One night when I had gotten back from work at 2am,I was in the mood of watching a Hitchcock film,that I have not yet seen.Due to me starting to feel a bit tied,when I was looking at my DVDs of his films,the main thing I was looking for,was for one of them to be about 70 minutes long.
After having looked at his most well-known films (which were all at least two hours long),I decided to look at the films in The Early Hitchcock Collection box set,that I've recently brought.To my surprise,one of the first films that I found in the set was 61 minutes long.After seeing the running time,I decided that this was the perfect film for the night,which whilst flawed,still has some highly enjoyable moments.
The plot:
Whilst searching for some thieves who have stolen a very valuable necklace,undercover Detective Gilbert,notices a house that he feels suspicious about.When he gets to the front door,he realises that it has been left unlocked.After he enters the house,Gilbert sees a man walking round with a candle.
As he rushes up to see the man,Gilbert is left stunned when he notices that a man is laying dead on the top floor.After having grabbed the homeless man (Ben) (who has not got any weapons at all on him).Gilbert and Ben both search to see what the dead man has on him,when looking in one of the last pockets,Ben makes the shocking discovery that the man has a gun!!.
Suddenly, they hear glass breaking,when they go to find out what has happened,Ben and Gilbert find a women who claims to be the dead mans daughter,yet when they go back to look at the body,they discover that the body has "disappeared".
View on the film:
Looking at the cast in the film,I feel that the best performance is easily Leon M. Lion as the homeless man Ben,who perfectly suits the films mix of comedy and mystery Film Noir with a great performance that is able to show the character getting into some funny situations,whilst still having a sense of unease around the events that are unfolding in the house.
With the second half of the film being much more "comedic",it seems that as the film becomes less serious,Hichcock seems to become less interested in the film,with a chase scene that ends up just looking like a three year old child smashing his plastic train into a wall.
Thankfully,the first half of the the film,is able to make the short-comings of the second half be easily forgotten,with Hitchcock almost turning the film into a brilliant Haunted House movie,that is filled with a fantastic shadowy candle-lit Noir look,which helps make the scary search round the house extremely enjoyable.
Final view on the film:
A very well-directed "spooky" first half,let down by a more comedic poorly done second half.
After having looked at his most well-known films (which were all at least two hours long),I decided to look at the films in The Early Hitchcock Collection box set,that I've recently brought.To my surprise,one of the first films that I found in the set was 61 minutes long.After seeing the running time,I decided that this was the perfect film for the night,which whilst flawed,still has some highly enjoyable moments.
The plot:
Whilst searching for some thieves who have stolen a very valuable necklace,undercover Detective Gilbert,notices a house that he feels suspicious about.When he gets to the front door,he realises that it has been left unlocked.After he enters the house,Gilbert sees a man walking round with a candle.
As he rushes up to see the man,Gilbert is left stunned when he notices that a man is laying dead on the top floor.After having grabbed the homeless man (Ben) (who has not got any weapons at all on him).Gilbert and Ben both search to see what the dead man has on him,when looking in one of the last pockets,Ben makes the shocking discovery that the man has a gun!!.
Suddenly, they hear glass breaking,when they go to find out what has happened,Ben and Gilbert find a women who claims to be the dead mans daughter,yet when they go back to look at the body,they discover that the body has "disappeared".
View on the film:
Looking at the cast in the film,I feel that the best performance is easily Leon M. Lion as the homeless man Ben,who perfectly suits the films mix of comedy and mystery Film Noir with a great performance that is able to show the character getting into some funny situations,whilst still having a sense of unease around the events that are unfolding in the house.
With the second half of the film being much more "comedic",it seems that as the film becomes less serious,Hichcock seems to become less interested in the film,with a chase scene that ends up just looking like a three year old child smashing his plastic train into a wall.
Thankfully,the first half of the the film,is able to make the short-comings of the second half be easily forgotten,with Hitchcock almost turning the film into a brilliant Haunted House movie,that is filled with a fantastic shadowy candle-lit Noir look,which helps make the scary search round the house extremely enjoyable.
Final view on the film:
A very well-directed "spooky" first half,let down by a more comedic poorly done second half.