Movie Review: Becoming Hitchcock: The Legacy of Blackmail (2024)
Synopsis: In 1929, legendary director Alfred Hitchcock released the film Blackmail, both as a silent film and a "talkie." While it wasn't his first movie, many believe the film is the first one to show his visionary style. This documentary both discusses the making of Blackmail and compares the movie to Hitchcock's later and better-known classics.
Review: I had a list of movies to choose from this morning but picked Becoming Hitchcock: The Legacy of Blackmail because it was the one with the shortest runtime and I needed to shovel snow before heading into the office. Overall, it turned out to be a good choice.
I've seen a large number of Hitchcock films but not all of them and Blackmail remains one of the films that is still on that "must watch" list. The movie made me want to watch it even more.
The "making of" portion of the film was intriguing. At the time Hitchcock made the movie, Talkies were still relatively new, and the film industry was both trying to figure out which silent film stars could make that transition and how to get the most out of the technology. I found I was captivated as this movie discussed the various nuances between the silent film version and the sound version, which were filmed at the same time. This included seamlessly dubbing another actress's voice for the main star, Anny Ondra, and showing the same scene from different angles to make better use of music and other sounds.
The documentary also does a great job of comparing this film to Hitchcock's later movies and showing how he re-used multiple elements. Some of them were obvious, like stabbing being his preferred form of murder. Others were eye-opening, like how this documentary discusses his use of food in his films or his use of color. They were things I honestly didn't ever notice until it was pointed out to me.
The only real negative I have about the documentary is it dissects Blackmail to the point there were quite a few spoilers, including about how the film ends. I don't blame the filmmakers for that, it was my own fault for not watching the movie first. It's just something to keep in mind if you haven't seen the 1929 film yet.
Final Opinion: This is an informative and entertaining documentary that is worth taking the time to watch if you want to learn more about Hitchcock or just filmmaking in general.
My Grade: A
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Here are some reviews of Alfred Hitchcock movies:
Movie Review: Psycho (1960)
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