Blackmail

Judging from the date of its premiere, Hitchcock’s last silent film, The Manxman, was released to cinemas at producer John Maxwell’s behest after the sound version of Blackmail. The plot bears the obvious hallmarks of a thriller that would later probably be classified as “Hitchcockian”: a blonde damsel in distress, death by stabbing, escape from incompetent cops. The first seconds are reminiscent of the avant-garde urban symphonies by Walter Ruttman and Dziga Vertov – movement, the city, a rhythmic montage. There is no dialogue in the opening eight minutes, when the characters just idly open their mouths. The whole sequence of arrest, interrogation and imprisonment, accompanied only by non-diegetic music, arouses the impression that we are watching a silent film. It’s open to speculation as to whether Hitchcock is thus intentionally toying with viewers’ expectations and whether he is forcing us to wonder when the synchronised sound will finally be heard. In order for the director to make his dispassionate attitude to sound technology even more clear, the film’s first dialogue scene does not deal with anything crucial; rather it is merely unimportant, as if it’s the dialogue of two men recorded in passing. Furthermore, both of the men are filmed from behind, a technique that Hitchcock used to elegantly solve the problem of early talkies with imperfect synchronisation of picture and sound. This is only the first of a number of examples of ways to deal imaginatively with film sound demonstrated in Blackmail. Among other things, the film contains one of the first uses of a sound transition, or subjectively perceived sound (the famous scene with a “knife”). The lead actors didn’t manage to rid themselves of the expressive acting of silent films, but if their acting is more subtle at certain moments, that is primarily due to the use of sound. For example, whistling a cheerful melody is enough to express a good mood, and it’s not necessary to accompany laughter with exaggerated gestures. Whereas other directors considered sound technology a limiting factor with respect to possible camera movements, in Hitchcock’s work there are no apparent limitations given the multi-camera shooting, for example. For Hitchcock, film remains a primarily visual medium. Immediately in the introduction, the film offers an original point-of-view shot through the eyes of the criminal; the characters ascending the stairs are captured by raising the camera to an unusual height, and other shots are also enlivened by various camera movements. In the areas of editing and the mise-en-scéne, two key influences on early Hitchcock, namely Soviet montage and German Expressionism, are combined in Blackmail. Using quick cuts, developments in the Scotland Yard investigation are condensed into a few seconds, Anna’s state of mind during her night-time wanderings around the city is illustrated through deflected camera angles, and there is also some expressionism in the shot when the protagonist passes a crowd of laughing gawkers. Hitchcock didn’t let himself get carried away with the new technological possibilities. He realised the advantages and disadvantages of innovations without losing the narrative techniques of silent films that had been developed over the course of years. If only more directors of that era had followed his shining example. 80% (07/09/2013) (less) (more)