THE MANXMAN (Alfred Hitchcock 1929) 110 mins. New score by Stephen Horne
When:
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Venue:
Birkbeck 43 Gordon Square
THE MANXMAN (Alfred Hitchcock 1929) 110 mins. New score by Stephen Horne
The Manxman was traditionally known only as ‘Hitchcock’s last silent’ before his breakthrough talkie Blackmail, released in the same year, and always overshadowed by its successor. Like Powell, Hitchcock was often dismissive of his early work, but a major ‘turnabout in taste’ has brought many of the British films back into focus. Charles Barr maintains that The Manxman is a melodrama equal in stature to any of Hitchcock’s revered Hollywood films, and this revaluation has been helped by an impressive new orchestral score by Stephen Horne, which he will introduce at this screening.
The story comes from a celebrated novel by Manx author Hall Caine, with a poor fisherman Pete and a lawyer, both in love with Kate. When her father rejects the fisherman, he leaves the island to make his fortune, and a relationship develops between the lawyer Philip and Kate. When Pete unexpectedly returns, Kate agrees to marry him, but is eventually driven to the point of suicide. With a strong cast, headed by Anny Ondra (anticipating her role in Blackmail) and Carl Brisson as Pete, and atmospheric use of Cornish locations, The Manxman anticipates the oneiric quality of Under Capricorn and indeed Vertigo. The screening of a new version incorporating Stephen Horne’s score is by kind permission of StudioCanal, whose blu-ray box set Hitchcock: The Beginning is released on 16 December.
Contact name:
Matthew Barrington