Watching Alfred Hitchcock‘s early films is a special experience for any movie lover and fan of the master of suspense. The first period of Hitchcock’s career took place in England. Hitchcock made his debut in the silent films, and his cinematography remained primarily a visual art during all his career. Around 1930, he lived together with the whole industry the transition to the spoken film or better said sound film, because at Hitchcock the soundtrack includes not only the voices of the actors, but also the sound effects and the music that plays a key role in creating the atmosphere . ‘Murder!‘ belongs to this period, and is besides its dramatic qualities a document of this transformation, at a time when the soundtrack was recorded “live” during the shooting of the scenes, including the musical accompaniment. Many decades later the process would be rediscovered by film directors for artistic purposes, but at that time there was simply no separation between the visual and the sound channels.
‘Murder!‘ is largely a movie about theater. The action takes place in the actors’ world, the crime victim at the center of action is an actress, the main suspect is also an actress, and the role of the detectives trying to discover the truth behind the appearances is also played by actors. We find in the film even a ‘theater in theater’ scene used as a mean to provoke a guilt confession, which reminds us of ‘Hamlet’. We can see in this work Hitchcock’s passion for the stage and his pleasure to reveal what happens – technically but also from human point of view – in the backstage of the theater.
Leaving aside the historical aspects, what remains interesting in this film almost 90 years after its realization? Some of the acting performances are remarkable, especially Herbert Marshall ‘s lead role. There is a very good scene with a jury debate, perhaps the first in a cinematic series that later became a distinct genre, including ‘12 Angry Men ‘. Hitchcock’s later directorial mastery is predicted by some excellently filmed scenes – the sequence of the windows in the opening scene, the shadow of the hanging in the prison, the suggested death by the end in which we only see the reactions of the spectators. This is not yet a masterpiece, but sparkles of genius are already visible.