Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Dial "H" for Hitchcock: "Blackmail" on the big screen



A special screening of the original silent version...with the Alloy Orchestra

The era of talking pictures arrived while Alfred Hitchcock was working on his crime thriller, Blackmail, in 1929. The film had already been shot as a silent feature but during post-production the studio asked the director to convert it to partial sound so it could be marketed as a talking picture. Hitchcock, as was his way, had his own ideas. He began to tinker; scenes were reshot with dialogue, additional scenes with dialogue were added. In the end, Hitchcock had two films - his and Britain's much touted "first full length all talkie film" - and the original silent version. In 1929, most theaters in Britain were not equipped for sound, so it was the silent Blackmail that was for a long time the most widely seen and popular of the two films.

On Monday night, July 19, the California Film Institute presented a special screening of a 35 mm British Film Institute archive print of the silent version of Blackmail in Theater 1 at the Rafael Theater in San Rafael, California. Accompanying the film with an original score was the Alloy Orchestra, one of the world's foremost silent film orchestras. In attendance was an enthusiastic sold-out crowd.

Blackmail was Hitchcock's second film of the thriller genre; the first was The Lodger (1927), the picture that first brought him widespread acclaim. Blackmail, a film that critic and Hitchcock author/scholar David Sterritt declared "has a strong claim to being his first masterpiece," is a clear forerunner of Hitchcock's later work. Visually sophisticated and gimlet-eyed in its observation of human nature and motives, it includes a delicately lovely blonde in grave danger (who spends much of the film in a dazed fugue state) and a grisly murder; the climactic chase scene at a landmark location, the British Museum, is the first of such Hitchcock signature set-pieces...and there is no shortage of moral ambiguity.

The story, which Hitchcock conceived as a conflict between love and duty, centers on a middle-class young woman of London, Alice White. Alice lives with her parents, helps out at their neighborhood tobacconist's shop and is dating a dedicated Scotland Yard detective. After a tiff with him over dinner, she recklessly goes out with an artist/Casanova and ends up involved in a killing; as a result her straight-arrow beau is drawn into a blackmail plot.

Blackmail stars Anny Ondra as Alice, John Longden as her detective boyfriend, Cyril Ritchard as the artist and Donald Calthrop as Tracy, the not-so-innocent innocent man. The plot is well constructed, the action is tight and Hitchcock's early mastery of suspense is unmistakable.

Though clever and fast-paced, Blackmail is a film of depth and darkness. Ultimately, the integrity of both central characters is permanently compromised and the ending is bleak (closer to Vertigo than Shadow of a Doubt, to which Blackmail, with its depiction of bourgeois life, has been compared). Though a messy situation is conveniently resolved, the truth comes out between the girl and her man and the film's ending implies an unsettled future for the two who now share a terrible knowledge and guilt.

The performance of the Alloy Orchestra artfully accented Blackmail's action and moods with inventive virtuosity. The Orchestra was in the Bay Area not only for this performance but also for the annual San Francisco Silent Film Festival which ran July 15 - 18. The Alloy Orchestra is a group of three musicians whose instruments include keyboards, accordion, clarinet, musical saw and a famous "rack of junk." A combination of percussion and electronics allows them to create an array of sounds and effects. The Orchestra has performed worldwide - for major film festivals, AMPAS and even at the Louvre.

The Art Moderne Rafael Theater, a 1938 renovation of the fire-damaged 1918 Orpheus Theater, was closed after being heavily damaged in Northern California's 1989 earthquake. It was renovated, largely rebuilt and reopened in 1999 by the California Film Institute. It now houses three screens and specializes in independent and foreign films; it is one of the few non-profit theaters in the United States.

12 comments:

  1. Eve, this was really an interesting article. I wish I could experience that theatre on a regular basis. I have come to really like silent films and would like to see more on TCM. I haven't seen "Blackmail", and being a huge Hitchcock fan, must try to find it. I absolutely LOVED your well-written description of the delicate blonde who spends most of the movie "in a dazed, fugue state." There were a lot of blondes in that state during the early 30's. My favorite was Madge Bellamy (I think that's right) in "White Zombie" with Bela Lugosi. Even before she is mesmerized by Lugosi's character, she looked wide-eyed and confused. I also liked your description of the film as "visually sophisticated and gimlet-eyed in observation". Really excellent writing, Eve.

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  2. Eve, there are so many backstories behind the making of Blackmail. As you no doubt know, in the sound version of the film Anny Ondra's voice is not used because of her heavy Czech accent. Instead, Hitch used the voice of Joan Barry. Loved reading your article. I am also jealous that you had the great experience of watching this film with the Alloy Orchestra.

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  3. Eve, first of all, I also envy your viewing of BLACKMAIL on the big screen with an orchestra playing the score. That sounds like an incredible experience! I haven't seen BLACKMAIL since college (which was a few years ago...). My memory of it pretty much tracks with your assessment. Although THE LODGER (Hitch's take on Jack the Ripper) is interesting, I think BLACKMAIL holds up better and, as you wrote, foreshadows later Hitch pics. By the way, I best remember Cyril Ritchard as Captain Hook opposite Mary Martin in the musical version of PETER PAN!

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  4. Hello Becky, Kim and Rick...enjoyed all of your comments...I wish you could have been at the Rafael with me to see BLACKMAIL & the Alloy Orchestra, it was an experience I would happily have shared with all of you. I was impressed. And I was surprised, too, at how "Hitchcockian" BLACKMAIL was - with so many elements that later became characteristic of his films...You're right, Kim, there's a lot of backstory surrounding the film: conflicting stories on how the two separate versions came about, how Anny Ondra and Joan Barry performed in tandem, Hitchcock's use of the "Schufftan process" for the chase scene...fascinating stuff. It's funny Rick, whenever I see or hear the name Cyril Ritchard, my first thought is always "Captain Hook." And, Becky, the heroine behaving as if in a kind of trance reminded me of the "Madeleine" character in VERTIGO and Marnie in MARNIE. I'm not a huge fan of silents, but BLACKMAIL, Alloy Orch. and my evening at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival last Sat. night (more on that later) were unforgettable.

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  5. That is a scream -- Captain Hook was my first thought too of Cyril Ritchard. Wasn't he great? I loved it when the pirates would start to sing, and he would put his forefinger on his chin and say "Tempo, tempo, tempo"! And Eve, what is the Schufftan process?

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  6. I only learned of the Shufftan process while researching BLACKMAIL. It was devised by German cinematographer Eugen Shufftan who worked on METROPOLIS. It has to do with the use of specially made mirrors and miniatures to create the effect of actors being on large sets.

    For BLACKMAIL, Hitchcock used the process because the lighting in the British Museum wasn't sufficient to film - pictures of the interior of the museum were taken and used with a special mirror so that it appeared as though the actors were in the museum.

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  7. Eve, what a wonderful experience for you! I was especially surprised when you mentioned that the Rafael Theater was nonprofit. That is awesome. To have seen "Blackmail" in this restored theater, with the Alloy Orchestra, sounds like a remarkable time. Kudos to the CFI for making this possible and to everyone who made this event sold out.

    Most of all, thanks to you for sharing this experience with us. You have a remarkable gift for eloquence. I also appreciated your information about the Schufftan process because that was something new to me.

    And I think Cyril Ritchard was also phenomenal as the very mean Dr. Hook! Excellent blog, all!

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  8. Eve, Wow! thank you for sharing your wonderful experience with us. I would have loved to have been there..

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  9. Toto, until recently I didn't fully realize the Rafael was non-profit. It's really a wonderful theater and CFI schedules great films and special events...coming this Sept., a "free to the public" screening of NORTH BY NORTHWEST (first-come-first-served tix). & often actors and filmmakers screen & discuss their films - in 2005 a program celebrated the 100th anniv. of Michael Powell's birth and his wife, Thelma Schoonmaker (Scorsese's Oscar-winning film editor) was at the Rafael to present some of his films, I believe THE RED SHOES and BLACK NARCISSUS among them...still haven't gotten over missing that one...I'm happy to hear you (and you Dawn) enjoyed the blog, I hoped to be able to share the experience by blogging about it. I wish we'd all been there to fill a center row...

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  10. hey eve..doctom666 from TCM/CFU...nice post on a nice site..my SAG friends and i sat down about 6 months ago to view a set of HITCHCOCK silents..we all agreed that BLACKMAIL ruled and THE LODGER sucked..i would really like to hear the ALLOY orchestra..if you can identify my AVATAR, i owe you a COKE (a la monty burns)

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  11. Hi doc...glad you could stop by...I can't identify your avatar but will try, tho I'll pass on the coke a ala Mr. Burns if I succeed...By the way, I watched the sound version of BLACKMAIL today and realized something interesting about it. In the silent version it seemed to me that the detective boyfriend expresses surprise when Alice confesses to him, but in the sound version he replies, "I know." I preferred the ambiguity. I can't say that I liked one version over the other, but I really loved the Alloy Orchestra's accompaniment. Meanwhile, the DVD set with BLACKMAIL also has several other early Hitchcock's on it, including THE LODGER, so I can compare the two side by side...

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  12. Neat. The Rafael Theater sounds like a great venue to experience classic films. I would like to visit there some time.

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