Over the course of his career Alfred Hitchcock directed more than 50 films and plenty of those have gone on to be considered among the best films of all-time. From the genre redefining ‘Psycho’ through to the classic thriller ‘North By Northwest’, Hitchcock changed the landscape of cinema forever and inspired generations of filmmakers. STUDIOCANAL has just released a brand-new boxset, ‘Hitchcock: The Beginning’, comprising 10 films from the early part of the auteur’s career.
Spanning from 1927 through to 1932, the films included in this boxset are ‘The Ring’ (1927), ‘The Farmer’s Wife’ (1928), ‘Champagne’ (1928), ‘The Manxman’ (1929), ‘Blackmail’ (1929), ‘Murder!’ (1930), ‘Juno & The Paycock’ (1930), ‘Rich and Strange’ (1931), ‘The Skin Game’ (1931) and ‘Number Seventeen’ (1932). Each disc is packed with extras including audio commentaries, stills galleries and introductions. The picture and sound quality throughout is impressive, especially the 4K restoration of ‘Blackmail’.
The first four films in the boxset are silent films, which are interesting for a number of reasons but largely because they span a variety of genres. ‘The Ring’ is a story of a love triangle, ‘The Farmer’s Wife’ is based on the play by Eden Philpotts, ‘Champagne’ is a slice of pure comedy and ‘The Manxman’, Hitchcock’s final silent film, is an intriguing mystery.
All of those films are worth a watch but the boxset really comes into its own with ‘Blackmail’, Hitchcock’s first talkie, and the first notable British talkie ever made. The disc contains the silent and the talkie version, both restored in 4K, and it feels like a prototype of the twisty mysteries Hitchcock became known for. ‘Blackmail’ tells the story of a woman who murders a man in self-defence, only to find herself blackmailed by a stranger who witnessed what she did. You can see some Hitchcock’s boundary-pushing visual flair throughout the film, as well as his keen eye for detail.
1930’s ‘Murder!’ saw Hitchcock move into the whodunit genre, telling the tale of an actress accused of murdering another actress in her touring company. A member of the jury from the trial believes she’s innocent and sets out to prove he’s right. As with ‘Blackmail’, you can see lots of elements in the film that Hitchcock carried through to later films and improved on. The disc for this one also includes the 1931 German version of the film, known as ‘Mary’.
I won’t go into detail about every film in the boxset as that would make an overly long review but suffice to say that ‘Juno & The Paycock’, ‘Rich and Strange’ and ‘The Skin Game’ all continue to paint a picture of the potential that Hitchcock was beginning to realise. His direction was unlike anyone else at the time and there are plenty of examples of creative camera work that you immediately would recognise as Hitchcock if you saw them out of content.
The final film is the tight and lean ‘Number Seventeen’, a film that Hitchcock didn’t want to make but did due to the contract he had with the studio at the time. This is quite a confusing film with lots of characters with unclear motives but it groups lots of nefarious people together in a mystery in the same house. There are twists and turns, and plenty of surprises, and while it’s not an example of Hitchcock at his best, it’s a good example of how he was able to constantly surprise audiences.
The boxset includes a new 72-minute documentary – ‘Becoming Hitchcock – The Legacy of Blackmail’, which looks at the 1929 classic. Award-winning filmmaker Laurent Bouzereau (‘Faye’) teams up with narrator Elvis Mitchell to look at how Hitchcock’s unique visual flair developed in ‘Blackmail’, which became important to his later films such as ‘Psycho’ and ‘The Birds’. There’s also a 64-page booklet and poster, adding a bit of extra value to the hefty boxset.
‘Hitchcock: The Beginning’ might be inconsistent in terms of the quality of the films it contains, but it captures an important period of Hitchcock’s incredible career. While every film here isn’t incredible, each one gives insight into how Hitchcock went on to be one of the world’s most famous and highly-regarded filmmakers. If you’re a longtime fan of Hitchcock, this will be a welcome addition to your collection, but if you’re a new fan this boxset will give you a solid grounding of just why Hitchcock became the icon he did.
Cast: Anny Ondra, John Longden, Cyril Ritchard, Herbert Marshall, Nora Baring Director: Alfred Hitchcock Certificate: 15 Duration: 1,001 mins Released by: STUDIOCANAL Release date: 16th December 2024 Buy ‘Hitchcock: The Beginning’ now
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