BLACKMAIL (1929) B/W 75m dir: Alfred Hitchcock

w/Anny Ondra, John Longden, Donald Calthrop, Cyril Ritchard, Sara Allgood, Charles Paton, Harvey Braban, Phyllis Monkman, Hannah Jones, Percy Parsons

From The Movie Guide: "The first all-talkie for Great Britain and Alfred Hitchcock, this adaptation of a 1928 play stars Ondra as Alice White, a young British woman who is to be married to Scotland Yard detective Frank Webber (Longden). Alice, however is drawn to a handsome artist (Ritchard), whom she ends up stabbing when he tries to force her to model nude. Of course, she soon falls prey to the crime of the title and of course her boyfriend heads up the murder investigation.

"Although BLACKMAIL was completed and released as a silent film, Hitchcock was ordered by the studio to add some dialogue sequences for a 'talkie' release in some specially equipped theaters. The main problem was Ondra's heavy Polish accent. Rather than reshoot all of her scenes, though, actress Joan Barry was brought in to dub the star's voice. This procedure was crude in those historic early sound days; Barry had to be positioned off camera next to Ondra and speak the lines as the leading lady mouthed them, and to some extent the effort shows in Ondra's somewhat strained performance. The film, though, was a great success artistically and technically. Even though the film contains scenes obviously shot silent to which one telling sound was later added, the exploration of the medium's new capabilities is downright palpable. Moodily filmed in an effectively Germanic style, with a neat supporting turn by Calthrop and fine set pieces such as the chase through the British Museum. BLACKMAIL still plays well, and is a suitable precursor the the master director's later work. In one of his earliest cameos, Hitchcock appears as a subway rider annoyed by a pesky boy while trying to read a book."

Notes for a lecture on the film:

1929: BLACKMAIL: most famous of Hitchcock's films for British International Pictures:

            considered: return to "essential Hitchcock": crime, passion, suspense

BLACKMAIL: Hitchcock's 1^st talking picture: also generally regarded as England's 1^st talking picture:

            made at time when film industry was uncertain re: sound:

                        in part because of massive financial problems: cost of equipping studios & theaters for sound

October 1927: JAZZ SINGER: 1^st "talkie" premiered: such a success: by following Spring: 1928:

             all major studios in Hollywood in process of equipping for conversion to sound:

1927 - 1931: films began retreating into "primitive" form:

            nothing to compare with great silent films: BIG PARADE / WINGS / SUNRISE

advent of sound: above financial problems: brought problems that had to be worked out:

technical problems: heavy camera encased in huge booth: not mobile

                        placement of microphone: where to hide it?

                        many films reduced to just “talking heads”

                        sound quality of actors’ voices: many actors: didn't make transition:

                                    voice not equivalent to body                           

most filmmakers: fumbled with new dimension of sound:

            Hollywood: financial & aesthetic problems

            Soviets: lacked resources to try sound: major filmmakers there: like Eisenstein:

                        issued manifestoes re: way new elements: dialog, music & sound FX:

                                    could be incorporated into medium

meanwhile: Hitchcock: in England: supplied practical demonstration in BLACKMAIL:      

            of innovative use of sound: subjective sound: expressionist use of sound:

                        sound that tells us re: what characters going thru

            Hitchcock: shrewd pro: showed how sound could become:

                        integral part of filmmaking technique: while others just groped for answer

Hitchcock: had his artistic & cinematic formation in silent narrative film: 1920s:

            could have led him to "purist" attitude towards sound: like many in film industry:

                        idea: silent films: purest form of cinema

            coming of sound: crucial point of technological/aesthetic change:

                        Hitchcock: concerned with finding appropriate role for soundtrack:

                                    in task of cinematic story-telling

            significant: Hitchcock looked for ways to find place for sound in films:

                        considering: many filmmakers who rejected sound outright:

                                    Charles Chaplin: 1931: MODERN TIMES: silent film: no synchronized dialog

Hitchcock & his production team at BIP: did certain amount of maneuvering:

            to put BIP in forefront: of sound filmmaking in Britain:

                        film: prepared so that with only a little re-shooting:

                                    it could be turned into fully-fledged sound film

            while shooting silent version: H: also shooting usable takes of each shot:

                        to prepare negative for sound version of film:

                                    when management decided on using sound: Hitchcock was ready

            but problem: all scenes w/Ondra: had to be reshot: Ondra: heavy Czech accent:

                                    too hard to understand her:

                        so: English actress Joan Barry: stood just off-camera: spoke Ondra’s lines:

                                    Ondra pantomimed words: post-dubbing not possible then

            in end: 2 versions of film released: sound version

                        also: silent version: for theaters not yet equipped for sound

BLACKMAIL: adapted from play by Charles Bennett: later: central to Hitchcock's career:

            Bennett: wrote screenplays for 5 of 6 "spy thriller sextet":

                                    1934:   THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH

                                    1935:   THE 39 STEPS

                                    1936:   SECRET AGENT

                                                SABOTAGE

                                    1937:   THE LADY VANISHES

                        Bennett: provided source material for BLACKMAIL:

                                    his play: not as rich & or as enduring as Hitchcock's film:

                                                but: does provide strong situations & characters at center of film

            signaled return to theatrical sources: Hitchcock's next 3 films also from plays:

                         1930:   JUNO & PAYCOCK / MURDER! // 1931:   THE SKIN GAME

BLACKMAIL: key Hitchcock film: from start: hailed for its bold experimentation with sound:

             recently: scholarly interest in film sound & in economics & aesthetics of conversion to sound

                        many scholars: give BLACKMAIL high status among Hitchcock's British films:

                                    comparable to place VERTIGO has in his US films:

                                                as film far ahead of its time

                                                as penultimate document re: sexual politics in patriarchal society

opening sequence: mini-documentary re: pursuit & arrest of male criminal told like silent film:

              Hitchcock: keeps it moving: mobile camera / quick editing pace / unusual camera angles

                        sequence: 6 sound FX: van door shuts / stone is thrown thru window

                                      car horns sound / cell door snaps shut / some men talk / unsynched dialog at end

opening sequence: points in various stylistic directions:

            German silent cinema: shadows, sense of menace: conveyed thru lighting, camera angles

            point of view shots: from Griffith tradition: shows influence of Hollywood cinema

            aspects of documentary cinema seen: exposition of mechanics of arrest, etc.:

                       realistic detail: images: depict criminal environment: evoking: social realism:

                                  commentary on society

            great John Grierson: considered "father" of British doc film:

                                    man who coined term "documentary": to describe non-fiction film:

                        called Hitchcock: "only English director who can put the English poor on the screen

                                    with any verisimilitude"

BLACKMAIL: after opening: at end of solid little silent "film": mini-documentary:

            dialog sequences: make belated entry: dialog: following 2 detectives: probably dubbed post-filming

BLACKMAIL: most celebrated use of sound: "knife" sequence: subjective sound: expressionist use of sound

            sound that tells us re: what characters going thru

BLACKMAIL: Hitchcock's 1st: guilty woman film: theme: guilty woman

             central to Hitchcock’s Hollywood films::

                       Ingrid Bergman: Alicia Huberman: 1946: NOTORIOUS

                       Alida Valli: Mrs. Paradine: 1947: PARADINE CASE

                       Ingrid Bergman: Henrietta Flusky: 1949: UNDER CAPRICORN

                       Grace Kelly: Margot Wendice: 1954: DIAL M FOR MURDER

                       Brigitte Auber: Danielle Foussard: 1955: TO CATCH A THIEF

                       Brenda De Banzie: Lucy Drayton: 1956: MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH

                       Kim Novak: Madeleine / Judy: 1958: VERTIGO

                       Eva Marie Saint: Eve Kendall: 1959: NORTH BY NORTHWEST

                       Janet Leigh: Marion Crane: 1960: PSYCHO

                       Tippi Hedren: Melanie Daniels: 1963: BIRDS

                       Tippi Hedren: Marnie Edgar: 1964: MARNIE

  ambiguity: central to all Hitchcock’s work:

BLACKMAIL: profoundly ambiguous: diametrically opposed meanings possible:

                        1 example: “murder” scene: really: “manslaughter” scene:

                                    different readings possible: patriarchal: “murder” / feminist: “manslaughter”

BLACKMAIL: besides being ambiguous: also: obsessively symmetrical:

opening: overall symmetry: marked by: repeated close ups of revolving wheel: speeding police car

symmetry of opening: different from Alice’s 2 visits to police: 1^st at start of film / 2^nd at end of film

symmetry of 2 visits: marks a difference: allows more critical awareness

            allows us to measure: how far character has traveled / how far she may have to go

BLACKMAIL: use of familiar location for setting of dramatic incident:

            became Hitchcock staple: typical British settings: Lyons Corner House / British Museum

            not possible to shoot in British Museum itself: had to use: Shuftan cinematic process: to get setting

                        process method: rear projection used: necessary because of:

                                  heavy sound camera: enclosed in booth

post-screening:

original ending Hitchcock wanted for BLACKMAIL:

           police track Alice down: find Frank with her: assume he is making arrest

            then Frank puts her thru same cold booking procedures as in opening of film:

                       Frank walks out with his superior: who says: "Going out with your girl tonight?"

                                   Frank: "No, not tonight"

            producers of film: insisted on more upbeat ending: LODGER / SUSPICION

all ascents in film lead to falls:

            Alice’s in Crewe’s apartment house

            Tracy’s at top of British Museum: crashes thru central dome

Alice: Scotland Yard: 1^st visit: flirty / teasing

            restaurant: cheating on Frank

            Crewe's apartment: Alice: initial ascent: seems harmless: leads to murder

Alice: sure of herself: naïve self-justification: “I think a girl knows instinctively when she can trust a man”

             titillating: watching her change clothes:

                        split-screen effect: vulnerability: symmetry

             murder: her hand reaches out from behind drape for knife: DIAL M FOR MURDER / PSYCHO

how Hitchcock presents Alice to us: her rape deplorable: but it’s clear: she’s partly responsible for events:

             going to his room: once there: behaving coquettishly, offering to model for him

                         her drawing: head: he attaches: nude body: makes intentions clear

             asking him to “do up” the tutu: her rape: mixed signals from her: but then he loses control:

point: not Alice gets what she deserves: more ambiguous than that

2 other men: 1. the cop outside: we see him 2 times: he reassures her / he doesn’t hear her

              2. jester in painting: we see him 2 times: she laughs at painting / painting laughs at her: she rips it

Alice: after murder: wandering streets: getting into her mind: focusing on character:

              sign: cocktail being shaken: becomes knife stabbing downwards

use of sound: bedroom: chirping bird / kitchen: word “knife”

Alice's glove: 1 of Hitchcock’s objects that circulate among characters / indicate who holds power

            Tracy: blackmailer: has 1, too

crosscutting: cops chase Tracy at British Museum / Alice at home

British Museum: public place

Alice’s note to Frank: giving herself up

Scotland Yard: Alice's 2nd visit: she admits murder to Frank: but then keeps silent:

           competence of authorities called into question:

                        Frank: encourages her to stay silent: he's real “moral blackmailer”: mutual guilt played upon

            since we identify with them: we’re guilty, too

Alice: excessive suffering caused by crime:

            2 men dead: Crewe / Tracy: sense of shared guilt

            possibility of happiness in future: nothing’s really changed: except world tainted now:

                        guilty secret: ties Alice & Frank together / holds them apart

Alice caught: between 2 men: Frank & Crewe:

             Frank: wants to dominate her & enclose her in bourgeois respectability                        

             Crewe: wants her for casual gratification

                         both men: want to use her for sex or to bolster male ego

              Alice’s sexuality: no one worthy of it: Frank: wants to control & contain it / Crewe: wants to exploit it

Alice's behavior: precisely described by Hitchcock: empathy for women trapped in impossible situations:

              she goes off w/Crewe: in response to Frank’s domination

              in Crewe’s apt: desire for erotic pleasure: but terror of sexuality

            Crewe’s dishonorable intentions: similarity to Frank’s honorable ones

painting of jester: laughing jester: ridicules authority:

              Alice: initially identifies with jester: pointing her finger, etc.:

                        but jester really laughing at Alice: not with her

               jester’s laughter dominates film’s conclusion: as Alice’s laughter dies: order restored

                        maybe jester laughing at audience: we’re just as tangled up as characters

            word: manslaughter: can be broken up: man's laughter

BLACKMAIL: 1 possible reading: deeply sexist & misogynist: Hitchcock’s films accused of this constantly

            woman disrupts; she’s selfish, frivolous:

                        Alice: annoyed with Frank because he’s kept her waiting: dumps him for Crewe:

                        her subsequent behavior causes deaths of 2 men:

                                    Crewe: dies because he’s aroused by her flirtatiousness        

                                    Tracy: dies for crime she committed

                        she also compromises Frank’s integrity: so she gets the suffering she deserves

                        at end: she’s ready to take her proper “place”: subordinated to Frank’s authority as his wife

             this reading is certainly possible

but there's another interpretation: requires close reading:                        

            takes into consideration complexity & contradiction inherent in ambiguity of film:

                        Alice’s 2 visits to Scotland Yard: at beginning of film: to meet Frank for date

                                    at end of film: to confess to killing Crewe

                        2 visits: dramatize her chastisement:

            symmetry: 2 visits to Scotland Yard: repeated motif of the joke:

                        1st visit: joke (we don’t hear) whispered into Alice’s ear by cop: she laughs

                        2nd visit: constable’s final joke: she tries to laugh

             symmetry compounded by framing: Alice caught between 2 men: both: deny her a voice

             Alice: jester still laughing at her: but now she can’t face it:

                        really, he’s laughing at entire social order & people trapped within it

5 periods of Hitchcock's career:         Slavoj Zizek:

            1.  English films: before THE 39 STEPS (1935):

                        before the consolidation of his classical style:

apprenticeship: BLACKMAIL / THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH

            2.  English films of later 1930s: 1935 - 1938:

                        thematically centered on story of couple in love: journey: puts couple to the test:

                                     39 STEPS / SECRET AGENT / YOUNG AND INNOCENT / LADY VANISHES

            3.  the Selznick period: 1940s:thematically centered on perspective of female heroine:

traumatized by ambiguous paternal figure

             REBECCA / FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT / SUSPICION

                        SHADOW OF A DOUBT / NOTORIOUS

4.  big films of 1950s & early 60s: 1951 - 1963: thematically: centered on perspective of male hero:

                         hero's maternal superego: blocks access to "normal" sexual relationship

                                     STRANGERS ON A TRAIN / REAR WINDOW / NORTH BY NORTHWEST

                                                PSYCHO / THE BIRDS

5.  films from MARNIE onwards: 1964 -1976: "post"-films: films of disintegration:

                                                but isolated touches of brilliance

                          disintegration: breaking apart of Hitchcock's universe into its particular ingredients:

                                    enabling us to isolate aspects of films & grasp them clearly

                        films of old man who’s winding down