Reviewed by Cassam Looch
Featuring The Pleasure Garden (1925), The Lodger (1927), Downhill (1927), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934),
The 39 Steps (1935), Secret Agent (1936), Sabotage (1936), Young and Innocent (1937),
The Lady Vanishes (1938), Jamaica Inn (1939) | Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
UK Certification PG | Runtime 810 minutes | UK recommended retail £59.99
Focussing on the early years of the famous British director, the list of titles in this collection will be surprisingly unfamiliar to some. Although there are certain films which have rightly entered the modern British psyche, others have been overlooked in favour of the filmmaker’s subsequent Hollywood films.
The menace of The Lodger is the highlight of this collection. Although the ‘big hits’ started primarily with The 39 Steps, the trademarks are evident from early on. Mistaken identity and modern-day thriller conventions of that ilk are obvious, but at the time these titles were released they were clearly a revelation. Imagine having sat through tedious Keystone Kops comedies or soppy melodramas and then having a grimy vision of life presented to you in a world before TV? This was frightening and edgy stuff, not just in its onscreen presentation but even in the very idea of some of the subject matter.
Hitchcock himself went on to remake some of these films with bigger budgets and higher profile casts, and there have been many imitations by other directors since his death, but no definitve list of the director's best work would be complete without a selection of these titles. Not only that, but the films stand up as some of the best examples of second generation British cinema, and a forerunner to American cinema of today.
EXTRAS None