Directed by Alfred Hitchcock • 1930 • United Kingdom
Starring Herbert Marshall, Norah Baring, Phyllis Konstam
One of Alfred Hitchcock’s signature obsessions—the “wrong man” motif he would return to time and again—receives one of its earliest treatments in this innovative whodunit. After a young actress (Norah Baring) is sentenced to death for murder, one of the jurors (Herbert Marshall) remains unconvinced of her guilt, taking it upon himself to investigate the crime. The striking expressionist shadow play, potent themes of guilt and innocence, and circus-set climax make this early talkie (the director’s third) a key work in the development of his style.
Up Next in Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
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Blackmail
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock • 1929 • United Kindgom
Starring Anny Ondra, Sara Allgood, John LongdenAlfred Hitchcock’s—and Britain’s—first talkie finds the director using sound technology as inventively as he used the camera. Anny Ondra (prototype for the many Hitchcock blondes to come) play...
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Downhill
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock • 1927 • United Kingdom
Starring Ivor Novello, Ben Webster, Norman McKinnelThat’s the direction things go for boarding-school student and star rugby player Roddy Berwick (celebrated songwriter and matinee idol Ivor Novello) when he falls from golden boy to public di...
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The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock • 1927 • United Kingdom
Starring Ivor Novello, June TrippWith his third feature film, THE LODGER: A STORY OF THE LONDON FOG, Alfred Hitchcock took a major step toward greatness and made what he would come to consider his true directorial debut. This haunting sile...