Luke
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CibbuanoMurder!
December 29th 2006 05:06
Murder! (1930)
'Murder!' is an early Hitchcock film, only the third non-silent film he made, and can be often found these days on DVD for only a few dollars. I got my copy as part of a bargain 10-pack of Hitchcock's British films (films from between 1930 and 1939). A good score!
Anyway, 'Murder!' starts out with the discovery of a body, or more succinctly, the discovery of a woman standing over a body. Both the woman and the body are members of an acting troupe, and the suspected murderer (for no doubt, that is what the woman is) apparently has no memory of what happened. She is taken to trial and subsequently sentenced to death. It falls upon the conscience of Sir John Mernier - one of the jury - to investigate and prove her innocence. What follows is a typical whodunnit.
It's very creaky, owing to the early days of sound-film in Britain. Hitchcock is evidently keen to experiment with the new advances being made, and this film is notable for being the first film with a voice-over demonstrating a character's thoughts. The plot itself isn't much to write home about, it's fairly typical in light of the genre's many entries since, and the only time it really managed to impress me was with the spectacular finale that took place at the circus - a really well-filmed sequence that shows the beginnings of Hitchcock's burgeoning directorial genius and eye for shot-composition.
One for Hitchcock completists.
TRIVIA: One of the characters - a man unliked because he is a 'half-caste' - was originally a homosexual in the book the film was based on. This wouldn't be the last time Hitchcock would feature or be forced to censor a homosexual character in one of his films.
The film was made concurrently with a German version, using the same sets and some of the same actors.
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