Murder

Alfred Hitchcock was well known for making movies about "wrong men," or men wrongly accused of a crime. Sometimes he even made "wrong women" movies.One early example was the obviously-titled "Murder!," one of the earliest movies he made with sound. Hitchcock's signature style was still pretty rough here (particularly in the courtroom scene), but he shows considerable skill at spinning up suspenseful whodunnits with amateur detectives, with some intriguing camerawork.Young actress Diana Baring (Norah Baring) is found near the body of another murdered starlet, and is assumed by the police to have murdered her "rival." She has no memory of what happened; at her trial, most of the jury decides that she's either guilty or dangerously insane. The only one who thinks she's innocent is Sir John Menier (Herbert Marshall), but he's pressured into voting "guilty" along with everyone else.Naturally, he feels guilty about this. So he begins investigating the murder along with stage manager Ted Markham (Edward Chapman) and his wife Doucie (Phyllis Konstam), and quickly discovers that the police's assumption of Diana's guilt meant that they didn't check several important clues. With only hours to go before they hang Diana, Sir John and his allies must find the REAL murderer."Murder!" is an early film of Hitchcock's -- he didn't make early classics like "The 39 Steps" or "The Lady Vanishes" until years later -- and it was only the third movie he made with sound. So it's pretty rough around the edges. Hitchcock clearly was still learning how to integrate video with sound, and he made some noob mistakes with sound fades and too-abrupt transitions. The courtroom scene may cause whiplash.But he also showed a lot of raw talent -- the camera drifts and slowly zooms where Hitchcock wills, and there are flickers of the style that would later become legendary. Not many movies from 1930 have such artistry.And Hitchcock had his trademark mix of mystery and grim humor here -- for instance, there's a thick cloud of suspense over the entire story, which is slightly undermined by the fact that we don't know much about the "wrong woman." But it has some beautifully memorable scenes, such as Sir John staring in the mirror while "Tristan and Isolde" blasts from the radio. But he also knew when to leaven the grimness with humor (a bunch of unruly children invade Sir John's bedroom).One thing does date the movie badly, though. That would be the racial aspect of the plot -- it's not handled in a racist way, but the "deep dark secret" and the terminology feel bizarre to a modern viewer.Marshall (in his first sound role) gives a lovely performance as a clever, posh playwright who is trying to establish some reasonable doubt -- he feels like a genuinely nice guy who wants to right some wrongs, especially if he contributed in any way. Baring does a decent job, but we only really get to know her character over an hour into the movie -- and honestly she plays Diana as a bit creepy in her first scenes."Murder!" has the flaws of a young, developing filmmaker, but it also has the raw talent of a half-flowered genius. Definitely worth a look for people who love a well-written mystery.

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”). Blackmail (Special Edition) [Blu-ray

An early classic from Hitch, "Murder!" on the Kino Blu-ray features both the English version of the film as well as the German version (upscaled from an SD source--Hitch spoke German and trained in Germany pre-WWII.).The Kino transfer is taken from the best surviving source of the film and varies with some sequences suffering from noticeable scratches more than others (particularly noticeable during the cross fades where the quality drops significantly due to the use of early optical printers). The film could look substantially better with better surviving sources. Density varies as well indicating that the restoration may be from multiple sources as well. The source isn't disclosed but is, reportedly, from a BFI restoration of the film. There are a couple of nice special features included. Not mentioned on the box nor on the set (as far as I can tell) is the 54 minute documentary that was mentioned in the press release.We get a number of trailers including those for non-Kino releases "Lifeboat", "Murder!", "Blackmail", "The Paradine Case", "Under Capricorn". We get a commentary by Nick Pinkerton (who notes the use of off screen sound to further the narrative). It starts off as descriptive of what we see or are going to see on screen (it would be more interesting to focus on the history of the production, how the film compares to similar, later films from Hitch). He does dig into the background of various actors, etc. involved in the film and their connection to other Hitchcock films later in the commentary so don't be discouraged. We also get an alternate ending as part of the package.The unsteadiness evident in the rating certificate at the beginning and during the title sequence are (aside from some titles)the only sign of unsteadiness in the presentation.As mentioned the German version of "Murder!" (entitled "Mary") also appears upscaled and we also get a Hitchcock Truffaut audio recording from Icon Interviews Icon. We also get an introduction by French film critic Noel Simsolo in French with English subtitles. This is presented in full screen with black bars on both sides of the screen. The film appears in its original aspect ratio.It's a pity that the documentary wasn't able to be included but the restoration looks pretty good with some minor scratches evident now and again but, on the whole, BFI did a fine restoration. Audio sounds fine

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.