, a neon advertisment showing a cocktail shaker becomes a hand holding a dagger, whenever anyone extends a hand in the street, it reminds her of her victim's extended dead hand, and there's the most famous scene from this film: a neighbor gabs on and on about the murder, repeating the word knife. Hitchcock had the entire gabbing reduced to a low mutter except for the oft- repeated word knife, which is made louder. The chase thru the British Museum seems to be an early rehearsal for all the other Hitchcock films where somebody is chased thru a famous landmark. "Blackmail" is credited as the first British talkie. It solidified for the then 30 year old Alfred Hitchcock that thrillers were his territory.