Sight and Sound (2012) - The first nine steps
Details
- article: The first nine steps
- author(s): Bryony Dixon
- journal: Sight and Sound (01/Aug/2012)
- issue: volume 22, issue 8, page 46
- journal ISSN: 0037-4806
- publisher: Tower Publishing Services
- keywords: Alfred Hitchcock, Anny Ondra, Betty Balfour, Blackmail (1929), Carl Brisson, Champagne (1928), Downhill (1927), Easy Virtue (1928), Filmmakers, Ivor Novello, Jack the Ripper, Lillian Hall-Davis, Miles Mander, Motion picture directors & producers, Motion pictures, Notorious (1946), Noël Coward, Silent films, The Farmer's Wife (1928), The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927), The Manxman (1929), The Pleasure Garden (1925), The Ring (1927), Virginia Valli, Works
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Abstract
Dixon presents nine of the ten silent films by British film director Alfred Hitchcock. These include, The Pleasure Garden (1926), Downhill (1927), and Blackmail (1929).
Article
THE FIRST NINE STEPS
Like John Ford, Howard Hawks and other great directors of the golden age, Alfred Hitchcock developed his cinematic language directing silent films, which show many of the hallmarks of his later sound classics
The Pleasure Garden (1926)
Hitchcock's debut follows a showgirl (Virginia Valli) who marries a sleazy man (Miles Mander). It anticipates many Hitchcockian themes and stylistic tropes, including voyeurism.
The Lodger (1926)
Ivor Novello plays the first of Hitchcock's 'wrong men' in the director's London-set breakthrough, about the hunt for a Jack the Ripper-style killer who preys on young blondes.
Downhill (1927)
In an early example of the 'transference of guilt' theme in Hitchcock, Ivor Novello stars as a public schoolboy who is expelled after taking the blame for a friend's indiscretion.
Easy Virtue (1927)
Hitchcock adapted Noel Coward's play about a divorcee who hides her scandalous past from her wealthy new lover, only to have her secrets uncovered by his jealous, domineering mother.
The Ring (1927)
Set in the East End London of Hitchcock's youth, The Ring stars Carl Brisson as boxer 'One Round' Jack Sander, fighting to keep the heart of Lillian Hall Davis's Nellie from his rival Bob.
The Farmer's Wife (1928)
Hitchcock's charming silent comedy concerns an obstinate widowed farmer who finds himself alone after his daughter gets married, and sets out to find a suitable ne...
