So underrated


Hitchcock outdid himself on this early work. I thought his entire adaption of the novel was fascinating. The story itself is way ahead of its time, at least as far as cinema goes. (Theatre is a different story.)

What impresses me most about 'Murder!' is that its characters are so rich, so easily defined, so unique, so perfect. That's unusual in a Hitchcock film. And beyond that, the acting is supreme. At night, when the characters are tired, they actually yawn in the middle of their lines. I've NEVER seen a film where that's happened before. Their movements and the way they speak to each other is so natural.

Supreme. I loved it.

reply

agreed, third best hitchcock film from the 30's (after 39 steps and the lady vanishes)

reply

The ending really makes it Hitchcock. I would either put 3rd or 4th in the 1930s Hitchcock films, after The Lady Vanishes, The 39 Steps, and Young and Innocent.




'Do you want the moon? If you want it, I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down for you.'

reply

Sorry, but i forgot to mention The Man Who Knew Too Much. So I would probably say Murder! is the 4th or 5th best Hitch film of the 1930s.





'Do you want the moon? If you want it, I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down for you.'

reply

Murder! is one of my Fav Hitchcock Films overall, so I put it at #1 in the 30's column

We can DO IT ALLLL DAY LONG, (We'll have to pay more for the light bill if we do it at night!)

reply

[deleted]

What fascinates me about it is that the murderer reveals himself in the end to be a transvestite. This predates Norman Bates by exactly 30 years!

reply

Sadly, I didn't think this was much to speak about. I guess I expect more from The Master. I mean, there could have been at least one clear reference of what was meant by 'Half-Caste', as well as, a brief shot of him dangling from his suicidal rope. I have a poster of Alice Cooper dangling from a gallow's pole from 1971 hanging on my wall, so I wouldn't have been shocked, but it would have given some much-needed kick to this dead horse of a film! lol FuturePrimitive666.

"*bleep* it all and *bleep*ing no regrets!"

reply

There does not need to be any clearer reference than "half caste" as the term was in common use at the time and its meaning was clear to the audience.

reply

What MrsPeabody said.
Also, I guess it's quite hard to appreciate the greatness and freshness of such old movies since the world and film making has changed so much since then.

For instance, the inner monologue voice-over might feel cliche or a cop out by today's standards, but this was the first time it was used in a movie and was quite a technical achievement at the time.

Also, the censors had much more power back in those days and quite many subjects that we take for granted were forbidden. I'm sure Hitch would have been even more edgy if it wasn't for the censors, given his record of tricking them. Most Notorious (pun) might be the long kissing scene between Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman when kisses were forbidden to last longer than 3 sec.
So while Alice Cooper could make his posters freely, Hitch didn't have that luxury. This restrainment might be the reason the themes of homosexuality and gender ambiguity in this movie were so vague that some people miss them.

--------------------------------
Oh you mad cuz I'm stylin on you

reply

I don't know that much about British censorship of the time, but American censorship was kind of weird before the rating system. A film might have to have a scene deleted for one state and one state only, so, if, for example, you lived in Kansas City, the same film could be shown in Missouri and Kansas, but the Kansas film could be shorter because they had stricter censorship laws than Missouri. It became a bigger issue after 1934. I imagine that British film companies knew that there were good chances to get their films shown in other nations - after all, this was filmed with the same sets but with German actors.

In the silent era, sending a film almost anywhere in the world was just a matter of changing title cards. Early sound films, like "Murder!" and "Dracula" were filmed in 2 or more languages with different actors using the same sets. Another film that did that was "The Testament of Dr. Mabuse" by Fritz Lang - it was recorded in French and German with a couple of bilingual actors recreating their roles in both versions.

One thing that had to be in the producers' minds was getting the films past the censors everywhere they wanted to distribute a film. Hitchcock, among others, often found interesting ways to get things past the censors.

reply

U,m 1971 and 1928 are VERY VERY DIFFERENT PERIODS OF TIME! People weren't even used to films with words much less homosexuality or a dude hanging from a rope! People were shocked in the 70's from tht stuff I can only imagine in the 20's! You need to get your era's straight bc they were very different. And people who lived then understood what those terms meat bc it was common terms.

reply

Whilst I found parts of the storyline lacking (due to somewhat excessive use of dialogue), Murder!'s visual style was brilliant. The cinematography (in particular the opening sequence and jail scene) effectively placed us in Diana's plight, along with various visual indicators typical of Hitchcock.

I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not.

reply

I noticed the yawning too and thought it was amazing as well. S many people keep commenting on how it's just 'another' murder mystery nothing special and has been worn out and done too much, which is humorous bc they are comparing it to the order in which THEY personally have seen the film and not realizing that ALL those films they're comparing it to came YEARS AFTER! It's been done a bunch NOW, yes, but this film was before any of the films made since so it is a masterpiece and original! Idiots I swear sometimes I just think people go thru life never actually using their brains but just saying whatever BS that comes out, you can't throw a film that was one of the first dialogued films ever into a category with the same crap that's made over and over in today's society!

reply