The last time I was at The Royal Albert Hall was to see KING CRIMSON. The guy next to me was very excited because we thought we were in the very same box where this film's assassin tried to shoot the diplomat from.
Not just KING CRIMSON fans but anyone who loves well-made 1930s films should enjoy this. It's not just interesting as something to compare with the "newer" version or as an example of how Hitchcock's style and techniques were evolving or as an example of British filmmaking in the 1930s. No, I can't be doing with all that 'watching this as an academic exercise' nonsense because this is just a great little picture. It's not up there with LADY VANISHES but we're in that territory.
Personally I loved his earlier picture, RICH AND STRANGE but it wasn't a typical Hitchcock movie. The rest of his early films at BIP are pretty iffy as was his first one at Gaumont, WALTZES FROM VIENNA but given the opportunity of working with the sexiest woman in the English film industry, Jessie Matthews, I can't imagine any red-blooded man in the 30s turning down that opportunity! This film however is exactly what we expect from Mr H: engaging characters, proper baddies and a witty scrip.
You aren't so much drawn into the story but rather captured by it like a fly in a spider's web. You feel part of the story and even if you wanted to you don't know how to escape. You can't explain what's happening, you can't do anything about it, you just have to accept it. You feel like you're tumbling ever faster down a mountain side, you don't know why....but there's something inexplicably reassuring in the back of your mind telling you that everything's going to be ok.
No, Leslie Banks and Edna Best aren't really familiar names and they're not particularly memorable or interesting but they're ideal for these parts as normal, fairly bland everyday people like ourselves. If these vents were happening to James Bond or Captain Kirk it wouldn't have the same impact as it would by happening to people just like us - or rather how we imagine we might have been back then. Peter Lorre however is memorable. He's absolutely brilliant as the cool laid-back psycho and even more impressive since he couldn't actually understand English!
Not just KING CRIMSON fans but anyone who loves well-made 1930s films should enjoy this. It's not just interesting as something to compare with the "newer" version or as an example of how Hitchcock's style and techniques were evolving or as an example of British filmmaking in the 1930s. No, I can't be doing with all that 'watching this as an academic exercise' nonsense because this is just a great little picture. It's not up there with LADY VANISHES but we're in that territory.
Personally I loved his earlier picture, RICH AND STRANGE but it wasn't a typical Hitchcock movie. The rest of his early films at BIP are pretty iffy as was his first one at Gaumont, WALTZES FROM VIENNA but given the opportunity of working with the sexiest woman in the English film industry, Jessie Matthews, I can't imagine any red-blooded man in the 30s turning down that opportunity! This film however is exactly what we expect from Mr H: engaging characters, proper baddies and a witty scrip.
You aren't so much drawn into the story but rather captured by it like a fly in a spider's web. You feel part of the story and even if you wanted to you don't know how to escape. You can't explain what's happening, you can't do anything about it, you just have to accept it. You feel like you're tumbling ever faster down a mountain side, you don't know why....but there's something inexplicably reassuring in the back of your mind telling you that everything's going to be ok.
No, Leslie Banks and Edna Best aren't really familiar names and they're not particularly memorable or interesting but they're ideal for these parts as normal, fairly bland everyday people like ourselves. If these vents were happening to James Bond or Captain Kirk it wouldn't have the same impact as it would by happening to people just like us - or rather how we imagine we might have been back then. Peter Lorre however is memorable. He's absolutely brilliant as the cool laid-back psycho and even more impressive since he couldn't actually understand English!