(1930) 2 Patrick Legare There is little mystery as to the identity of the killer is in this early thriller from Alfred Hitchcock, but the master still delivers enough to make the film a worthwhile viewing. Based on the play Enter Sir John by Clemence Dane and Helen Simpson and adapted for the screen by Hitchcock and Walter Mycroft, Murder! is really just a standard-issue mystery at its core. However, the director's touches and good performances add enough to the film to make it stand slightly above average. The film is broken into four sections: the murder, the trial, the investigation, and the cat-and-mouse game used to flush out the real killer. The first three parts are routine and slow, but the finale is suspenseful in trademark Hitchcock fashion. It is topped off by a shocking conclusion that the director pulls off in grand style. Herbert Marshall toplines the picture as a tormented gentleman whose guilt over helping put a young lady in the gallows prompts him to find the real culprit in the murder case for which she was convicted. Marshall hasn't got the charisma of a Cary Grant or a James Stewart, but he does a solid job playing a man whose anguish hides his feelings for the girl. Esme Percy plays the dour villain with a sullen style that seems best explained by his behavior in the conclusion. Norah Baring is very good as the death-row babe although Hitchcock may have erred by keeping the character out of the picture until more than halfway through. Some of the recognizable Hitchcock elements that turn up in Murder! include his usual amusing array of primitive psychobabble and a great shot in the opening murder sequence in which the camera pans over and slowly reveals the reactions of the witnesses, the stunned prime suspect, and finally the murder weapon and the victim. A German version titled Mary was filmed simultaneously on the same sets. Hitchcock can be seen nearly halfway through the film walking in front of the victim's complex.

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Murder (1930)

Murder

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Suitable for Children

genres

Mystery

sub-genres

Detective Film

category

Feature

directed by

Alfred Hitchcock

countries

UK

released

1930

run time

92 min.

produced by

British Instructional Films

released by

British International Pictures

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by Linda Rasmussen synopsis

This early, somewhat atypical Alfred Hitchcock film, relies on surprise rather than the director's usual building of suspense. Diana (Norah Baring), a young actress, is accused of killing a man and is tried and sentenced to death. Actor-manager Sir John Menier (Herbert Marshall) remains unconvinced of her guilt and searches for the real murderer. Visually striking, Murder makes ground-breaking use of sound by recording a character's spoken thoughts on the soundtrack. While the innocent person accused became a fundamental theme in many of Hitchcock's later films, the director would expand on Murder's basic storyline in his mystery Stage Fright. Hitchcock also directed a German version of Murder, starring Alfred Abel.

characteristics

- Miscarriage Of Justice

- Amateur Sleuths

- Kill

- Jury

- Murder

- Name-clearing

- Trial [courtroom]

- One-against-odds

- Juror

- Investigator

- Actress

- Actor

- Evidence

- False-accusation

- Innocent

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