Alfred Hitchcock Breaks the Sound Barrier in Early Films ‘Blackmail’ and ‘Murder!’

Alfred Hitchcock’s second and third suspense films, Blackmail (1929) and Murder! (1930), make attractive new Blu-rays from Kino Lorber. These thoughtfully constructed packages give viewers a chance to cram in two of the director’s formative thrillers and their lesser-known variations.

Blackmail’s Two-Timing Trick

Based on a play by Charles Bennett, which it apparently alters significantly, Blackmail marks the start of Bennett’s collaboration with Alfred Hitchcock. The film was shot in both silent and sound versions, both carefully conceived, and advertised as the first British talkie. The silent version, which was playable in more theatres, was released shortly after the talkie’s premiere. The success of the talkie in film history supplanted the silent version so thoroughly that only the talkie circulated for decades; it was the only version on VHS, for example.