Murder! | |
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Directed by | Alfred Hitchcock |
Screenplay by | Alfred Hitchcock Walter Mycroft Alma Reville |
Based on | Enter Sir John by Clemence Dane Helen Simpson |
Produced by | John Maxwell (Uncredited) |
Starring | Herbert Marshall Norah Baring |
Cinematography | J. J. Cox |
Edited by | Rene Marrison under the supervision of Emile de Ruelle |
Music by | John Reynders (musical director) |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Wardour Films |
Release date | 31 July 1930 |
Running time | 101 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Murder! is a 1930 British thriller film co-written and directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Herbert Marshall, Norah Baring and Edward Chapman. Written by Hitchcock, his wife Alma Reville and Walter C. Mycroft, it is based on the 1928 novel Enter Sir John by Clemence Dane and Helen Simpson. It was Hitchcock's third all-talkie film, after Blackmail (1929) and Juno and the Paycock (1930).
In 1930, Diana Baring (Norah Baring), a young actress in a travelling theatre troupe, is found in a daze with blood on her clothes, sitting by the murdered body of another young actress, Edna Druce. The poker used to commit the murder was at Diana's feet, but she has no memory of what happened during the minutes the crime was committed. The two young women were thought to have been rivals, and the police arrest her. Diana withholds some important information deliberately, to protect something about the identity of a man that she will not name.
At her trial most of the jury are certain she is guilty. One or two feel that she may have a severe mental illness which meant that she really did have no memory of killing the other woman, but they are convinced that she should still be hanged lest she strike again. One juror, Sir John Menier (Herbert Marshall), a celebrated actor-manager, seems sure she must be innocent, but is brow-beaten into voting "guilty" along with the rest of the jury. Diana is imprisoned, and awaiting hanging.
Sir John feels responsible, as he was the one who had recommended that Diana take the touring job in order for her to get more life experience. It also turns out that Diana has been a fan of his since childhood. She is beautiful, and seems far too honest and straightforward to be a criminal of any kind. Using skills he has learned in the theatre, Sir John investigates the murder with the help of the stage manager Ted Markham (Edward Chapman) and his wife Doucie (Phyllis Konstam). They narrow the possible suspects down to one male actor in the troupe, Handel Fane (Esme Percy), who often plays cross-dressing roles.
During a prison visit with Baring, Sir John learns Fane's secret: he is a half-caste, only passing as white, and Druce threatened to expose him. Later, Sir John cunningly tries to lure a confession out of Fane, by asking him to audition for a new play that Sir John has written, on the subject of the murder. Fane realizes that they know he committed the crime, and that they understand how and why he did it. Fane leaves the audition without confessing, and goes back to his old job; he is a solo trapeze performer in a circus. Sir John and the others go there to confront him again. During his performance, from his high perch he looks down and sees them waiting. Despairing, he knots his access rope into a noose, slips it over his head and jumps to his death. Afterwards, Sir John and Markham discover Fane had written a confession to the murder before his suicide.
We then see Diana, free, and gloriously dressed in white furs, entering a beautiful room and being welcomed warmly by Sir John, who receives her as if he loves her. The camera pulls back and we realise we are watching the last scene of a new play, possibly the new play, in which Diana stars opposite Sir John. They kiss as the curtain falls.
Members of the Jury
The film was made by British International Pictures. It was originally to be released under the same title as the novel, Enter Sir John, but this was changed to the simpler Murder! during shooting. [1] A number of changes were made from the book, including altering the names of the two principal characters. The portrayal of the character Sir John Mernier was loosely based on that of the actor Gerald du Maurier, who was a friend of Hitchcock. [2] Hitchcock later adapted three novels written by du Maurier's daughter Daphne du Maurier: Jamaica Inn (1939), Rebecca (1940) and The Birds (1963). Hitchcock makes his cameo appearance in the film as a man walking past the murder victim's house. [3]
The film's sets were designed by the art director John Mead.
The German language version of the film, Mary (1931), was shot simultaneously on the same set with German-speaking actors. Miles Mander reprised his role as Gordon Druce in Mary, though the character's name was changed to Gordon Moore.
In addition to the original music composed by John Reynders, the film uses the opening of Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde prelude in a radio broadcast Sir John is listening to during the shaving scene.
For the filming, an orchestra played the music live on the set. Hitchcock described the filming of this scene to François Truffaut in the book-length interview Hitchcock/Truffaut (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1967). In the early days of sound film, there was no way to post-dub sound, so Hitchcock had Herbert Marshall's voice recorded on a phonograph record, which was played back during the filming of the scene, while the orchestra played the "radio" music live.
Murder!, like all of Hitchcock's other British films, is copyrighted worldwide [4] [5] but has been heavily bootlegged on home video. [6] Despite this, various licensed, restored releases have appeared on DVD, Blu-ray and video on demand services from Optimum in the UK, Lionsgate and Kino Lorber in the US, and others. [7]
Young and Innocent, released in the US as The Girl Was Young, is a 1937 British crime thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Nova Pilbeam and Derrick De Marney. Based on the 1936 novel A Shilling for Candles by Josephine Tey, the film is about a young man on the run from a murder charge who enlists the help of a woman who must put herself at risk for his cause. An elaborately staged crane shot Hitchcock devised, which appears towards the end of the film, identifies the real murderer.
The Skin Game is a 1931 British drama film by Alfred Hitchcock, based on the 1920 play by John Galsworthy and produced by British International Pictures. The story revolves around two rival families, the Hillcrists and the Hornblowers, and the disastrous results of the feud between them.
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog is a 1927 British silent thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Marie Ault, Arthur Chesney, June Tripp, Malcolm Keen and Ivor Novello. Hitchcock's third feature film, it was released on 14 February 1927 in London and on 10 June 1928 in New York City. The film is based on the 1913 novel The Lodger by Marie Belloc Lowndes and the play Who Is He? co-written by Belloc Lowndes. Its plot concerns the hunt for a Jack the Ripper-like serial killer in London.
Secret Agent is a 1936 British espionage thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, adapted from the play by Campbell Dixon, which in turn is loosely based on two stories in the 1927 collection Ashenden: Or the British Agent by W. Somerset Maugham. The film stars Madeleine Carroll, Peter Lorre, John Gielgud, and Robert Young. It also features uncredited appearances by Michael Redgrave, future star of Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes (1938) and Michael Rennie in his film debut.
The Mountain Eagle is a 1926 silent drama film, and Alfred Hitchcock's second as director, following The Pleasure Garden. The film, a romantic melodrama set in Kentucky, is about a widower who jealously competes with his crippled son and a man he loathes over the affections of a schoolteacher. The film was mostly produced at the Emelka Film studios in Munich, Germany in autumn of 1925, with exterior scenes shot in the village of Obergurgl in the State of Tyrol, Austria. Production was plagued with problems, including the destruction of a village roof and Hitchcock experiencing altitude sickness. Due to producing the film in Germany, Hitchcock had more directorial freedom than he would have had in England, and he was influenced by German cinematic style and technique.
The Pleasure Garden is a 1925 British-German silent drama film directed by Alfred Hitchcock in his feature film directorial debut. Based on a novel by Oliver Sandys, the film is about two chorus girls at the Pleasure Garden Theatre in London and their troubled relationships.
Blackmail is a 1929 British thriller drama film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Anny Ondra, John Longden, and Cyril Ritchard. Based on the 1928 play of the same name by Charles Bennett, the film is about a London woman who is blackmailed after killing a man who tries to rape her.
Waltzes from Vienna is a 1934 British biographical film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, sometimes known as Strauss' Great Waltz. It was part of the cycle of operetta films made in Britain during the 1930s.
The Ring is a 1927 British silent romance film written and directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Carl Brisson, Lillian Hall-Davis and Ian Hunter.
Downhill is a 1927 British silent drama film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Ivor Novello, Robin Irvine and Isabel Jeans, and based on the play Down Hill by Novello and Constance Collier. The film was produced by Gainsborough Pictures at their Islington studios. Downhill was Hitchcock's fourth film as director, but the fifth to be released. Its American alternative title was When Boys Leave Home.
Champagne is a 1928 British silent comedy film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Betty Balfour, Gordon Harker and Jean Bradin. The screenplay was based on an original story by writer and critic Walter C. Mycroft. The film is about a young woman forced to get a job after her father tells her he has lost all his money.
The Man Who Knew Too Much is a 1934 British film noir political thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, featuring Leslie Banks and Peter Lorre, and released by Gaumont British. It was one of the most successful and critically acclaimed films of Hitchcock's British period.
Mary (1931) is a British-German thriller film, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and is the German language version of Hitchcock's Murder! (1930), shot simultaneously on the same sets with German speaking actors. The film is based on the 1928 book Enter Sir John by Clemence Dane and Helen Simpson, and stars Alfred Abel and Olga Tschechowa. Miles Mander reprises his role as Gordon Druce from Murder!, though the character's name was changed to Gordon Moore.
Jamaica Inn is a 1939 British adventure thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and adapted from Daphne du Maurier's 1936 novel of the same name. It is the first of three of du Maurier's works that Hitchcock adapted. It stars Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara in her first major screen role. It is the last film Hitchcock made in the United Kingdom before he moved to the United States.
Jamaica Inn is a novel by the English writer Daphne du Maurier, first published in 1936. It was later made into a film, also called Jamaica Inn, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It is a period piece set in Cornwall around 1815. It was inspired by du Maurier's 1930 stay at the real Jamaica Inn, which still exists as a pub in the middle of Bodmin Moor. The plot follows Mary Yellan, a woman who moves to stay at Jamaica Inn with her Aunt Patience and Uncle Joss after the death of her mother. She quickly finds out that the inn is an unsavoury place, mistrusted by the locals, and that her uncle is closely linked with a group of suspicious men who appear to be smugglers.
Norah Baring, born Nora Minnie Baker, was an English stage and film actress most famous on screen for portraying "Diana Baring" in the Alfred Hitchcock thriller Murder! (1930). She is also known for playing the female lead in Anthony Asquith's silent thriller A Cottage on Dartmoor (1929). Baring studied art prior to becoming an actress.
Juno and the Paycock is a 1930 British tragicomedy film written and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Barry Fitzgerald, Maire O'Neill, Edward Chapman and Sara Allgood.
Edward Chapman was an English actor who starred in many films and television programmes, but is chiefly remembered as "Mr. William Grimsdale", the officious superior and comic foil to Norman Wisdom's character of Pitkin in many of his films from the late 1950s and 1960s.
Phyllis Esther Kohnstamm, known as Phyllis Konstam, was an English film actress born in London. She appeared in 12 films between 1928 and 1964, including four directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Enter Sir John is a 1928 British crime novel by Clemence Dane and Helen Simpson. It concerns Martella Baring, a young actress, who is put on trial and convicted of murder and a fellow actor Sir John Saumarez who takes up her cause and tries to prove her innocence. It was followed by the sequel Re-enter Sir John in 1932.