This 1937 British film is undoubtedly a Hitchcock film and can be no other. It is another innocent man on the run story, a plot he used often, but a plot on which he has done several fascinating variations. In 'Young and Innocent' it is a chase through the English countryside with Derrick De Marney as the accused man, Nova Pilbeam as the reluctant helper and the incomparable Edward Rigby as the gentleman of the road caught up in the plot.
The visuals are wonderful, a man blinking in the lightning storm, a lifeless arm in the waves, the chiaroscuro interior of a barn , the opening and closing close-ups of two different women in different moods, legs dangling past a window, and of course the celebrated tracking shot towards the end that moves from a large view down to a telling detail. Pure Hitchcock.
There are lots of good scenes mixing humour with tension; the family dining scene discussing the murder, the fight in the truckers café, the children's party where the two on the run find it difficult to leave. The last scene is strangely moving as the drummer goes over the top in more ways than one. There are familiar but good actors in the film such as Mary Clare and Basil Radford. The man playing De Marney's lawyer is perfect too. Nova Pilbeam is particularly effective. Not one of Hitchcock's ice cool blondes which is all to the better. 'Young and Innocent' is a valuable entry in the early Hitchcock canon, worth seeing more than once.
The visuals are wonderful, a man blinking in the lightning storm, a lifeless arm in the waves, the chiaroscuro interior of a barn , the opening and closing close-ups of two different women in different moods, legs dangling past a window, and of course the celebrated tracking shot towards the end that moves from a large view down to a telling detail. Pure Hitchcock.
There are lots of good scenes mixing humour with tension; the family dining scene discussing the murder, the fight in the truckers café, the children's party where the two on the run find it difficult to leave. The last scene is strangely moving as the drummer goes over the top in more ways than one. There are familiar but good actors in the film such as Mary Clare and Basil Radford. The man playing De Marney's lawyer is perfect too. Nova Pilbeam is particularly effective. Not one of Hitchcock's ice cool blondes which is all to the better. 'Young and Innocent' is a valuable entry in the early Hitchcock canon, worth seeing more than once.