Directed by:
Alfred HitchcockScreenplay:
Charles BennettCinematography:
Curt CourantComposer:
Arthur BenjaminCast:
Leslie Banks, Edna Best, Peter Lorre, Frank Vosper, Nova Pilbeam, Pierre Fresnay, Frederick Piper, Joan Harrison, Betty Baskcomb, Robert Brooks Turner (more)VOD (2)
Plots(1)
While vacationing in Switzerland, Britons Bob and Jill Lawrence befriend jovial Frenchman Louis Bernard. Not long afterward, Bernard is murdered. He whispers a secret in Bob's ear before expiring. This is witnessed by several sinister foreign agents, who kidnap Bob's daughter Betty to keep him from revealing what he knows: That a diplomat will be assassinated during a concert at London's Albert Hall. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Reviews (2)
It’s a typical mess compiled by Hitchcock and Bennett with reference to Chesterton. From a formal point of view, I have to admit that the editing is strange and in some places dysfunctional, while the sound work is striking for 1934. In terms of the acting, it oscillates between the Englishmen, who are crudely just there in the film and move unnervingly according to the signs, and Peter Lorre, who is acting outside Germany for the first time and quite inorganically and downright as himself. Perhaps only with the child actress can we speak of a certain conscious civility. For a new treatment of this very material in the 1950s, and for Lorre's success in English-language films as a result, it's a powerhouse. Not to mention the consolidation of the collaboration between Bennett (originally a budding playwright) and Hitchcock since Blackmail...
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A conventional conspiracy thriller that sorely lacks all the trademarks of Hitchcock's later works, such as greater formal sophistication and plot coherence. In one of his first "big" films, Hitchcock is too straightforward. After a great opening in St. Moritz, the film soon becomes an uninteresting game of cat and mouse, desperately lacking any plot twist. In addition, the ending in Albert Hall or the final shootout just feels forced, which is not helped by the many unresolved themes. An additional twenty minutes would have done wonders for the film!
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Gallery (25)
Photo © Gaumont British Picture Corporation
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