The Manxman

Hitchcock's final silent. Nice looking; pretty moments brighten the straightforward production (the meeting at the window, the bit on the beach). Best seen as a simple vehicle for Anny Ondra's performance. The biggest problems are inherent in the source: the husband is an ever-saintly oblivious plot device of a man, and the marriage goes through for utterly contrived reasons to predictable result, and so it drags on before coming to an ending befitting a properly sentimental story from the 1890s

Just plain boring and painfully moralistic love-triangle drama. I didn't care for any of the three protagonists.

Hitchcock don't seem to be into this film as the direction is pretty bland. The story is even more so and feels way too long and got tedious after awhile. The acting was decent for the time period and the text gave us just enough explanation to work off of.

With a creaky plot whose broad outlines are almost identical to Hitchcock's own (rather laboured) THE RING, this still manages to be one of Hitchcock's best silents, with all 3 leads turning in terrific performances (especially the conflicted Keen and Ondra). Soapy, predictable plot points are hammered home for too long at times.

Alfred Hitchcock #1

76.000

Hitchcock never really mastered the silent film like his contemporaries did, which is strange since so many of his finest movies are heavily "image-based." The Manxman was his last, and it's a mess, albeit an entertaining one, with some real pathos coming from Hitchcock's star-of the minute, Anny Ondra.

I enjoyed this more than "Blackmail" which came out the same year. This one is silent while the other is a talkie, but I actually enjoyed watching this one.

43.750

A silent Hitchcock that isn't a total snoozer. It isn't a suspense film in the traditional sense, but there is a great deal of it.