Murder [DVD]

PHOTO 1: Herbert Marshall in ‘Murder!’PHOTO 2: Alfred Abel in ‘Mary’ (German version of Murder!)PHOTO 3: Norah Baring in ‘Murder!’PHOTO 4: Olga Tschechowa in ‘Mary’PHOTO 5: Hitchcock’s cameo @ 1:02:59 in ‘Murder’PHOTO 6: Miles Mander (second from right) *Amazon has messed up the order of the photos. Current order is 5 3 1 6 2 4Alfred Hitchcock filmed 26 films in England before his emigration to Hollywood in 1939.Film number 14 is ‘Murder!’ (1930) starring Herbert Marshall and Norah Baring - Hitchcock’s fourth sound film.Film number 15 is ‘Mary’ (1931) starring Alfred Abel and Olga Tschechowa - Hitchcock’s fifth sound film.‘Mary’ was the German-language version of ‘Murder’ - directed by Hitchcock (who was an assistant director in Germany in the 1920s) with a separate cast of German actors.Filmed simultaneously with the English version at London’s Elstree Studio.Nowadays, movies are dubbed into foreign languages for international distribution, but sound was brand new in 1930 and they were still working on it.Aside from language, the biggest difference is that there is no Hitchcock cameo in the German version.Warning:One additional difference: the explanation of the killer’s motive in the English version is highly offensive (I can’t go into detail without spoilers).In the German version the killer actually has a different motivation.Nowadays it’s hard to appreciate the technological challenges Alfred Hitchcock faced in 1930.One of Hitchcock’s directorial flourishes (aka showing off) occurs @ 35:44, where there is an uninterrupted two-minute take of Herbert Marshall (or Alfred Abel @ 27:56) shaving and listening to Wagner on the radio, while the audience overhears his thoughts.The prelude to Tristan und Isolde is played “live” by an orchestra hiding behind the bathroom wall, while the actor emotes thoughtfully to his pre-recorded voice on a 78rpm record.This scene would be easy to film today, but ninety years ago coordination was a challenge.Other than the Wagner and Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony in the opening titles, there is no movie music.This was typical for 1930 when studios feared that music would drown out the dialogue.This is the Blu-ray debut of the British Film Institute (BFI) restoration of ‘Murder!’It was first issued on DVD by StudioCanal France in 2007.Though not pristine, it looks better than ever on Blu-ray.The transfer of ‘Mary’ is not up to the same standard (described as “Up-res” - whatever that means).The German print is also twenty minutes shorter than the English language version, and is missing some footage.Bonus features:---- Audio Commentary by film critic Nick Pinkerton (informative but pedantic) for ‘Murder!’, but none for ‘Mary’.---- ‘Mary’ (1931) - the German language version of ‘Murder!’---- Hitchcock/Truffaut audio interview---- Introduction by Noël Simsolo in French with English subtitles (Warning: spoilers and inaccurate information)---- English SDH subtitles for both feature films.---- ALTERNATE "AMERICAN" ENDING (the last 10 minutes of the film are repeated) - the plot is the same, but there are two brief segments not in the UK film (@ 5:19-6:36 and @ 8:23-9:15). They occur near the end, and do not affect the plot. Surprisingly, these "American" segments are also in in the German screenplay.* MILES MANDER MYSTERY:One exception to dual casting: Miles Mander (photo 6) played the victim’s husband in both the English and German films.Miles Mander has only two brief lines @ 5:21 & 57:21 in ‘Murder!’ (and @ 3:24 & 43:35 in ‘Mary’).His total screen time is less than a minute - yet Mander was given fifth billing in the English credits.Perhaps Hitchcock owed him a favor.Miles Mander had been the leading man in Hitchcock’s first film, ‘The Pleasure Garden’ (1925, silent), but by the 1930s he was reduced to mostly bit parts.His career picked up when he moved to Hollywood and became a busy character actor, specializing in sinister or establishment Englishmen.(no actors are mentioned in the German credits, only the title and director).Kino-Lorber has also released the superb BFI transfer of Hitchcock’s first talkie  Blackmail (Special Edition) [Blu-ray ] (1929).The first authorized DVD / Blu-ray release of this important Hitchcock film in North America.Kino-Lorber includes both the sound and silent versions + an audio commentary.Kino-Lorber has signed a deal with the British Film Institute and StudioCanal France to issue additional Hitchcock British films on Blu-ray in North America.With the 2019 release of the silent ‘Blackmail’ (number 10), and the German language ‘Mary’ (number 15), all 55 surviving Hitchcock films are finally available on Amazon (40 are on Blu-ray).For the complete list, see Comment One (sort by ‘Oldest”).

This 1930 British sound film is an early effort by the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, to continue to experiment with the use of sound in film. One year before, Hitchcock made the first British sound film, BLACKMAIL, which is famous for the scene where we hear the subjective thoughts of a character via creative sound editing. While BLACKMAIL is still largely a silent film, MURDER! is a more complete attempt to make artistic use of sound to advance storytelling and character depiction. In the opening moments of the film, we see people react to the sound of a commotion nearby, but we never actually see what is causing the noise. In fact, no act of murder is shown in the entire film. Many scenes are conveyed via creative uses of sound. In one ingenious moment, Hitchcock shows the inner thoughts of a distraught stage actress, who imagines the sound of applauses that she would have heard on stage. In a humorous moment, a man speaks in a high-pitch voice off screen in order to prove to others (including the viewers) that he can convincingly imitate a woman. There is also the moment which Hitchcock once said was the best in the film: a man's thoughts are revealed to us while he is looking at the mirror and his gramophone is playing in the background. As his thoughts become more emotional, so does the music from the gramophone. All these usages of sound are commonplace today, of course. But during the early sound era, a film like MURDER! was a rather novel and rewarding experience for the audiences.The story in MURDER! now seems standard: a stage actress is seemingly wrongly accused of murder, and a veteran actor (Herbert Marshall in his first sound film) tries to prove her innocence. Often described as a whodunit, the film actually reveals the murder's identity about 10 minutes before the end. The film's last act borrows from Shakespeare's Hamlet, with Marshall trying to stage a play that re-creates the murder in order to catch the murderer off guard.MURDER! is available in several DVD versions, all of which have mere VHS video quality. The version made by Madacy has the least sharp picture. It also has severe cropping at the top of the screen, so that Herbert Marshall's name during the opening credits is completely cut off. The audio is relatively hiss-free, but probably due to an overuse of noise reduction, which renders the soundtrack muffled and hard to listen to. And there is no English subtitles nor closed captioning.The Madacy DVD version, however, is the only video version available in North America that I know of that has the uncut, original 104-minute British version of the film. The film was cut down to 92 minutes for release in the US, and so video versions of the film have existed only in the 92-minute form. Madacy has apparently somehow obtained the uncut British print. Even though the DVD case shows the running time of 92 minutes, it runs 104 minutes. The DVDs made by other companies, such as Delta (Laserlight) and Whirlwind, all run 92 minutes. Laserlight's version has marginally better picture than Madacy's, and has a hissier, but less muffled soundtrack. The Laserlight DVD also has Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese subtitles, but no English.So what does the extra footage in the 102-minute version consist of? Not much. I noticed only one extra scene, which happens to be the great character actress Una O'Connor's only appearance in the film. In the 92-min version, the scene where Marshall discovers a broken basin is followed immediately by his trip to the prison. But in he 102-min version, it is followed by an extra scene in the rooming house where Marshall has just spent the night. The scene is mainly about a light-hearted conversation between Marshall and the rooming house landlady (O'Connor), who indirectly offers clues to the murderer's identity. The scene also introduces the existence of the cigarette case that later helps pinpoint the murderer.Since these DVDs are selling at such lower prices, it probably wouldn't hurt if you buy all of the DVD versions. Buy the Madacy version for the extra footage, and buy the other versions for more presentable picture quality.

Suspense, a touch of madcap comedy, a brutal killing, a fetching lady in distress, a suave everyman to the rescue, coupled with a climatic scene where the killer meets his end, and you have first-rate Hitchcock. The 1930 film has been digitally remastered and despite a few glitches—and I do mean a few—the movie looks remarkably well for its age. The fetching lady (played by Nora Baring) is an actress who is caught standing over the corpse of a fellow actress. Worse, she has amnesia and remembers nothing about the murder, or herself. She is convicted of murder and sentenced to die. Puzzled by the case, and feeling guilty because he once rejected her for his repertory theater ensemble, one of the jurors—Sir John (Herbert Marshall)—turns amateur sleuth, engaging two former trouper members to help him find the real killer.The film is a bit slow-paced and dialogue driven, and—lacking English subtitles—requires close attention to follow the story. That said, it has several of Hitchcock’s touches, including a play within a play, and a cross-dressing villain (Esme Percy) who performs both as a clown and as a trapeze artist. In one of the most memorable and moving scenes, Percy’s piquant acting skill manages to elicit our sympathy. The climatic scene takes place under the big tent with the villain performing on the trapeze. If you’re into Hitchcock, as I am, this is a must have. Five stars.

Is there a brandy in the house or is it time for a cup of tea_one girl's wild ride to insane fame_and it's not the ride she expected_but there are a lot actors around maybe one of them can remember_well the lights go up and everyone is fooled_sometimes it's hard to be right_well it's sort of goofy and dumb but it is fun

Hitchcock was just 28 when he made Murder! Fans will love this film from the 20's. By watching this you know what Scorsese and Spielberg studied at school. Watch the first awesome opening five minutes. Or how the camera centres on the jurors in the courts halfway through the film. Hitchcock was so far ahead of his time. A real joy to watch. Hitch would return in 1930 with Blackmail, which I would say was his first real masterpiece. This film though is essential viewing.

Esta película es de la primeros trabajos de Hitchcock, todavia no alcanzaba el estatus de Maestro del suspenso. Sin embargo, es necesario ver estos primeros trabajos para poderlo evaluar en su real dimensión. Indispensable para los cinéfilos de corazón

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