What's this about?

Lately, it seems like many of the movies/shows are just a rehash or reboot of things that have already been done. And so I started to dive into the past. It's been fun, but I find myself losing track of which ones I’ve seen and whether or not I enjoyed them. Sometimes the titles themselves just don't tell me enough to remember.

I wouldn’t have voluntarily watched a lot of these movies when I was younger. It’s strange how interests change. That goes for what I read, too. I have another blog that explores books. I’m mostly reading older fiction and memoirs, and some of the books have led me to movies/shows and vice versa. In those cases, I may post the book review over here as well.

There will be spoilers, which is different than my book reviews. That’s mostly because I want to have enough information to help me remember what I’ve seen. I’m getting older. The brain doesn’t cooperate like it used to. What can I say? The gray hairs are catching up with me!

Monday, January 20, 2025

Blackmail - 1929

When I was looking at the new movies to enter public domain this year, this was the second and final one that caught my eye. It's an Alfred Hitchcock, so I was instantly interested.

Alice has a fight with her boyfriend who is a policeman at Scotland Yard. She decides to go out with a strange man and make a lot of bad decisions. When he tries to take advantage of her, she fights back and stabs him to death.

After that, Alice acts really strange. She stares a lot and doesn't talk much. When a man shows up to blackmail her, she just stands around and isn't helpful. She doesn't really feel like explaining things to her boyfriend who is trying to help her.

Yeah, the woman in this movie was so irritating. The way she went all bug-eyed and wouldn't explain anything to anyone was maddening. She was acting in self-defense, and you'd think she'd muster up enough words to explain herself to the man who's trying to help her. But no. She'd rather just wander around rooms like a phantom and feed the blackmailer.

And the end raised a lot of questions. Alice was so determined to turn herself in, but then she just abandoned the idea. Why? No one told her about the fate of the criminal, so what changed her mind? When they left the police station, they walk apart a bit. Are they breaking up? I kind of hope so. They didn't really work well together. And the way her father said, "Did you have another row with Frank?" makes me think it's not all sunshine and roses.

The clown painting deserves a sentence or two. Just to say that no one should ever paint a picture like that, and it was the best decision to punch it. Alice just didn't aim in a particularly helpful part of the canvas. Anyway, the whole movie was weird. The first ten minutes made me scared it was a silent film, so there was that. The smarmy lecher made me wonder why Alice was so comfortable hanging out with him, the policeman with the sketchy ethics had me questioning if he was the hero, and the stupid woman just infuriated me. And why was the criminal never in handcuffs?! Bah...



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