When this film was released in the U.S. its title was altered to "The Girl Was Young", which implies that somebody in America misunderstood the significance of its British title "Young and Innocent". The word "young" in the title refers not to a girl but to a young man, and he is "innocent" not in the sense that he is naive (which the phrase "young and innocent" normally implies) but in the sense that he is not guilty of the crime of which he is suspected.
The theme of a man wrongly accused of a crime was to become a familiar one in the works of Alfred Hitchcock, and he had already used it in another film from his British period, "The 39 Steps" from two years earlier. The two films, in fact, have many similarities, although "Young and Innocent", unlike "The 39 Steps" or "The Lady Vanishes", does not deal with espionage.
The body of a young actress named Christine Clay is washed up on a beach somewhere on the English coast. It is discovered by a young man named Robert Tisdall, a friend of the dead woman, who runs off to get help. Unfortunately, he is seen doing so by two girls, who assume that he is the murderer and call the police. Robert is arrested and things begin to look bad for him when it is discovered that Christine was strangled with the belt from an overcoat similar to one he once owned. To make matters worse, it comes to light that Christine has left Robert a large sum in her will. (Why she should have done this is never made clear, given that the two were friends but not lovers. Presumably this detail was inserted to supply a plausible motive).
Of course, Robert is not the real murderer. Hitchcock, generally, did not deal in Agatha Christie-style whodunits in which the identity of the killer is kept from the audience until the very end. Here it is made clear from the beginning that the real culprit is Christine's obsessively jealous husband who, for some reason, is not suspected by the police. The police, in fact, are here shown as bumbling and incompetent, as they often are in Hitchcock's films. Robert's barrister proves to be equally inept, so Robert decides that his best course of action is to go on the run in an attempt to find the evidence which will prove his innocence. Like Richard Hannay in "The 39 Steps" he goes on a cross-country odyssey accompanied by a blonde young woman, in this case Erica Burgoyne, the daughter of the local Chief Constable whose men are searching for Robert. In both films the fugitive's female companion is initially forced to go with him against her will, but later comes to believe in his innocence and falls in love with him.
Like a number of Hitchcock's films, Young and Innocent" combines a basically serious theme- Robert is, after all, accused of a crime which in 1937 could have sent him to the gallows- with a good deal of humour. Some of this humour is satirical, aimed at the incompetence of the police force and court system, although there are other humorous scenes, such as those involving Erica and her three younger brothers or the one at the children's party.
Derrick De Marney is not a very charismatic hero, not in the same class as Robert Donat from "The 39 Steps" or Michael Redgrave from "The Lady Vanishes", although the young Nova Pilbeam, only eighteen at the time, makes a fresh and charming heroine. Nova also played the kidnapped teenager in Hitchcock's "The Man Who Knew Too Much" from three years earlier, although her acting career seemed to fizzle out in the forties, and I often wonder what happened to her. (She is, apparently, still alive).
The film does not contain any great Hitchcock set pieces except perhaps for the finale in the Grand Hotel when the murderer is eventually unmasked. (This scene has caused some controversy in recent years because of the presence of a dance band performing in blackface, although this would not have been seen as controversial in thirties Britain). Overall, I would not rate "Young and Innocent" as Hitchcock's greatest film from his British period, but it is still a fast-moving and enjoyable light thriller. 7/10
The theme of a man wrongly accused of a crime was to become a familiar one in the works of Alfred Hitchcock, and he had already used it in another film from his British period, "The 39 Steps" from two years earlier. The two films, in fact, have many similarities, although "Young and Innocent", unlike "The 39 Steps" or "The Lady Vanishes", does not deal with espionage.
The body of a young actress named Christine Clay is washed up on a beach somewhere on the English coast. It is discovered by a young man named Robert Tisdall, a friend of the dead woman, who runs off to get help. Unfortunately, he is seen doing so by two girls, who assume that he is the murderer and call the police. Robert is arrested and things begin to look bad for him when it is discovered that Christine was strangled with the belt from an overcoat similar to one he once owned. To make matters worse, it comes to light that Christine has left Robert a large sum in her will. (Why she should have done this is never made clear, given that the two were friends but not lovers. Presumably this detail was inserted to supply a plausible motive).
Of course, Robert is not the real murderer. Hitchcock, generally, did not deal in Agatha Christie-style whodunits in which the identity of the killer is kept from the audience until the very end. Here it is made clear from the beginning that the real culprit is Christine's obsessively jealous husband who, for some reason, is not suspected by the police. The police, in fact, are here shown as bumbling and incompetent, as they often are in Hitchcock's films. Robert's barrister proves to be equally inept, so Robert decides that his best course of action is to go on the run in an attempt to find the evidence which will prove his innocence. Like Richard Hannay in "The 39 Steps" he goes on a cross-country odyssey accompanied by a blonde young woman, in this case Erica Burgoyne, the daughter of the local Chief Constable whose men are searching for Robert. In both films the fugitive's female companion is initially forced to go with him against her will, but later comes to believe in his innocence and falls in love with him.
Like a number of Hitchcock's films, Young and Innocent" combines a basically serious theme- Robert is, after all, accused of a crime which in 1937 could have sent him to the gallows- with a good deal of humour. Some of this humour is satirical, aimed at the incompetence of the police force and court system, although there are other humorous scenes, such as those involving Erica and her three younger brothers or the one at the children's party.
Derrick De Marney is not a very charismatic hero, not in the same class as Robert Donat from "The 39 Steps" or Michael Redgrave from "The Lady Vanishes", although the young Nova Pilbeam, only eighteen at the time, makes a fresh and charming heroine. Nova also played the kidnapped teenager in Hitchcock's "The Man Who Knew Too Much" from three years earlier, although her acting career seemed to fizzle out in the forties, and I often wonder what happened to her. (She is, apparently, still alive).
The film does not contain any great Hitchcock set pieces except perhaps for the finale in the Grand Hotel when the murderer is eventually unmasked. (This scene has caused some controversy in recent years because of the presence of a dance band performing in blackface, although this would not have been seen as controversial in thirties Britain). Overall, I would not rate "Young and Innocent" as Hitchcock's greatest film from his British period, but it is still a fast-moving and enjoyable light thriller. 7/10