Since hearing about the legendary comedies of Charlie Chaplin,and the 1927 Fritz Lang film Metropolis,I have always been meaning to (at least) have a bit of a look at the "silent" era of film making,sadly it has always ended up being something that I have kept pushing back,mostly due to always ending up having far too many "sound" films to watch.With being a long time fan of Have I Got News For You,I was very intrigued to find out that Paul Merton had made a three part documentary about the Silent film making era in Hollywood called Birth of Hollywood.During my viewing of this tremendous series,I became very keen on at last watching a silent film.Looking round to see what silent films were in my collection,I was thrilled to find that a Hitchcock boxset called The Early Hitchcock Collection. (that also contains the fun,haunted-house style sound film Number Seventeen )Checking the collection ,I was very happy to discover a selection of Hitchcocks silent films in the set,looking at the films,I decided that I would pick this film as the first silent film that I would ever watch.
The plot:
On a small island called the Isle of Man,an unlikely friendship is struck between a poor fisherman named Pete,and a budding lawyer called Philip.The friendship is built on trust and loyalty,with Pete being impressed that Philip is the only lawyer on the island who defends the rights and working conditions of the fishermen,and Philip having a deep respect for the intense amount of hours that Pete spends doing a very tough job.On a night night out,Pete falls in love,at the very first sight of a girl called Kate.Pushing Philip to ask Kate's father if Pete can take his daughters hand in marriage,Pete is left with a huge amount of disappointment and anger,when the Kate's father tells Philip that he will never let his best friend marry his daughter,due to him being "not worthy" and too low down on the food chain.Infuriated by her dad's response,Pete announces that he is going to go on a trip to Africia right away,so that he can come back wealthy,and at last get Kate's hand in marriage.Just before he leaves,Pete makes sure to tell Philip to look after Kate,whilst he is away.Agreeing to this,Philip and Kate start to become great friends,with Kate's sense of anticipation for Pete's return,increasing day by day.Suddenly,Philip and Kate's lives start to spiral out of control when news reaches them that Philip has died.Attempting to comfort her,Philp's and Kate's friendship gradually begins to develop in to a much more romantic one,to the point where they have both settled down together,and have had a baby.Early one morning,whilst Kate is on her own feeding the baby,the front door to the house suddenly opens,and Pete suddenly appears!.Whilst She tries to make sense of what is happening,Pete tells Kate that he has spoken to her father,and he has at last agreed to the marriage.Looking around the room,Pete is filled with joy to see that she has had a baby,due to him thinking that he must have gotten Kate pregnant just before he left..
View on the film:
The first people that I feel deserve a huge amount of praise for the film,is the DVD company Canal+,who have taken this great film out of it's worn out Public Domain past,and have now given it a new coat of paint,with the image being surprisingly very clean,and the new piano music score being able to brilliantly give more depth to the dramatic moments,as well as making the early,light-hearted moments much more playful.Looking at the cast,Malcolm Keen gives a brilliant performance as Philip Christan,who although oddly giving a strong vibe that he might be about to star in Unerversal Studio's next monster horror movie,Keen is still able to cleverly show Christan's change,from someone who is willing to do as much as possible for everyone,to a person who tries to keep to himself as much as possible to himself,whilst always making sure that he never let's the character completely fall into the shadows of darkness For what would turn out to be his last ever silent film,Hitchcock show's a huge bundle of creative idea's that he would continue to use and expand upon,for the rest of his legendary career.One of the main things,that makes this a key piece of his film career,is Hitchcock making Anny Ondra (Kate Cregeen) his first Blonde leading lady,although here,he interestingly gives the character a very noticeable wide-eyed innocent side,whilst letting the icy side of Kate ,only be shown as the film reaches its ending.Along with the creation of the Hitchcock Blonde,Hitchcock shows strong hints in his great directing for this film, of some moments that would be reused and expanded upon in the future,with a sequence which involves a character attempting to commit suicide by jumping off a cliff,being something that he would return to for his classic film Vertigo,although in this case,he chooses to end the scene with a startling fade-out,which helps to give the scene a very haunting feel,as well as showing that the film is now going into a much more bleak direction.
Final view on the film:
For his last ever silent film,Hitchcock leaves the era with style,by making a very entertaining drama,that also has him showing some of his main idea's and themes that he would expand and build upon for the rest of his astonishing career.
The plot:
On a small island called the Isle of Man,an unlikely friendship is struck between a poor fisherman named Pete,and a budding lawyer called Philip.The friendship is built on trust and loyalty,with Pete being impressed that Philip is the only lawyer on the island who defends the rights and working conditions of the fishermen,and Philip having a deep respect for the intense amount of hours that Pete spends doing a very tough job.On a night night out,Pete falls in love,at the very first sight of a girl called Kate.Pushing Philip to ask Kate's father if Pete can take his daughters hand in marriage,Pete is left with a huge amount of disappointment and anger,when the Kate's father tells Philip that he will never let his best friend marry his daughter,due to him being "not worthy" and too low down on the food chain.Infuriated by her dad's response,Pete announces that he is going to go on a trip to Africia right away,so that he can come back wealthy,and at last get Kate's hand in marriage.Just before he leaves,Pete makes sure to tell Philip to look after Kate,whilst he is away.Agreeing to this,Philip and Kate start to become great friends,with Kate's sense of anticipation for Pete's return,increasing day by day.Suddenly,Philip and Kate's lives start to spiral out of control when news reaches them that Philip has died.Attempting to comfort her,Philp's and Kate's friendship gradually begins to develop in to a much more romantic one,to the point where they have both settled down together,and have had a baby.Early one morning,whilst Kate is on her own feeding the baby,the front door to the house suddenly opens,and Pete suddenly appears!.Whilst She tries to make sense of what is happening,Pete tells Kate that he has spoken to her father,and he has at last agreed to the marriage.Looking around the room,Pete is filled with joy to see that she has had a baby,due to him thinking that he must have gotten Kate pregnant just before he left..
View on the film:
The first people that I feel deserve a huge amount of praise for the film,is the DVD company Canal+,who have taken this great film out of it's worn out Public Domain past,and have now given it a new coat of paint,with the image being surprisingly very clean,and the new piano music score being able to brilliantly give more depth to the dramatic moments,as well as making the early,light-hearted moments much more playful.Looking at the cast,Malcolm Keen gives a brilliant performance as Philip Christan,who although oddly giving a strong vibe that he might be about to star in Unerversal Studio's next monster horror movie,Keen is still able to cleverly show Christan's change,from someone who is willing to do as much as possible for everyone,to a person who tries to keep to himself as much as possible to himself,whilst always making sure that he never let's the character completely fall into the shadows of darkness For what would turn out to be his last ever silent film,Hitchcock show's a huge bundle of creative idea's that he would continue to use and expand upon,for the rest of his legendary career.One of the main things,that makes this a key piece of his film career,is Hitchcock making Anny Ondra (Kate Cregeen) his first Blonde leading lady,although here,he interestingly gives the character a very noticeable wide-eyed innocent side,whilst letting the icy side of Kate ,only be shown as the film reaches its ending.Along with the creation of the Hitchcock Blonde,Hitchcock shows strong hints in his great directing for this film, of some moments that would be reused and expanded upon in the future,with a sequence which involves a character attempting to commit suicide by jumping off a cliff,being something that he would return to for his classic film Vertigo,although in this case,he chooses to end the scene with a startling fade-out,which helps to give the scene a very haunting feel,as well as showing that the film is now going into a much more bleak direction.
Final view on the film:
For his last ever silent film,Hitchcock leaves the era with style,by making a very entertaining drama,that also has him showing some of his main idea's and themes that he would expand and build upon for the rest of his astonishing career.