Thoughts on Blackmail (1929)

So I just saw Blackmail.

And it was pretty good.

After last week's Rear Window, my professor is going through many of Hitchcock's films in more-or-less chronological order, and this was the first one. Apparently, it started as a silent film before suddenly becoming a "talkie"––Hitchcock was persuaded to change it about halfway through and he did. And boy, does it show, especially in the first few minutes. It feels very much like a silent film in many places but it still does have plenty of talking. It was a bit uncomfortable for me (for lack of a better word) at first but I got used to it.

It was mostly pretty good––the acting was good and the camerawork was very well done; I daresay it's one of Hitchcock's greatest strengths as a director. The plot and the suspense were both pretty interesting.

But I just have a couple main problems. First is the pacing. This film is about eighty minutes long but its pacing is as slow as tar. It felt as though it took forever just to get to the main conflict and it stayed that way throughout most of it. And then the ending got resolved very quickly and it showed "The End" while I was left a bit unsatisfied.

I still have to give it a lot of credit; Hitchcock clearly knew what he was doing even then and I commend him for trying out the "talkie" style, even if the result is more of a hybrid between a silent film and a "talkie". It's definitely not the best he's made––I still like Rear Window a ton––but it's still pretty good. I'd have to give it maybe a six out of ten.