The Times (31/Jan/1938) - New Films in London: "Young and Innocent"
(c) The Times (31/Jan/1938)
Entertainments
NEW FILMS IN LONDON
GAUMONT
Young and Innocent — As with several films directed by Mr. Alfred Hitchcock, here the actual plot has little originality; it is the story of an innocent young man (Mr. Derrick de Marney) who when accused of murder escapes with the aid of the chief constable's daughter (Miss Nova Pilbeam) to find the evidence that will acquit him. The merit of the film lies in the treatment of single episodes, and there are several of the kind that we expect from Mr. Hitchcock. These conventional adventures are made more exciting and at the same time more plausible by the contrast and mixture of incongruously domestic events, as when the fugitives get entangled in a children's party at a country house. Even more characteristic is the method of sustaining the suspense by a slow accumulation of detail. There is, for example, a scene where the real murderer is discovered and recognized by a peculiar twitching of his eyelids. The man is playing the drum in a band, his pursuers come nearer and nearer without knowing it, he becomes more and more discomposed, the drum beats falter, and as each small event accumulates the suspense and the agony increase. But there is no point in using the same slow technique at intervals throughout the film, as it is used, for example, when the heroine is to meet the hero by appointment and every one knows that she will meet him. Nevertheless there is enough ingenuity in the film to make one wish that the story was more worthy of it.
