BLACKMAIL (CERT. 12)
UK 1929 DIRECTED BY ALFRED HITCHCOCK
BLACK AND WHITE 1h 25m
WITH: ANNY ONDRA, JOHN LONGDEN, CYRIL RITCHARD, DONALD CALTHROP
A young woman kills an assailant and is then blackmailed by a witness, but Scotland Yard’s
investigation is soon compromised. Britain’s first talkie, Blackmail includes outstanding sound
experiments as well as some of Hitchcock’s characteristic themes.
‘Fully bears the director’s stamp and will reward patient audiences in several excitingly staged
sequences.’ – Leslie Halliwell
‘Moodily filmed in an effective Germanic style, the exploration of the medium’s new capabilities is
downright palpable.’ – Virgin Film Guide
‘The visuals are eerily expressionistic, the trick photography in the British Museum sequences are
first-class, and the recurrence of the word knife on the soundtrack is amusingly ghoulish.’ – David
Parkinson
‘With the success of Blackmail, Alfred Hitchcock became firmly established as the pre-eminent
British director.’ – Charlotte Chandler