NUMBER SEVENTEEN [1932 / 2021] [Special Edition] [Blu-ray] [USA Release]
The Master of Suspense Brings You A Mysterious Comedy Caper!
From the Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, comes ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN,’ a gem of a comedy-thriller from the legendary director’s early years in the British film industry. In an empty London house, a hobo named Ben [Leon M. Lion] looks for shelter — but instead finds a corpse. When the Detective Barton [John Stuart] shows up, he questions Ben, but is interrupted when a girl Rose Ackroyd [Ann Casson] falls through the roof. Her father Mr. Ackroyd [Henry Caine] has vanished, and Rose Ackroyd’s received an inscrutable telegram that mentions both the house and a missing necklace. Soon more suspicious characters turn up, all looking for the necklace, and none of them who they claim to be. With its exhilarating climactic chase sequence and masterful mix of suspense, scares and humour; ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ is pure, classic Alfred Hitchcock!
Cast: Leon M. Lion, Anne Grey, John Stuart, Donald Calthrop, Barry Jones, Ann Casson, Henry Caine, Garry Marsh, Pearl Hay (uncredited) and Herbert Langley (uncredited)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Producers: John Maxwell (uncredited) and Leon M. Lion
Screenplay: Joseph Jefferson Farjeon (screenplay/play), Alma Reville (scenario), Alfred Hitchcock (scenario) and Rodney Ackland (scenario)
Composer: Adolph Hallis (musical score)
Cinematography: Bryan Langley (Director of Photography) and Jack E. Cox, B.S.C. (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Black-and-White)
Aspect Ratio: 1.20:1
Audio: English: 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio Stereo
English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English
Running Time: 63 minutes
Region: Region A/1
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Associated British Picture Corporation / STUDIOCANAL / Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ [1932] is an often-overlooked early sound production from Alfred Hitchcock, the final film that he made while working for Associated British Picture Corporation. Even Alfred Hitchcock dismissed the film, describing it to Francois Truffaut as “a disaster.” It’s hardly that, but it’s still clearly a hastily-assembled project thrown together to fulfil Alfred Hitchcock’s contract with BIP. Despite the rough edges and an incomprehensible plot, there are still plenty of flashes of the director’s gifts on display.
Detective Barton [John Stuart] is searching for a stolen necklace at house Number 17. Detective Barton finds a mysterious person calling himself Ben [Leon M. Lion], who has discovered a dead body. Ben claims that he did not kill this person. A gun and handcuffs are found. A girl, Miss Rose Ackroyd [Ann Casson] falls through the roof. At 12:30 am, the body disappears and three other people including a deaf and mute woman Nora [Anne Grey], Mr. Ackroyd [Henry Caine], and a mysterious third person enter the house. How all these people relate to the stolen necklace and where the body went forms the central mystery in ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN,’ so answers on a post card please.
As the climax of a thriller was invariably a chase. The ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ climax must be a chase to end all chases and its details so preposterous that excitement would give way to gales of laughter. It was on these lines and in this spirit that we conceived and wrote the script. The chase and in this case between a bus and a train and appeared still more absurd in view of its use of what were very obviously scale models. Alfred Hitchcock's fondness for models was a feature of his career, notably in the introduction to ‘The Lady Vanishes’ [1939].
Since the whole thing takes up just an hour of one’s time, ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ is worth a look to see early studio playfulness by Alfred Hitchcock. However, the acting is nothing to note with actor Leon M. Lion, especially, where he chews the scenery with an outrageous Cockney accent and mugging.
Even a bad Alfred Hitchcock films usually have some redeeming factor. In this film, it’s the climax which features a high speed chase between a train and a bus. The film uses miniature models quite well and imaginatively, and Hitchcock’s direction of this chase is thrilling. This sequence was well-executed on an objective, technical level. But the emotional or thematic stakes are non-existent. Despite featuring a handful of solid actors, the supposedly colourful characters all fall flat. The story itself is virtually incomprehensible; I struggled to summarise it above because I still don’t really know what happened. One thing I found very strange, is that whenever there are any fast action scenes everything is speeded up twice as fast, very strange. But what I did like is seeing the old steam trains working really well and was also well photographed.
‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ is a sort of starting point for anyone interested in learning more about the films of Alfred Hitchcock, but it’s still an essential part of his filmography, and a valuable look at the way that the Master of Suspense developed in the first few years of his career. This gorgeous Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics is the best way to experience the ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ film.
NUMBER SEVENTEEN MUSIC TRACK LIST
I DON’T NEED A TELEVISON (uncredited) (Music by Harry Shalson) (Lyrics by John Malvern)
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Blu-ray Image Quality – Associated British Picture Corporation, STUDIOCANAL and Kino Lorber Studio Classics and presents us the film ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ with a brand new 4K restoration and yields a top-notch black-and-white 1080p image that immerses us in the films creepy atmosphere and especially with Cinematographers Jack E. Cox and Bryan Langley who shot ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ on 35 mm film using spherical lenses, framed at the 1.20:1 aspect ratio of early sound productions, and the result of losing space on the frame to the optical soundtrack. STUDIOCANAL supplied this 4K restoration to Kino Lorber Studio Classics, but the restoration work was performed by the British Fil Institute, and they did remarkable work for a film of this vintage, but of course to do the remaster work had to have it printed as a 1.20:1 aspect ratio for the soundtrack. With only a few minor caveats, Number Seventeen looks simply spectacular here. All of the textures are well-resolved; the grain included, and there’s only fleeting damage visible. The grayscale is perfect, the contrast range is good, and there’s plenty of shadow detail in even the darkest scenes. There are a few shots where the contrast runs a bit too hot, such as in the scene at the 8:00 mark when John Stuart’s candlelit face gets too bright and breaks up into noise. There are also two brief shots at the 33:45 mark which appear to come from inferior elements, with softer detail and light scratches running through them. Otherwise, it’s a nearly perfect transfer, and those few flaws are only visible if you look for them. All of ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ scenes take place at night, yet the picture never looks unduly murky, thanks to superior shadow delineation. Crisp, sleek lines make the shadows come alive and inky blacks supply essential weight. The white fur trim of Anne Grey's jacket exudes a wealth of texture, as do more ephemeral elements like mist and steam. Sharp close-ups allow us to fully appreciate the actor Leon M. Lion's expressive, rubbery face, as well as an eerie, lifeless hand sticking through a stair railing, and only a few errant nicks and marks dot the print. ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ is almost 90 years old, and though it doesn't look like a spring chicken, this new restoration has given this antiquated Alfred Hitchcock curio quite a facelift.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Associated British Picture Corporation, STUDIOCANAL and Kino Lorber Studio Classics brings us the film ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ with a 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio experience Stereo and the sound is a huge component of almost every Alfred Hitchcock film, and while we have to accept the technical limitations of a film made in 1932, there are some inherent problems with the ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ audio, but does what it can with what it has to work with and succeeds when it comes to sound effects. Elements like whistling wind, the clickety-clack rattling of a train, moaning sirens, rumbling engines, and piercing screams wield plenty of impact, and a wide dynamic scale handles them all without any distortion. The composed music by Adolph Hallis, sounds a bit thin, but still nicely complements the action and supplies essential atmospheric shadings. There is also very little surface noise for a film of this vintage, which is good news indeed. The main issue with the audio track and it's a big one, is the dialogue. Much of it is completely unintelligible. The fault lies not with Kino Lorber Studio Classics, but with the source material, which is hampered by primitive recording equipment, poor microphone placement, and the rapid-fire delivery and thick Cockney accent of actor Leon M. Lion. So if you want to fully enjoy on your initial viewing, if you do find it difficult to understand what some of the actors are saying, then I suggest you turn on the subtitles, the at least you will be able to decipher what the actors are saying. ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ is definitely for fans of Alfred Hitchcock, and early British cinema, and for anyone who has always wondered what the film was really supposed to look and sound like after seeing it horribly bootlegged, and then this Blu-ray release will show you how this Blu-ray release should be viewed instead of watching some illegal bootlegged print.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Audio Commentary by Film Historian and Film Critic Peter Tonguette [2004] [1080p] [1.20:1] [63:19] Here we are introduced to by the American Peter Tonguette who informs us that he is a film critic and a journalist for the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Examiner, Sight and Sound and many other publications and he also informs us that we are watching the Alfred Hitchcock film ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ and also informs us that it is the director’s fifth sound film and his fourteenth film overall. It is a British International Pictures Ltd., where Alfred Hitchcock hung his hat in 1927 to 1932 the year ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ was released, and regrettably the composed score by Adolph Hallis is quote on quote “quite ominous thriller” style of music and nothing of the richness texture or surprise of composer Bernard Herrmann’s much later composed scores for Alfred Hitchcock. The film begins with an elaborate and accomplished tracking shot opening with a windswept tree branches and tracking along a sidewalk full of leaves and also taking note of the windswept hat landing in front of the house, but sadly Peter Tonguette thinks the composed music intrudes and dominates the soundtrack and there is ambient noise to enhance the visual scene we are watching of the windy stormy atmosphere and again the sound effects throughout the film ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ is very limited. The hat the actor is wearing is Detective Barton [John Stuart] and one of the many protagonists that we see throughout the film. Peter Tonguette also comments that Alfred Hitchcock again returns to another long intricate take at this point in the film and is very typical for the director Alfred Hitchcock and the detective tentatively enters exploring the very foreboding residence, which he finds a tramp hiding named Ben and overtime a crowd of crooks will turn up to pick up a stolen diamond necklace and eventually make off with the loot on a steam train, which strangely seems to be accessible via the basement of the house, and that is Alfred Hitchcock’s attempt of a synopsis of the plot of the film ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN,’ which has a notoriously convoluted and even confusing plot. Peter Tonguette also thinks the scenes where the detective walks into the house, seems that Alfred Hitchcock uses the same the same visual techniques in his films like ‘UNDER CAPRICORN’ and ‘RIPE’ and those two films Peter Tonguette thinks are masterpieces, but even with those two films, Alfred Hitchcock’s long takes have fluid techniques like other well-known directors he mentions. Sometimes Alfred Hitchcock would use montage images bouncing off each character actor who Peter Tonguette thinks to be the highest form of cinema. Alfred Hitchcock loves to emphasise throughout the film ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ with shadows to emphasise a sort of haunted house, but of course in this film, the house is sort of an unoccupied house in London, but with candles to create some illumination, especially with the black-and-white cinematography and the richness and texture of the image. Alfred Hitchcock’s mantra is that if a film works and if you believe it you care about the characters and the shots of the shadows on the walls or characters moving about the house or a hand slowly reaching for the door knob on the door very ominously, but the director probably used those techniques to distract you. Peter Tonguette complains that the scenes with the detective and the tramp Bill tends to go on far too long and Alfred Hitchcock seems to make things slightly a pointless exercise, at the same time during these long drawn out scenes, Peter Tonguette starts to get totally boring by going off in all different directions talking endlessly about scenes similar in other Alfred Hitchcock films and it is a totally pointless exercise and also starts to get into talking utter pointless rubbish and should stick to talking about the film ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN.’ Peter Tonguette thinks it is a great of function of Alfred Hitchcock’s mature style and enjoyed that style for his own sake, but he always deployed with its purpose and that is not the case for the film ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN,’ that is filled with clichés of Alfred Hitchcock’s intended satirising of the material and certainly the arrival of Miss Rose Ackroyd [Ann Casson] falling through the ceiling and is treated off handy and given so little credibility that it suggest a director who is not going through the notions we are viewing. Peter Tonguette thinks that by the time Alfred Hitchcock came to direct the film ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN,’ which was his 14th feature film, and since it came to encompasses Alfred Hitchcock’s more than 50 feature films and especially not including his substantial output on Alfred Hitchcock’s now famous USA Television series “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” which aired on CBS and NBC between 1955 and 1962, and ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ belongs decidedly to one of the earliest and to the most modern American audiences, and one of his most unfamiliar periods in his overall career. ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ predates his best run of his films he directed in England, which is a period that began roughly about two years after the release of ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ in 1934, when he made the original film ‘THE MAN WHO KNOW TOO MUCH,’ and starting with that film, which is not as fines as the later Hollywood production of ‘THE MAN WHO KNOW TOO MUCH,’ but it is still an credible accomplished effort. Following that film, Alfred Hitchcock directed a number of masterpiece films in England, like ‘THE 39 STEPS’ in 1939 and ‘SABORAGE’ in 1936 and most impressively ‘THE LADY VANISHES.’ Peter Tonguette thinks that Alfred Hitchcock tended to be hard on many of his British films and certainly the sounds films anyway, but in reading Alfred Hitchcock’s remarks on the film ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ and one detects a particular high degree of disgust in conversation with American director Peter Bogdanovich, Alfred Hitchcock described ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ quoted “A terrible picture” and in another interview Alfred Hitchcock quoted “It was just another play, but quite successful one hit show, which they bought, and it didn’t transfer because it was a cheap melodrama, it had that awful old man in it, Leon M. Lion” end quote. At 21:16 Peter Tonguette says, “It is also something ponderous about ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN,’ watch how slowly this introduction to a group of gangsters who arrive at Number 17 to get hold of a diamond necklace and the slow introduction with the N.17 card being pushed through the letterbox and the Detective rapidly opens the door and the camera lingers eternally and then dollies into the female and male actors and its Alfred Hitchcock making fun of this situation and would have been a great drama and suspense that really is not a suspense at all,” but Peter Tonguette thinks the black-and-white looks phenomenal and the shadows look great and it is very inviting film to look at. When you see the third actor put his foot in to stop the door being closed, is an additional type of Alfred Hitchcock’s style he likes to introduce, and again repeats that Alfred Hitchcock again hates the old British actor Leon M. Lion, who was also a director and producer who was born in 1879 and died in 1947, who originated the tramp character Ben in the 1927 stage production of “Number 17.” Peter Tonguette again comments that knowing that Alfred Hitchcock dislike for the actor Leon M. Lion, and one can only envisage the director sitting behind the camera rolling his eyes at the actor playing to the balcony in the theatre production, where Alfred Hitchcock thinks Leon M. Lion acting skills comes across as the worst sort of show off, who the actor who seems to think he is beloved by the audiences and perhaps he was at the time of his stage performance among the London glitterati audiences during his heyday on the stage,, with some distance of 90 years with appearing in this film and feels that Leon M. Lion performance comes off as self-indulgent mugging of the film. On top of all that, they think Alfred Hitchcock feels that Leon M. Lion was stopping and slowing the storyline down with is his over the top theatrics. But getting back to Alfred Hitchcock’s inner thoughts lower thoughts on the film ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN,’ especially with the interview with director François Truffaut and reflected to him on the film ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN,’ and can only be described that the film was a disasters and that Alfred Hitchcock went onto to note that he had one creative idea for the film, that this house, where the assorted gangsters gathered and was also a refuge for stray cats in the neighbourhood and when the gun went off, a hundred cats would run up and down the stairs and the shots we would have witness would of seen the actors separated from the action for greater facility in order to play around with the film editing stage of the film. But of course Alfred Hitchcock abandoned the comical idea, because he would have been unable to control the hundreds of cats in the right direction to make the footage to be used in the film. Now a certain filmmaker, who freely criticised Alfred Hitchcock’s films, certainly does not help his case, but ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN,’ seldom attracted devotees and even among the serious of Alfred Hitchcock’s students. Peter Tonguette again says that by several factors, and certainly emphasises on rather empathy towards the visual style, rather that the meat and potato story telling doesn’t help, and where there are shadows in every scene and everything looks rather ominous, it is hard to tell what is supposed to be omniums, and it is hard to retain an audience when everything looks rather spooky and scary, all the time and you do not have a sense of, well this is an important moment of great tension and everything looks rather contrived and silly from beginning to the end, but the film helps by being like that in trying to figure what the plot is all about. Peter Tonguette asks, who is the lead character of ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN,’ I ask that most sincerely and are we supposed to be with Leon M. Lion as ben throughout the film, but with John Stewart as the Detective seems to be more fulfilling as the lead character and John Stuart has worked with Alfred Hitchcock before this particular film ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN.’ Peter Tonguette asks again, who is our heroine like Ann Casson as Rose Ackroyd who had a very chipper personality and a sprightly demeanour that the director seems to enjoy her acting performance. Director François Truffaut says he saw the film ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ at the Cinémathèque Française cinema at 51 Rue de Bercy, 75012 Paris, France and found it quite funny, but the story was rather confusing. Claude Chabrol and Eric Rohmer took a more charitable view of the film, by saying that the first part of the film retains the theatrical optics and takes place entirely on the stairway and the landing pf an abandoned house, which our unknown man a tramp and an innocent English girl, three bandit gangsters and an adventurous setting, all trying to get their hands on the diamond necklace, which passes from hand to hand, like a game of hunt the slipper, and all of this is treated very broadly as a parody of a horror film, where each one another of the characters succeeds very swiftly to outdo each other, and there is no opportunity to be bored with the scenario. But it was said that Claude Chabrol and Eric Rohmer were very positive about the ending of the film, with thanks to the very clever editing, with the speeding up of the scenes in the film, but above all the very intelligent but generous use of miniature models, and depicts a green line bus racing after the steam train, in which our assorted villains get their final comeuppance. But director Alfred Hitchcock made a particular comment, that those speeded up scenes at the end of the film I have just described to you, that Alfred Hitchcock thought it was the high point in the film, and that particular sequence really amused him, especially the crash between the steam train and the green line bus and this was the only good thing you see in this picture, well not only, but it was the best thing to view in the film ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN,’ despite the fact at the end of the film of the crash, that they were of course miniature models, and Alfred Hitchcock did not want real reality. When you see the young lady and the Detective, who are tied to the banister and suddenly the banister comes away and you see both actors dangling from the banister rail in desperation with us thinking they were going to crash to the floor below, well it was certainly a very effective and dramatic scene in the film for both actors. At 43:48, Peter Tonguette says that you notice that in the film, whenever there are any classic Alfred Hitchcock montages when there is three or four actors appear on the screen, director Alfred Hitchcock puts it to good use. With Claude Chabrol and Eric Rohmer comments about the film ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN,’ where they wrote some affection about the film, where they said that the first half of the film ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN,’ displays many echoes of Alfred Hitchcock’s apprenticeship in Germany and its fine atmosphere of old house stuff, after a slightly protracted middle section, it launches into a marvellous exciting climatic chase, which actually occupies the last spirit of the film and it is still a most impressive example of editing and imaginative and extended us of miniature models. According to the actor Leon M. Lion, who gave credit to Alfred Hitchcock, who after all shared a writing credit towards the film, with contributing elements to the underlining material, especially the model steam train and the green line bus chase scene, which of course you get to see around the 45:30 mark, which you could never see with the stage play production, but they feel that the film at the time of its release, was taken seriously at the time, but Alfred Hitchcock intended the film ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ as a spoof film of the genre, which accounts for some of its deliberate lapses in logic, spoof or not, it is an exciting film and one can find in many of the roots of the later Alfred Hitchcock films. Peter Tonguette says that this might be overstating the case, well first of all, while admitting that many of the scenes in the film ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN,’ does suggest that the directing is not taking the material all that seriously, and all in all it is not clear to even Peter Tonguette what genre ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ was supposed be spoofing the detective movie and maybe it is supposed to be a haunted house movie, whereas there is nothing remotely paranormal about the film or is it sending itself up as an adventure movie and thinks that a film or a book or anything to be effective as satire has to be clear in its target. Peter Tonguette also comments that at the same time he would contest that ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ anticipates the mature Alfred Hitchcock; certainly the basic elements are there, and there present is a little more clearly in a number of films Alfred Hitchcock made around the same period of time. Alfred Hitchcock was not just churning out suspense pictures in the early part of the1920’s and 1930’s and his first film in 1925 entitled ‘THE PLEASURE GARDEN’ which was not a suspense picture, not was the boxing drama film ‘THE RING,’ or the school days drama film ‘DOWNHILL’ in 1927, and of course the disastrous musical film ‘WALTZES FROM VIENNA.’ Peter Tonguette also thinks the film ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ is very trivial, it definitely has style over substance, it is all action with style and most directors today think a film has to say something and look down on you earlier work, which is supposed to only sort of to be entertaining extensively in style, but when you think about any major Alfred Hitchcock film, and can you really say they were exercising in style, and they say that Alfred Hitchcock exists in his films like an exhibitionist, and one hardly ever encounters arbitrary visual fluidity in Alfred Hitchcock movies, that do not serve a purpose of advancing the storyline, and even the high points in the film ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN,’ when it comes to chase scenes in the film, and the style in the last part of the film, is entirely divorced from the content of the film. Peter Tonguette also comments on the fact that Alfred Hitchcock, surely made trivial films throughout his later career, that films were merely entertainment films like ‘TO CATCH A THIEF’ or ‘FAMILY PLOT,’ but he cannot think of very few films in which Alfred Hitchcock style seems to exist independent of the content. You know if there is a mature Alfred Hitchcock film that might be sent to closely that resembles ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN,’ and it was the third from his last ever film and that was quite impressive but quite flawed 1969 spy thriller movie entitled ‘TOPAZ’ and the film does repeat some of the mistakes in the film ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN,’ and ‘TOPAZ’ is weighed down by overly intricate confusing plotting, and a large, but fairly anonymous cast, as in the case of ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN.’ Peter Tonguette also thinks Alfred Hitchcock and his great films, it is where there is a cut in the film for a certain reason, if he moves the camera it is for a reason, when Alfred Hitchcock indulges in long takes like in the films like ‘ROPE’ and ‘UNDER CAPRICORN’ and even in those films there were a reason for the long takes, which makes them feel stodgy, a little stiff, and Alfred Hitchcock isn’t getting any particular satisfaction out of moving the camera in an artful ways and doing it as a means to an end, and in the case of the film ‘ROPE,’ in wanting to preserve the original theatrical origin of that particular material. But in the film ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN,’ though one doesn’t have an sense that the Alfred Hitchcock is not engaged in anything, and he would intend not even to stimulate enough by the material, to really properly satirize it as a random quality to the film. Well ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN,’ kind of takes that idea to the outer limits, where Peter Tonguette thinks that Alfred Hitchcock does not care about the diamond necklace, or that characters even care. But Peter Tonguette thinks ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ is more outwardly “Hitchcockian,” like a number of other Alfred Hitchcock films around the same period. Again Peter Tonguette thinks that Alfred Hitchcock was trying out things for sure in the film ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ that is why he feels the film is well worth viewing. Peter Tonguette also says that, it you have reached this part of his audio commentary track, and you clearly agree that it was well worth viewing the film ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN,’ and Peter Tonguette remembers when he was first discovering Alfred Hitchcock films and embarking on the journey and knowing that you have all of these Alfred Hitchcock films available to you, like his famous films, but also the obscure Alfred Hitchcock films, it is like never having read the works of the great novelist like Charles Dickens and starting the process that you have before you, or whether you are watching Alfred Hitchcock films for the first time or reading the works of Charles Dickens with his great rich deep coherent body of work. But if someone is exploring the cannon of work of director Alfred Hitchcock, but Peter Tonguette often has the feeling that probably that these early Alfred Hitchcock British films are explored last, which was very true in Alfred Hitchcock case for many years, because the earliest Alfred Hitchcock film Peter Tonguette viewed, was the first in Alfred Hitchcock’s great run of his classic British suspense classic films, the original 1943 film ‘THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH,’ and so many of Alfred Hitchcock films for that period like ‘THE LODGER: A Story of the London Fog’ made in 1927, notwithstanding, which does not seem to be like an Alfred Hitchcock film. But by contrast, those Alfred Hitchcock films around at the same time like ‘BLACKMAIL’ and ‘MURDER,’ and Peter Tonguette feels they are much better than the film ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN,’ and it is a film Peter Tonguette has always tried to like, but eventually he did so, because Peter Tonguette feels it has the ingredients of a Alfred Hitchcock film. Now among all of the elements in the film ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN,’ that seems to be very semi “Hitchcockian” or even quasi “Hitchcockian,” but Peter Tonguette would have to admit that the ending of the film is pretty much “Hitchcockian.” Alfred Hitchcock really seem to like ending some of his otherwise dramatic films with very low key scenes, and Peter Tonguette thinks in particular with the ending of the film ‘REAR WINDOW,’ which concludes famously with Grace Kelly surreptitiously reading a fashion magazine. The ending of the 1955 remake of the film ‘THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH’ with James Stewart and Doris Day and their son returning to their hotel room, and Peter Tonguette feels it is kind of neat, very semi comic conclusion like a cherry on a cake, and feels it is a typical Alfred Hitchcock ending to the film. And in the scene near the end of the film ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN,’ where the actors are drying themselves off after falling in the water after the train crash, gone are the ominous shadows, bright effects of the first part of the film ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN,’ where we have just witness a very harrowing chase and we end up with detective John Stewart and the actress who has emerged as the leading lady in this film and Peter Tonguette supposes that the actress Anne Grey and of course the ubiqisense actor Leon M. Lion. Peter Tonguette thinks that he likes the rather casual off hand nature of the ending of the film, and he thinks it does relate to a very mature Alfred Hitchcock, but on the other hand, Peter Tonguette thinks it sort of feels it was dropped in from nowhere, and it does not seem to relate to the rest of the film, with the tone of the rest of the film, seems almost arbitrary like Ann Casson dropping in via the ceiling. Peter Tonguette signs off by saying, all the same, it has been fun looking at the film ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ again, and pointing out where director Alfred Hitchcock in his opinion went wrong, pointing out the things Alfred Hitchcock would do better later on in his career, and noting that Alfred Hitchcock never really trying to do it again. This is Peter Tonguette now signing off. Finally, what can I say about this Peter Tonguette audio commentary, well I think it has been the most painful and the totally worst audio commentary I have had to endure, as Peter Tonguette is a totally pompous and vacuous Film Historian and Film Critic and how he got those jobs is beyond my comprehension, as I have had to listen to his monotonous American droning boring voice and Peter Tonguette should go back to school and learn a more professional English, as 99.9% of what he has said what he has said about the director Alfred Hitchcock and his film ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ is utter total rubbish and I have given you exactly word for word what Peter Tonguette has said and I had to sit there and I had to monotonously write everything down what Peter Tonguette said and has taken me over a week of sheer boredom in hearing him speak stupid nonsense English and Kino Lorber should never ever ask him back to do another audio commentary, as he is utter rubbish and absolutely totally useless and totally unprofessional, and I rest my case.
Special Feature: Alfred Hitchcock: The Early Years [1925 – 1934] [2004] [480i] [1.20:1 / 1.37:1] [54:38] This French documentary, presented with English subtitles and was originally entitled French Documentary from StudioCanal Image, Point du Jour, présentént Alfred Hitchcock: Films De Jeunesse 1925 – 1934 and employs a wealth of film clips from both silent and sound Alfred Hitchcock films and it also gives an in-depth examination of Alfred Hitchcock's artistic development, how he broke into movies, the influence of “German Expressionism” on his distinctive style, his partnership with his wife Alma Reville, and the role sex plays in many of his early films. It is presented by two French Film Aficionados and they are French Film Critic and Historian Bernard Eisenschitz and the other French Film Aficionado is French film director Claude Chabrol and I have translated what they said via the English subtitles and sometimes what they have said and translated into English can sometimes be very weird, so sorry if some of their comments does not read right. Anyway they both think Alfred Hitchcock is one of those rare classic cineastes [a person who is fond of or knowledgeable about the cinema] who came from very modest background. Alfred Hitchcock was the son of a greengrocer, therefore his cockney origin was of no legend and it really shone through. Alfred Hitchcock had strong feelings about class conflict, particularly in his English films, originated from that. In Alfred Hitchcock’s childhood he attended school run by Jesuits and had a strict Catholic education. Alfred Hitchcock had Irish origins and they think his Mother was Irish, so there is the first factor which is not logically English. Alfred Hitchcock’s Catholic education, as opposed to an Anglican education, is a first aspect that labels Alfred Hitchcock as an outsider. Alfred Hitchcock was 15 years old when the war started, and his father died the following year, forcing him to look after the family, and his Mother in particular, with whom he lived there until he got married at the age of 26. Alfred Hitchcock’s first job was something he got to expect because of his background experience. Alfred Hitchcock’s film ‘RICH AND STRANGE’ with Paramount Pictures, so Alfred Hitchcock was hired for his drawing skills, and he started designing sketches for intertitles. From then on, Alfred Hitchcock began to offer script ideas, which didn’t really happen for him, as this process wouldn’t last. Two years later, Alfred Hitchcock got to know a young English film producer, Michael Balcon. Alfred Hitchcock had only made a few films and was looking to produce some English films. The film ‘THE LODGER: A Story of the London Fog’ was shot in England, and it is a film about Jack the Ripper, and it’s essentially a German film, but is with regard to lighting, sets and narratives. It clearly shows that Alfred Hitchcock was influenced by German cinema. The film was actually rejected by the distributors. Michael Balcon was associated with a distributor called Woolf, who rejected Alfred Hitchcock’s first films. Alfred Hitchcock filed them away until the film ‘THE LODGER: A Story of the London Fog’ was released, especially after a few reshoots and edits. From that point on, Alfred Hitchcock’s career started to grow. However, when Alfred Hitchcock’s American films arrived after the war, and French critics tended to denigrate those particular films in comparison to his English films. Alfred Hitchcock had a theme, but also had a strong image, from which the plot unfolded, and especially coming out of these images like ‘THE RING’ which was another way to say, “I don’t need to redo ‘THE LODGER: A Story of the London Fog’ and I don’t need to use literary themes, I’ll choose a theme I’m not expert in, like boxing, and from that starting point, let’s see what I can entwine around it, through the means of cinema only.” So ‘THE RING’ provides the setting, the boxing ring. It’s also the wedding ring, and it’s also the snake-shaped bracelet and the seducer slips it onto the arm of the woman who’s ready to give in. Alfred Hitchcock used visual effects right from the beginning.. There’s a funny aspect to ‘THE FARMERS WIFE.’ In fact, it’s about a farmer looking for a wife and ends up marrying the best cook. I think it is extremely close to Hitchcockian concerns, and as such is, almost about am autobiographical film. ‘THE MANXMAN’ however is quite the opposite. It’s an incredible serious film, admirably directed and shot, almost an academic film – that might be the only one fault one might find – which only represented a moral case. ‘THE MANXMAN’ is Alfred Hitchcock’s last silent film. Alfred Hitchcock went to British International Pictures (BIP), new production company, and he left Malcolm Balcon because the new studio offered him a lot more money, that was in 1927. All these film were produced by the British International Pictures (BIP). In January 1929 Alfred Hitchcock started a new film called ‘BLACKMAIL,’ once again it was based on a play, as usual. At some point, the studio decided to start making talkies and Alfred Hitchcock was asked to make the film ‘BLACKMAIL’ a talking movie. Since Alfred Hitchcock had planned it and he managed to reshoot most scenes. Alfred Hitchcock changed some strategic scenes, by rethinking them and including sound as a key element of the narrative. The famous knife scene in the ‘BLACKMAIL’ film where she kills this gigolo type character with the big kitchen knife. So Alfred Hitchcock was clearly a formalist. Like all formalists, it took him a long time to find his definitive form. Alfred Hitchcock went through different periods. Something very important, which is one of the soundest “Hitchcockian” remarks, is the art of silhouette. After that, Alfred Hitchcock did a couple of scenes in a musical film, ‘ELSTREE CALLING.’ Alfred Hitchcock discovered the perfect actor for him, and that was Herbert Marshall, who came from the theatre, and like all the other actors as well. There are two things – one is to follow this man who becomes a real character. This time he’s not simply a passer-by, but a man cheated on by a woman, or a man lead on by lust. There are amazing moments in which Alfred Hitchcock invented an interior monologue thanks to a total DIY technique once again. They used plays, sometimes novels, and they were again recycled. ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ for example, that Alfred Hitchcock made in 1929. Whereas ‘THE LODGER: A Story of the London Fog’ which ‘THE LODGER: A Story of the London Fog’ made in 1927 was done a gain in 1933. By using famous plays, they thought he couldn’t change the structure. But what Alfred Hitchcock really liked was transforming them into a visual object. Sometimes, like in the film ‘BLACKMAIL’ for example, Alfred Hitchcock tried to get out of it . . . to explode the play. One key element of Alfred Hitchcock private life was as an amazing couple he and his wife formed. Alma Reville was already a famous script and screenplay writer, who then became Alfred Hitchcock’s partner, whether Alma Reville was credited for it or not, and of course Alfred Hitchcock’s first playwright critic before all others. They were really like one piece. They couldn’t be apart from each other. When one of them died, the other died too. When one of them was ill, the other was in pain. It was incredible. Irrespective of what Alfred Hitchcock’s fantasises might have been. The origins of Alfred Hitchcock’s movies are always odd . . . because there were a few second-rate writers, for example a guy called Joseph Jefferson Farjeon who was an English crime and mystery novelist, playwright and screenwriter and he wrote the novel “Number 17,” and this novel had been adapted into a play. Alfred Hitchcock then shot this film that very few people knew about the novel “Number 17,” and whose characteristic is that it’s very cheeky, even if it’s not a masterpiece. The reunion with Michael Balcon, who was a producer, a head of a studio and a film maker, went really well, because Michael Balcon knew that the best way to work with Alfred Hitchcock was to let him work alone. So, from that moment on, Alfred Hitchcock became, almost systematically, author of suspense films.
Special Feature: Hitchcock/Truffaut ICON interviews ICON [Audio only] [2004] [480i] [1.78:1] [5:43] With this audio short excerpt Alfred Hitchcock calls his film ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ a “disaster,” but does admit the climactic scenes are quite fun. Alfred Hitchcock also relates to a very funny anecdote about his use of cats in the film. Alfred Hitchcock admits his failure to properly scrutinize vital elements made him somewhat “careless” when directing both films ‘RICH AND STRANGE’ and ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ films.
Special Feature: Introduction by Nöel Simsolo [2004] [480i] [1.37:1] [3:37] Here we find French Actor Nöel Simsolo sitting in a room with a cigarette and talks extensively about the director Alfred Hitchcock and because he talks in French, we of course get the obligatory English white subtitles and here is what he talks about. In 1932, Alfred Hitchcock had directed a few theatre plays into films and they were ‘RICH AND STRANGE’ which was released in 1932, but everybody thought it was really bad, and indeed, it was a resounding flop. Alfred Hitchcock started wondering about his success, especially the films ‘MURDER,’ ‘BLACKMAIL’ and, ‘THE LODGER: A Story of the London Fog’ . . . so he went back to the detective story side, and a rather sordid writer, Joseph Jefferson Farjeon, who had written a novel “Number 17,” that he had adapted himself for the theatre in 1925, and so the rights for this novel, for some unknown reason, were owned by Alfred Hitchcock’s production company. It was an extremely complicated play about a jewel robbery, with people in an empty house . . . The plot was not really interesting . . . It wasn’t a whodunit, not a suspense film of the genre Alfred Hitchcock invented, like ‘BLACKMAIL,’ but Alfred Hitchcock thought he could adapt it and make it a complete parody. With his team, Alfred Hitchcock arranged to write each scene like a comedy, like a farce, like clowning. The problem was it didn’t work. And it allowed Alfred Hitchcock to have all the perversion themes associated to him to start rising to the surface. The film is actually more about fetishism, but not only as regards to relationships or sexuality, but cinema fetishism, because all of the second part of the film is based on models. At that point this very short featurette with French Actor Nöel Simsolo ends.
Special Feature: Theatrical Trailers: Here we get to view six Alfred Hitchcock Original Theatrical Trailers and they are as follows: ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ [1932] [1080p] [1.20:1] [0:45]; ‘BLACKMAIL’ [1929] [1080i] [1.37:1] [1:16]; ‘MURDER’ [1930] [1080i] [1.37:1] [1:12]; ‘THE PARADINE CASE’ [1947] [480i] [1.37:1] [1:44]; ‘UNDER CAPRICORN’ [1949] [480i] [1.37:1] [2:05] and ‘LIFEBOAT’ [1944] [480i] [1.37:1] [1:28].
Finally, Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘NUMBER SEVENTEEN’ features a thrilling climactic chase sequence, and favours style over substance, but the lack of an engaging and coherent narrative stymies this bizarre curio film. But with a brand new 4K restoration it rejuvenates this 90-year-old classic. If you're an Alfred Hitchcock junkie, you'll want to add this rare title to your collection. Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
