Blackmail (1929 film)
| Blackmail | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Alfred Hitchcock |
| Produced by | John Maxwell |
| Screenplay by |
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| Based on |
Blackmail (play) by Charles Bennett |
| Starring | |
| Music by |
Jimmy Campbell and Reg Connelly Hubert Bath (arrangements) Billy Mayerl (song: "Miss Up-to-Date") |
| Cinematography | Jack E. Cox |
| Edited by | Emile de Ruelle |
| Distributed by |
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Release date
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Running time
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84 minutes (6740 ft silent, 7136 ft sound) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Blackmail is a 1929 British thriller drama film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Anny Ondra, John Longden, and Cyril Ritchard. Based on the 1928 play Blackmail by Charles Bennett, the film is about a London woman who is blackmailed after killing a man who tries to rape her.
After starting production as a silent film, British International Pictures decided to convert Blackmail into a sound film during filming, becoming the first successful European dramatic talkie; a silent version was released for theaters not equipped for sound (at 6,740 feet), with the sound version (7,136 feet) released at the same time. The silent version still exists in the British Film Institute collection.
On 26 April 1929, Scotland Yard Detective Frank Webber (John Longden) escorts his girlfriend Alice White (Anny Ondra) to a tea house. They have an argument and Frank storms out. While reconsidering his action, he sees Alice leave with Mr. Crewe (Cyril Ritchard), an artist she had earlier agreed to meet.
Crewe persuades a reluctant Alice into coming up to see his studio. She admires a painting of a laughing clown, and uses his palette and brushes to paint a cartoonish drawing of a face; he adds a few strokes of a feminine figure, and they both sign the "work". He gives her a dancer's outfit and Crewe sings and plays "Miss Up-to-Date" on the piano.
Crewe steals a kiss, to Alice's disgust, but as she is changing and preparing to leave, he takes her dress from the changing area. He attempts to rape her; her cries for help are not heard on the street below. In desperation, Alice grabs a nearby bread knife and kills him. She angrily punches a hole in the painting of the clown, then leaves after attempting to remove any evidence of her presence in the flat, but accidentally leaves a glove. She walks the streets of London all night in a daze.
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Wikipedia