Blackmail

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Blackmail

1929

1h 26m

Mystery & Thriller

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

88%

Tomatometer

24 Reviews

65%

Popcornmeter

2,500+ Ratings

During a date, Alice White (Anny Ondra) has a fight with her boyfriend, Scotland Yard Officer Frank Webber (John Longden), and decides to leave with an artist named Mr. Crewe (Cyril Ritchard). Whey they get to the artist's flat, Mr. Crewe attempts to force himself on Alice, and she kills him to defend herself. Frank investigates the case and, after realizing Alice is the culprit, seeks to help her. However, a thief (Donald Calthrop) with blackmail on his mind complicates matters.

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David Parkinson

Empire Magazine

A little clunky at times for contemporary audiences but still manages to truly perturb.

Rated: 4/5

Jan 10, 2019

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Variety Staff

Variety

Blackmail is most draggy. It has no speed or pace and very little suspense.

Mar 26, 2009

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Mordaunt Hall

New York Times

The director, Alfred Hitchcock, frequently fails to see that his scenes are adequately lighted and more often than not the images do not stand out as distinctly as they might if more attention had been paid to the shading of the interior walls.

Mar 25, 2006

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David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

...a solid (albeit rough-around-the-edges) early Hitchcock thriller that boasts plenty of agreeable, engaging attributes.

Rated: 3/4

May 20, 2024

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Hugh Castle

Close Up

Blackmail is perhaps the most intelligent mixture of sound and silence we have yet seen. It is not a great picture, it is not a masterpiece...But it is a first effort of which the British industry has every reason to be proud. It is Hitchcock's come-back.

Jan 13, 2021

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Nathanael Hood

The Retro Set

...crackles with the energy of a genius reckoning with a new toy-box.

Rated: 8/10

Jan 9, 2020

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David K

I watched both the silent and the talkie version of this film as part of a TCM mini-theme on Hitchcock's development as the director we all know. Sandwiched between the two showings was the new documentary "Becoming Hitchcock: The Legacy of Blackmail" which dug into comparisons of the two versions analyzing techniques he adapted for the talkie version concurrent with the production of the silent version. Fascinating stuff. I come down on the side of the silent version but as a double feature of a sort, it's great viewing for the cinephile. Anny Ondra was quite the actress whose career suffered with the introduction of the talkies because of her Czech accent, which isn't really all that bad as seen on videos of her interacting with Hitch during the production. But, it wasn't right for the part, so she's dubbed (primitively) in the sound entry.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

10/14/25

Full Review

Dallas H

It is impressive to see the final cut of "Blackmail", which is a hodgepodge of different elements as the film crew transitioned from the silent era to the "talkies" during the initial production of the film. Originally intended to be a completely silent movie, a few scenes had to be reshoot to include spoken dialogue on screen, while also balancing "live dubbing" for the lead actress, who had to mime speaking her dialogue in front of the camera while another actress sat off-screen saying the dialogue into a microphone on her behalf. This would be seen as creative thinking on an indie production budget.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

07/25/25

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Mason M

A fine film that does a good job portraying it's message for a silent film

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

09/10/24

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Teddy B

Alfred Hitchcock's style further develops and flourishes in this entertaining film from the basis of his characteristics provided by 'The Lodger'.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

12/23/23

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Josh G

The build to the end is tense and a blast to watch but the end is rushed and just sorta stops. I really like the characters and the way we see our leads interact in a complicated morality world filled with shadow and excellent sets and background. Alot to love a lot to fix A mixed bag for me.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

08/13/23

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michael d

A solid shape of things to come from Hitchcock and just a good little movie in general.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

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Alfred Hitchcock

Director

Anny Ondra

Alice White

John Longden

Det. Frank Webber

Donald Calthrop

Tracy

Cyril Ritchard

Mr. Crewe

Sara Allgood

Mrs. White

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Synopsis

During a date, Alice White (Anny Ondra) has a fight with her boyfriend, Scotland Yard Officer Frank Webber (John Longden), and decides to leave with an artist named Mr. Crewe (Cyril Ritchard). Whey they get to the artist's flat, Mr. Crewe attempts to force himself on Alice, and she kills him to defend herself. Frank investigates the case and, after realizing Alice is the culprit, seeks to help her. However, a thief (Donald Calthrop) with blackmail on his mind complicates matters.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Producer: John Maxwell
Screenwriter: Charles Bennett, Alfred Hitchcock, Benn W. Levy
Distributor: Republic Pictures, LS Video, Criterion Collection, Sono Art-World Wide Pictures Inc.
Production Co: British International Pictures
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 6, 1929, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 30, 2016
Runtime: 1h 26m
Sound Mix: Mono

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