Blackmail

Director: Alfred Hitchcock, Great Britain, 1929, 85 minutes, thriller

Analysis: Prof. Henry Keazor

Piano: Claudia Perez Inesta

Following an argument with her young fiancé, the policeman Frank Webber, Alice meets another man. When her new acquaintance gets a little too close, however, Alice strangles him out of self-defence. She then flees the scene but loses her glove on the way. Alice’s fiancé Frank is given the job of investigating the murder. When he discovers Alice’s glove he tries to cover up the incriminating evidence. The crook, Tracy, however, claims to have seen the murder take place and blackmails the couple.

Blackmail was initially directed as a silent film. During filming, however, the film producers decided that the film was to become the first British film with sound. A number of scenes were subsequently re-filmed with sound. Other scenes, however, were not re-filmed and have been kept in their original silent format.

Language: German