Apart perhaps from Blackmail, famed of being the first British talkie, Alfred Hitchcock's early British sound pictures made between 1929 and 1933 have never attracted much attention, unlike the films he made during his later years in Britain, the period between 1934 and 1939. These include classics like "The Man Who Knew Too Much", "The 39 Steps" and "The Lady Vanishes".
"Murder!" was Hitchcock's third film, after "Blackmail" and "Juno and the Paycock". It is a murder mystery set in the world of the theatre. Diana Baring, a young actress in a travelling theatre troupe, is accused of the murder of a colleague, Edna Druce. The two young women are known to have disliked one another, and the motive for the killing is presumed to have been either professional or romantic jealousy. Diana seems to have no memory of what happened, so at her trial her counsel puts forward a defence of automatism, but this is rejected by the jury and she is sentenced to death.
The theme of an innocent person wrongly accused of a crime was to become a common one in Hitchcock's work, but his treatment of it here is quite different from the way he treated it in most of his later films on the subject. In these films the wrongly accused person is almost always a man rather than a woman, "Dial M for Murder" being the main exception. That man normally plays an active role in establishing his innocence and bringing the real perpetrator to justice- examples include Derrick de Marney's character in "Young and Innocent" or Cary Grant's in "North by North-West.
The two later Hitchcock films with which "Murder!" has most in common are "Dial M..." and one from the opposite end of his career, his penultimate film "Frenzy". In all three a wrongly convicted person is held in jail while someone else tries to prove his or her innocence. Moreover, in each case the self-appointed defender is someone you would expect to be on the opposite side of the law. In "Dial M.."and "Frenzy" that person is a policeman involved in the original murder investigation. In "Murder!" it is one of the jury. Sir John Menier, himself a famous actor, begins to have doubts about Diana's guilt and regrets his "guilty" vote. He begins to investigate the crime, seeking fresh evidence which will prove Diana's innocence and lead him to the real killer.
Despite Hitchcock's fascination with crime and the criminal mind, two genres which held little interest for him were police procedurals and courtroom dramas. The trial scene in "Frenzy", for example, is very brief and perfunctory. "Murder!" is therefore unusual in that it contains a lengthy courtroom scene. ("The Wrong Man" is about the only other Hitchcock film I can think of that contains one). It also contains a lengthy scene set in the jury room which inevitably put me in mind of "Twelve Angry Men", even though this film was not made until nearly thirty years later. I wonder if "Murder!" might have influenced it.
I was shocked, when the real murderer was unmasked, that the motive for the killing was to prevent himself from being exposed as a "half-caste" (a term which was much more acceptable in 1930 than it would be today) when he has been "passing for white". We can all be grateful that black ancestry is no longer regarded as a shameful secret that must be concealed at all costs.
Trying to evaluate a film like this, made nearly a hundred years ago, is a difficult task, and not just because of its outdated attitude to race. Sound pictures were in their infancy, so it is not surprising that the plot creaks a bit and the acting can seem to us artificial and stagey. (I was not surprised to learn that the film was based upon a stage play). Yet Hitchcock was still learning his craft, and in making "Murder!" he seems to have learned some lessons that would stand him in good stead in the future. 6/10
A goof. During the trial the prosecuting barrister states that "neither beauty nor youth nor provocation" can be a defence to the crime of murder. In fact provocation can, under certain circumstances, be a partial defence, reducing murder to manslaughter. (This was an important distinction in 1930 when murder carried the death penalty and manslaughter did not).
A coincidence. The character Diana Baring and the actress playing her, Norah Baring, both have the same surname, an unusual one in Britain. This was not something contrived for the purposes of the film. Norah (nee Baker) had used the stage name Baring from the beginning of her career in 1926 and the character had had the same surname, albeit with a different Christian name, in the originals stage play.
"Murder!" was Hitchcock's third film, after "Blackmail" and "Juno and the Paycock". It is a murder mystery set in the world of the theatre. Diana Baring, a young actress in a travelling theatre troupe, is accused of the murder of a colleague, Edna Druce. The two young women are known to have disliked one another, and the motive for the killing is presumed to have been either professional or romantic jealousy. Diana seems to have no memory of what happened, so at her trial her counsel puts forward a defence of automatism, but this is rejected by the jury and she is sentenced to death.
The theme of an innocent person wrongly accused of a crime was to become a common one in Hitchcock's work, but his treatment of it here is quite different from the way he treated it in most of his later films on the subject. In these films the wrongly accused person is almost always a man rather than a woman, "Dial M for Murder" being the main exception. That man normally plays an active role in establishing his innocence and bringing the real perpetrator to justice- examples include Derrick de Marney's character in "Young and Innocent" or Cary Grant's in "North by North-West.
The two later Hitchcock films with which "Murder!" has most in common are "Dial M..." and one from the opposite end of his career, his penultimate film "Frenzy". In all three a wrongly convicted person is held in jail while someone else tries to prove his or her innocence. Moreover, in each case the self-appointed defender is someone you would expect to be on the opposite side of the law. In "Dial M.."and "Frenzy" that person is a policeman involved in the original murder investigation. In "Murder!" it is one of the jury. Sir John Menier, himself a famous actor, begins to have doubts about Diana's guilt and regrets his "guilty" vote. He begins to investigate the crime, seeking fresh evidence which will prove Diana's innocence and lead him to the real killer.
Despite Hitchcock's fascination with crime and the criminal mind, two genres which held little interest for him were police procedurals and courtroom dramas. The trial scene in "Frenzy", for example, is very brief and perfunctory. "Murder!" is therefore unusual in that it contains a lengthy courtroom scene. ("The Wrong Man" is about the only other Hitchcock film I can think of that contains one). It also contains a lengthy scene set in the jury room which inevitably put me in mind of "Twelve Angry Men", even though this film was not made until nearly thirty years later. I wonder if "Murder!" might have influenced it.
I was shocked, when the real murderer was unmasked, that the motive for the killing was to prevent himself from being exposed as a "half-caste" (a term which was much more acceptable in 1930 than it would be today) when he has been "passing for white". We can all be grateful that black ancestry is no longer regarded as a shameful secret that must be concealed at all costs.
Trying to evaluate a film like this, made nearly a hundred years ago, is a difficult task, and not just because of its outdated attitude to race. Sound pictures were in their infancy, so it is not surprising that the plot creaks a bit and the acting can seem to us artificial and stagey. (I was not surprised to learn that the film was based upon a stage play). Yet Hitchcock was still learning his craft, and in making "Murder!" he seems to have learned some lessons that would stand him in good stead in the future. 6/10
A goof. During the trial the prosecuting barrister states that "neither beauty nor youth nor provocation" can be a defence to the crime of murder. In fact provocation can, under certain circumstances, be a partial defence, reducing murder to manslaughter. (This was an important distinction in 1930 when murder carried the death penalty and manslaughter did not).
A coincidence. The character Diana Baring and the actress playing her, Norah Baring, both have the same surname, an unusual one in Britain. This was not something contrived for the purposes of the film. Norah (nee Baker) had used the stage name Baring from the beginning of her career in 1926 and the character had had the same surname, albeit with a different Christian name, in the originals stage play.