MovieChat Forums > Blackmail (1929) Discussion > Maybe little underrated

Maybe little underrated

posted 15 years ago by ilpohirvonen
7 replies | jump to latest

Okey, first of all this movie was made 80 years ago, so the sound system is what it is. When I started to watch this movie from dvd, I wasnt excpecting much, because many people said this film isn't that great. But it ended up to be a pleasent surprise. It wasnt the most exciting movie I've ever seen, but it was entertaining.

The plot is interesting, and because this is from Hitchcocks early years, all hitchcock fans must see this. I'd like to recommend to watch this movies with subtitles so you don't have to pay that much attention to the speaking. (because it might be little blurred sometimes)

But I'm recommending this for all Hitchcock fans, you will be surprised ;) We can see Hitchcocks own style even in his earliest movies.

Underrated, but a pleasent surprise for me. 8 stars out of 10.

[–] CindyH 15 years ago

Totally agree with you on all points and I was amazed that you said exactly everything I was going to say in a post. I too gave it an 8, I too didn't expect much but was pleasantly surprised at how fun and absorbing the movie was.

I really loved it!

[–] rudeboy8080 14 years ago

Blackmail(1929) is a solid Hitchcock movie from his pre-Hollywood days. Boy, oh, boy, the late Anny Ondra was a beauty.

[–] ghbbrown-1 14 years ago

I enjoyed this, and thought some of it was pretty daring for the period--the whole scene in the artist's studio, including the attempted rape and Alice's self-defense. And I really liked the moral ambiguity of the ending: the would-be rapist dead, the blackmailer dead and held responsible for the artist's murder, and Alice free to get on with her life without admitting to manslaughter or to the foolishness that got her into the artist's grip in the first place.

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] Boo-berry 14 years ago

definitely one of Hitchock's best..

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] craighenderson-925-318178 11 years ago

Disagree entirely about the moral ambiguity. Blackmail is not a capital offense, so morally Alice is guilty of murdering not the artist, but the blackmailer. I would have preferred to see either more guilt emoted, leaving the impression that she will see that pointing finger in the painting for the rest of her life (Now, THAT would have been moral ambiguity!), or else to see the blackmailer exposed and booked in the same sequence of events as the crook in the first eight minutes of the film.