Customer Reviews

The Manxman

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Note: this review refers to the 14-DVD boxed set and not just to Volume 1.

No film buff and certainly no film major should be without the boxed set of 14 DVDs that Laserlight has issued under the umbrella title of <The Alfred Hitchcock Collection>. The DVDs are organized in no particular order, some containing only one film, some two, while two of them have a full film and an episode from the old "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" TV series of the 1950s. They all have a trailer of more recent Hitchcock films and they all have an embarrassingly bad introduction by Tony Curtis, whose connection with these films and with English enunciation is vague at best.

The gems of the collection are "The Man Who Knew Too Much" (1934), "The 39 Steps" (1935) and "The Lady Vanishes" (1939). Of the earlier talkies, "Young and Innocent" has the quintessential plot of an innocent man and a girl who somehow winds up with him being chased by the police. "Rich and Strange" (1932) is not a thriller but has a shivery sequence as a couple on a sinking boat sees the water seeping into their cabin--just before it stops sinking.

"Jamaica Inn" (1939) has an over the top performance by Charles Laughton (whose dialogue is hard to follow even on this restored version) and the first appearance of Maureen O'Hara. And for once, Robert Newton plays the Good Guy. "Sabotage" (1936) is based on a Joseph Conrad tale and has the famous scene of the boy on a bus with a bomb on his lap. (Later, Hitchcock commented he should not have let it go off.) "Secret Agent" (1936) gives us a young John Gielgud as a spy who kills the wrong man, Peter Lorre in a very bizarre role (helped or hindered by his drug-taking on and off the set), and the suavest villain of them all--Robert Young!

"Number 17" (1932) is one of the films Hitchcock did not want to film, and he gave us a great spoof on the genre of the spooky houses, diamond smugglers, and derring-do. "Murder" (1930) boasts a super cool Herbert Marshall as a jurist who reluctantly says guilty at a woman's murder trial and then spends the rest of the film proving her innocent.

More fascinating is "Blackmail" (1929), which existed in silent and talking versions. We have the latter and the often commented upon scene in which Hitchcock plays with the soundtrack so that only the word "knife" can be heard during the last part of a long monologue. Another trick he was forced into was the use of a British actress reading out the lines of the foreign-born heroine.

"The Skin Game" (1931) is weakest of the talkies included in this set; and indeed the dialogue is almost impossible to understand.

Of the silents, "The Lodger" (1927) is in the worst shape but it shows very clearly the influence of the silent German film on Hitchcock's early (and later) technique. Of course the long takes of a face staring into the camera are laughable today; but this is an historical document and demands a certain degree of detachment. "The Ring" (1927) does strain credibility, while it shows Hitchcock's love for show business of any sort, even circus freakshows and boxing.

"The Manxman" (1929) is slow and predictable with its love triangle, a misreported death, and the return of the husband. "Easy Virtue" (1927) is based on a Noel Coward play, which it follows only half way through the film, and shows a sympathetic view of the "woman with a past"--in this case, a divorce--together with a condemnation of those who cannot accept her. More Social Studies than good drama here.

However, "The Farmer's Wife" (1928) is quite funny once the somewhat jerky widower offers himself to three unlikely women while his housekeeper loves him in silence and has to assist him in his wooing spree.

One feature of these DVDs you will probably not need is the ability to hear the talkies in English, Spanish, Chinese or Japanese; or to subtitle the dialogue cards in the silents in the last three languages.

A strange feature of these DVDs is that they immediately take you into the film rather than into the menu. This should be changed in future printings.

So all in all, I would guess you would want to see some of the talkies many, many times, some of the silents less often, and some of them never again. But once more, this is a very valuable set for students and just plain lovers of film history, especially the part played in that history by Hitchcock.

These DVDs (and The AH Collection II) are quite a good value. Im a big Hitchcock fan, and before I bought them I had only seen cheapo VHS versions of a few of the movies (except for The Lady Vanishes and The 39 Steps, of which I had the Criterion editions). Anyway, I got the two box sets here on Amazon (theyre also now available in one big set with 14 DVDs), and Ive watched through all of them.
The first thing you need to know, and then promptly forget about, is that Tony Curtis provides an introduction to each DVD, and man is it brutal! There are a lot of pictures that were publicity stills for his later movies or his TV series, and Tony says things like, Hitch liked to shock people. You know what its like when you have a good twist at the end of a film? Hitch had a lot of those. Shocking! His comments rarely relate to the movie. Anyway, I watched all the intros, but it was painful.
Several of the DVDs also have trailers for later Hitchcock films, all in horrible condition. Which makes the transfers of the actual movies all that much better, since theyre quite acceptable. The worst transfer is the earliest film, The Lodger, and the worst movies are The Manxman and Easy Virtue. Besides that, it was a pleasure watching them. None of the films are at the level of the two Criterion releases, and there are certainly lines and scratches throughout, but you can enjoy them. The sound is generally okayvery little screeching as I recall from the VHS copies Ive seen. Theres really no bass response at all, but theres not a whole lot of scratching either.
I think (a) except for the two Criterion ones, theyre the best copies out there, (b) if youre a Hitchcock fan, theyre required viewing and you wont be disappointed in the movies themselves, and (c) at about $... a DVD, and with three or so of the discs containing a second, silent film (none of the silents stand alone on a DVD) and two of the discs containing an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (in probably the worst condition youve ever seen them, especially if youve been spoiled by the Universal-released episodes), theyre a tremendous bargain.
Note, these arent all of Hitchcocks early movies. Several, such as Champagne and Juno and the Paycock, arent out on DVD at all. Also note that these arent all mystery/suspense films. The Farmers Wife is a comedy, The Ring is a boxing/love story, Easy Virtue, Skin Game, and The Manxman are melodramas, and Jamaica Inn is a period piece. But its neat to finish one of these and then watch, say, The 39 Steps and see an early glimpse into the director Hitch would later become.
One painful caveat: The Farmers Wife, a silent comedy, was quite entertaining, but it was also nearly an hour longer than its 97-minute listed running time. Everytime I thought the farmer would finally choose a wife, another plot twist came up. After 2+ hours I started to consider hitting the FF button. I read somewhere that its a common error in silent films to have them run at the wrong speed--unfortunately this one runs too slow. If you can forego the music, Id consider watching it in a slight fast forward mode!

Story and picture quality aside, it is very annoying that the film seems to have been transferred off center. From the opening titles to the dialog boxes, anywhere from one to three letters of the printing are missing on the left side of the screen. I guess you get what you pay for.

These DVDs are "Laserlight" releases which mean that they have very poor quality picture and sound.Wait for the new Hitchcock Box sets which have clear picture and sound plus documentaries and other extras.The superb Criterion versions are also a good choice.If it's introduced by Tony Curtis,then it's Laserlight,avoid it!

This film, like most of his early work, is for Hitchcock aficionados only. I am an admirer of Hitchcock and also enjoy old British films, but I still found this movie tough going, not least because of the 110 mins running time. The picture quality of this Laserlight DVD is not perfect, but it is perfectly watchable and probably a lot better than you'd expect for the price. The musical score is also okay, but nothing to write home about. Laserlight do however pose a mystery that Hitch himself would have been proud of. This DVD has no commentary, no documentary and no trailer, not even one of those awful Tony Curtis intros. So why do Laserlight describe this DVD as a 'Special Edition' ?

Format: Movie
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Distributor: Sono Art-World Wide Pictures
Release Date: January 21, 1929

The Manxman is Alfred Hitchcock's last silent film before he switched over to sound with Blackmail (1929). This movie is about a fisherman named Pete Quilliam and his childhood friend Philip Christian. Pete is in love with a girl named Kate but Kate's father disapproves of their marriage so he goes off to Africa to first make some money. He tells Philip to look after her while he is gone but Kate and Philip end up falling in love. Since Kate promised she'd wait for Pete she still ends up marrying him upon his return but she also has an affair with Philip and things start to turn ugly as Pete starts to learn more and more about what is going on. The film is based off of a novel and the story is very good and interesting although it seems to follow Hitchcock's typical theme of a love triangle which he has in many of his films.

The acting in the movie is very good overall with Carl Brisson as Pete. He pulls off happiness, sadness, anger, and concern all very well which is a wide spectrum of emotion for one actor. Malcolm Keen plays Philip who does a less spectacular but still decent job. And then there is Anny Ondra who plays Kate and she does a worthwhile job at showing love for Philip but not for Pete. So while all of the actors do a good job it is really Brisson who steals the show.

All of the special effects in the film seem pretty good with each of the sets looking nice. The courtroom, dock, house, and just about everything else looks right. And during a drowning scene it also looks pretty real. The musical score is mediocre and feels like it's just a lot of recycled music from earlier Hitchcock films but at least it gets the job done.

Overall this film isn't perfect by any means but it does have a lot of positive qualities which make it worth watching. The plot is really interesting and entertaining if you aren't already sick of Hitchcock's love triangle theme and the acting in the film is overall pretty good. And the special effects here are great even if the film does have some mediocre music. I'd say that this is one of Hitchcock's better silent films so give it a watch if you get the chance.
Score: 7/10

This is a tragic, woeful tale-very early Hitchcock.

We are introduced to the fine actor, Carl Brisson. His performance is super-expressive (expected, considering it's a silent film), however, his is a performance to be remembered. You really root for this guy, especially when his Woman does him wrong. Carl is the backbone of this dreadully long, long, tragedy.

Don't get me wrong, Anny does her part too! When she mouths, "I am having a baby" directly to the viewer, I was delighted.

You'll notice the pacing and editing of the movie are frustrating, however, in its entirety, i still believe this film works. It's a rarity, and something I'm glad to have watched. I only wish Mr. Brisson had produced more than three films before his untimely (and early) death.

And you'll want this as a reminder that the fruits of Hitchcocks genius were in the larval stages and just absolutely fascinating to watch.

En esta era de la tecnología y el gusto por lograr las mejores imágenes y los mejores efectos, esta colección nos lleva a darnos cuenta que las grandes obras de arte se deben edificar a partir de eso, "El Arte". Y esto es precisamente lo que demuestra este box set. El arte de la cinematografía puesta en las manos del genial Hitchcock. Ni que hablar de la producción: Siete discos, cada uno en su propio estuche, excelente sonido, y todo el material subtitulado (includo extras, introducción y trailers), además de que los discos son multizona. Cabe destacar que esto no fue obra de una gran empresa sino de LaserLight Video, pero es algo que los grandes estudios deberían tomar como ejemplo, hartos ya de ver películas con extras sin subtítulos. Si a eso le sumamos el costo del set, nos encontramos con una joya que no podemos desperdiciar. Muy recomendable.

If you know Les caprices de Marianne, the story is quite similar. But there is a lot of sad love stories in Hitchcock movies. The poor Carl Brisson, yet "cocu" in The Ring (1927) is cocu again here, in Polpero, 1929. In his last silent movie, Hitch depictes the mindstorm of Malcolm Keen: he loves his best friend wife, want to live with her, but he believes in friendship and feels himself miserable. The movie is very atmospheric, a bit long and slow. A kind of mini-tragedy. This movie is very interesting and, if not a chef-d'oeuvre, a film each Hitcock fan have to watch. Images are grey and sound is very poor... but a fan is a fan!

What a great pleasure to watch old silent movies. The Hitchcock collection 1 provides you very good movies: The Manxman takes place in Polpero, England, and is a bit slow, but an injoyable and - as always with Hitch- sad love story. The Ring is a model for Raging Bull (Scorcese)and quite interesting, because Hitch plays with the polysemie of the word: sad love story, but great film. The more interesting film is perhaps BLACKMAIL: first english talking movie ever! And, years before the best Hitch american movies, watch the scene, after the murder, where the heroine listen a woman speaking about knive... knive...Knive. Of course, you have a boring movie (The skin game) but the pack worth his price. Images are OK and the sound is quite good for such old movies.