After killing a man in self-defense, a young woman is blackmailed by a witness to the killing.After killing a man in self-defense, a young woman is blackmailed by a witness to the killing.After killing a man in self-defense, a young woman is blackmailed by a witness to the killing.
- Awards
- 2 wins
Ex-Det. Sergt. Bishop
- The Detective Sergeant
- (as Ex-Det. Sergt. Bishop - Late C.I.D. Scotland Yard)
Johnny Ashby
- Boy
- (uncredited)
Joan Barry
- Alice White
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
Johnny Butt
- Sergeant
- (uncredited)
Alfred Hitchcock
- Man on Subway
- (uncredited)
Phyllis Konstam
- Gossiping Neighbour
- (uncredited)
Sam Livesey
- The Chief Inspector (silent version)
- (uncredited)
Phyllis Monkman
- Gossip Woman
- (uncredited)
Percy Parsons
- Crook
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaMuch of this movie was originally shot silently. When sound became available during the course of shooting, Sir Alfred Hitchcock re-shot certain scenes with sound, thus making it his first talkie. There was one complication with this change, however. Leading lady Anny Ondra had a thick Czech accent which was inappropriate to her character, Alice White. Joan Barry was chosen to provide a different voice for her, but post-production dubbing technology did not exist then. The solution was for Barry to stand just out of shot and read Alice's lines into a microphone as Ondra mouthed them in front of the camera. This is generally acknowledged as the first instance of one actress' voice being dubbed by another, even though the word "dub" is technologically inappropriate in this case.
- GoofsWhen Alice "unlocks" the door to the building where she lives, it starts to open as soon as the key reaches the door. It was clearly not only not locked, but not even latched. However, she goes through with the motion of unlocking it.
- Quotes
Alice White: You and your Scotland Yard. If it weren't for Edgar Wallace, nobody'd ever heard of it.
- Alternate versionsOriginally filmed as a silent movie, running 75 minutes; Hitchcock later added newly shot scenes and had other existing footage dubbed to create a talkie version, running 86 minutes.
- ConnectionsEdited into Der Zinker (1931)
- SoundtracksMiss Up-to-Date
(1929) (uncredited)
Words by Frank Eyton and music by Billy Mayerl
Performed by Cyril Ritchard
Featured review
A common motif in Alfred Hitchcock's movies is the guilty woman: "Blackmail", "Psycho" and "The Birds" are all prime examples. In "Blackmail", Alice White (Anny Ondra) goes home with an artist one night and he tries to rape her. She murders him, and from then on everything reminds her of it. The jester painting appears to be looking at her (or she at it?), a billboard looks like a knife, and a woman keeps uttering the word knife. But in the end, everything blows up in Alice's face.
Hitch was certainly showing his chops here. The camera angles, scenery, and other such things all combined to make what we would expect in a Hitchcock movie. I try to imagine being a moviegoer in 1929 watching "Blackmail" for the first time, wondering what Hitchcock's subsequent work would be like.
Hitch was certainly showing his chops here. The camera angles, scenery, and other such things all combined to make what we would expect in a Hitchcock movie. I try to imagine being a moviegoer in 1929 watching "Blackmail" for the first time, wondering what Hitchcock's subsequent work would be like.
- lee_eisenberg
- Aug 9, 2005
- Permalink
Details
Box office
- Gross worldwide
- $160
- Runtime1 hour 25 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.20 : 1
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