Alfred Hitchcock went time and again back to the chase for the McGuffin formula involving a wrongly accused man and a woman tagging along because she's intrigued. The McGuffin being Hitchcock's own coined word for whatever is being sought by hero and/or villain. In this case it's a raincoat and the man that's wearing it. Hardly valuable in and of itself, but they can prove Derrick DeMarney innocent of the crime of murder.
DeMarney is accused and in the tradition of Madeleine Carroll who was physically handcuffed to Robert Donat in The Thirty Nine Steps and later followed by Priscilla Lane and Eva Marie Saint, Nova Pilbeam who also happens to be a cop's daughter gets dragged into DeMarney's quest for innocence. Hence the title Young And Innocent. It could equally apply to both.
Young And Innocent is not as well known on this side of the pond as other Hitchcock work because it contains no players who became international figures like Robert Donat or Michael Redgrave or American imports like Sylvia Sidney and Robert Young. Nevertheless a good chemistry developed between DeMarney and Pilbeam and the audience in the theaters in 1937 would have caught it.
Best scene, ranking as one of Hitchcock's best in terms of suspense and excitement is DeMarney and Pilbeam being rescued from a mine cave in where they sought refuge. Today it will be done with computer graphics, but they can't match what Hitchcock staged back in the day.
As for the ending, Hitchcock liked the ending of Murder so much that he modified it for Young And Innocent. In the former film remember how Herbert Marshall cornered the female impersonator there and the breakdown that followed. Not as spectacular as in Murder and there are no female impersonators in Young And Innocent, but the perpetrator is in a disguise of sorts.
Definitely a must for Hitchcock fans especially those of his early British period where he did not have the Hollywood budgets for his work.
DeMarney is accused and in the tradition of Madeleine Carroll who was physically handcuffed to Robert Donat in The Thirty Nine Steps and later followed by Priscilla Lane and Eva Marie Saint, Nova Pilbeam who also happens to be a cop's daughter gets dragged into DeMarney's quest for innocence. Hence the title Young And Innocent. It could equally apply to both.
Young And Innocent is not as well known on this side of the pond as other Hitchcock work because it contains no players who became international figures like Robert Donat or Michael Redgrave or American imports like Sylvia Sidney and Robert Young. Nevertheless a good chemistry developed between DeMarney and Pilbeam and the audience in the theaters in 1937 would have caught it.
Best scene, ranking as one of Hitchcock's best in terms of suspense and excitement is DeMarney and Pilbeam being rescued from a mine cave in where they sought refuge. Today it will be done with computer graphics, but they can't match what Hitchcock staged back in the day.
As for the ending, Hitchcock liked the ending of Murder so much that he modified it for Young And Innocent. In the former film remember how Herbert Marshall cornered the female impersonator there and the breakdown that followed. Not as spectacular as in Murder and there are no female impersonators in Young And Innocent, but the perpetrator is in a disguise of sorts.
Definitely a must for Hitchcock fans especially those of his early British period where he did not have the Hollywood budgets for his work.