"Mary" is (even if the title does not sound like it) a German 78-minute film from 1931. The director, but not one of the writers according to IMDb, is the fairly young Alfred Hitchcock. "Young" is relative though in this context as he had been making films at this point already for about a decade. The language here is German and the cast includes a couple somewhat known German actors from back in the day, such as Abel and Tschechowa. This film has its 85th anniversary this year, so it was made 2 years before Nazis came into power in Germany. That's why nobody should be surprised it is a black-and-white film still. But it's not a silent film anymore. I personally did not really care for this crime-related courtroom drama or for any of the characters. It all felt a bit bland to me and I as an audience member did not feel involved whatsoever and with this I mean emotionally or just that I found it interesting enough to move to the edge of my seat. A fairly underwhelming early film by one of the greatest. But if it helped Hitchcock in improving towards what people consider his masterpieces then that's fine for me. I myself am glad this stayed clearly under 90 minutes and I don't recommend the watch. Thumbs down.
Review of Mary
