7/10
A romantic murder-mystery drama about an innocent man accused of murder
21 June 2019
Hitch GIves You Another Great Mystery Thriller dealing with a romantic murder-thriller drama in which a film star is killed by her estranged husband, who is jealous of all of her young boyfriends. The next day, writer Robert Tisdall (Derrick de Marney) who happens to be one such fianceé discovers her body on the beach . He runs to call the police, however, two witnesses think that he is the escaping killer, as he goes on the run . Robert is detained , but owing to a mix-up at the courthouse, he gets aways and goes on the run again , with a Police Constable's daughter named Erica (18-year-old Nova Pilbeam) , proving he didn't strangle the actress .Their only lead is provided by Old Will, who can identify the murderer, a man with noticeably twitching eyes.If they are able to discover the truth, they will find that Robert being incriminated for the murder is no accident .

Somewhat uneven mystery/suspense movie considered to be the successor to "39 Steps" about a Police constable's daughter who helps a fugitive and determined to prove his innocence . This is a rarely seen Hitch movie , being adapted from Josephine Tey's novel titled ¨A shilling for candles¨. Not awesome Hitchcock film but engrossing enough . There are at least three magnificent sequences with suspense and menace hovering in usual Hitchcock fashion , including some crane shots , as first scenes about murder , the car running into a mine that throws down itself , and finally at a hotel with a orchestra playing while camera watches and where everything finally jells . An set-pieces in which fugitives attempt to get away from a party are priceless . It was made at the newly opened Pinewood studios with adequate and appropriate set design . Both protagonists give an average acting , Marney has a most odd of a voice and Pilbeam is too gawky . As their parts and their relationships aren't very credible , at the same time in the movie happen some incidents with no much sense with the result that most of movie is a bit loose and disconcerting .The film belongs to Hitch's first British period , Alfred himself makes his usual cameo appearance : watch out for him in the crowd outside a courthouse . The main cast is well supported by some good actors by the time such as : Percy Marmont, Mary Clare , Edward Rigby , John Longden and Basil Radford .

The film belongs to first Hitch period shot in Great Britain , including silent and sound films ; when he directed silent films such as ¨The lodger¨ (1926) , ¨The ring¨(1927) , ¨Easy virtue¨ (1927) , ¨The Manxman¨(29) ; being ¨Blackmail¨(29) made as a silent , this was reworked to become a talkie . Other films are the following ones : Murder , Juno and the paycock , Skin game , Number 17 , The farmer's wife , Champagne , Rich and strange , The secret agent , Sabotage , The man who knew too much and 39 steps . Following other hits as ¨The lady vanishes¨(38) , ¨Jamaica Inn¨ (39) until he is hired by David O'Selznick to shoot ¨Rebecca¨(40) in the US . Rating : 6.5/10 . Decent and acceptable Hitchcock movie but not extraordinary .
11 out of 13 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed