BLACKMAIL (1929) Anny Ondra, John Longden & Sara Allgood | Thriller | Silent | B&W | Timeless Film

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Blackmail is a 1929 British crime thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Anny Ondra, John Longden, and Cyril Ritchard. Based on the 1928 play of the same name by Charles Bennett, the film is about a London woman who is blackmailed after killing a man who tries to rape her.

After starting production as a silent film, British International Pictures decided to adapt Blackmail into a separate sound film. It became the first successful European talkie; a silent version was released for cinemas not equipped for sound (at 6,740 feet), with the sound version (7,136 feet) released at the same time. Both versions are held in the British Film Institute collection.

Blackmail is frequently cited as the first British sound feature film. It was voted the best British film of 1929 in a UK poll the year it was released. In 2017 a poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics for Time Out magazine ranked Blackmail as the 59th best British film ever.

Synopsis:

On 26 April 1929, Scotland Yard Detective Frank Webber escorts his girlfriend Alice White to a tea house. They have an argument and Frank storms out. While reconsidering his action, he sees Alice leave with Mr. Crewe, an artist she had earlier agreed to meet.

Crewe persuades a reluctant Alice into coming up to see his studio. She admires a painting of a laughing clown, and uses his palette and brushes to paint a cartoonish drawing of a face; he adds a few strokes of a naked feminine figure, and guiding her hand, they sign the picture with her name. He gives her a dancer's outfit and Crewe sings and plays "Miss Up-to-Date" on the piano.

Crewe steals a kiss, to Alice's disgust, but as she is changing and preparing to leave, he takes her dress from the changing area. He attempts to rape her; her cries for help are not heard on the street below. In desperation, Alice grabs a nearby bread knife and kills him. She angrily tears a hole in the painting of the clown, then leaves after attempting to remove any evidence of her presence in the flat, but accidentally leaves her gloves behind. She walks the streets of London all night in a daze.

When the body is found, Frank is assigned to the case and finds one of Alice's gloves. He also recognizes the dead man, but conceals this from his superior. Taking the glove, he goes to see Alice at her father's tobacco shop, but she is too distraught to speak.

As they speak privately in the shop's telephone booth, Tracy arrives. He had seen Alice go up to Crewe's flat, and he has the other glove. When he sees Frank with the other one, he attempts to blackmail them. His first demands are petty ones, and they accede. Frank learns by phone that Tracy is wanted for questioning: he was seen near the scene and has a criminal record. Frank sends for policemen and tells Tracy he will pay for the murder.

Alice is apprehensive, but still does not speak up. The tension mounts. When the police arrive, Tracy's nerve finally breaks and he flees. The chase leads to the British Museum, where he clambers onto the domed roof of the Reading Room and slips, crashing through a skylight and falling to his death inside. The police assume he was the murderer.

Unaware of this, Alice feels compelled to give herself up and goes to see the Chief Inspector at New Scotland Yard. Before she can confess to him, the inspector receives a telephone call and asks Frank to deal with Alice. She finally tells Frank the truth—that it was self-defense against an attack she cannot bear to speak of—and they leave together. As they do, a policeman walks past, carrying the damaged painting of the laughing clown and the cartoon canvas where Alice painted over her name.

Cast & Crew:

Anny Ondra as Alice White
Sara Allgood as Mrs. White
Charles Paton as Mr. White
John Longden as Detective Frank Webber
Donald Calthrop as Tracy
Cyril Ritchard as Mr. Crewe, an artist
Hannah Jones as the landlady
Harvey Braban as the Chief Inspector (sound version)
Jacque Carter as boy
Joan Barry as Alice White (voice)
Johnny Butt as Sergeant
Phyllis Konstam as gossiping neighbour
Sam Livesey as the Chief Inspector (silent version)
Phyllis Monkman as gossip woman
Percy Parsons as crook

Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock
Screenplay by: Alfred Hitchcock, Benn W. Levy
Based on: Blackmail (play) by Charles Bennett
Produced by: John Maxwell
Starring: Anny Ondra, John Longden, Cyril Ritchard
Cinematography: Jack E. Cox
Edited by: Emile de Ruelle
Music by: Jimmy Campbell, Reg Connelly, Hubert Bath, Harry Stafford, Billy Mayerl
Production Company: British International Pictures (BIP)
Distributed by: Wardour Films (UK), Sono Art-World Wide Pictures (US)
Release Date: 28 July 1929 (UK)
Running Time: 85 minutes (sound), 76 minutes (silent, 2012 restoration)
Country: United Kingdom
Language: English