A widowed landowner decides to marry again. With the aid of his faithful housekeeper he draws up a list of all the eligible women in the neighborhood, and goes wooing each in turn, with disastrous results. A romantic comedy in a rural setting is about as far as you can get from a typical … [Read more...] about The Farmer’s Wife
Easy Virtue
In Picturegoer of July 1927 a photomontage advertises the coming attraction of Alfred Hitchcock’s adaptation of the recent stage play Easy Virtue with the caption; “Screening a Noel Coward play sounds rather difficult—Mr. Hitchcock has just done it!” In fact all of the trade reviews focused on the … [Read more...] about Easy Virtue
Downhill
After the critical and commercial success of The Lodger (1926), Gainsborough Pictures were keen to reunite director Alfred Hitchcock and star Ivor Novello. A convenient vehicle suggested itself in the stage play Down Hill, written by Novello with Constance Collier, under the combined alias David … [Read more...] about Downhill
Champagne
Champagne is a romantic comedy about a millionaire’s decision to teach his frivolous “flapper” daughter (played by the effervescent comedy actress Betty Balfour) a lesson by feigning bankruptcy. Hitchcock saw it as a rags-to-riches story about a poor girl working in a Reims champagne factory and … [Read more...] about Champagne
Blackmail
Hitchcock’s silent Blackmail is one of the best British films, if not the best, of the late 1920s. Made in 1929, during the transition to the sound era, it was commissioned as both a silent and as a part-talkie with music and some dialogue scenes. With remarkable skill (and an eye to building a … [Read more...] about Blackmail
Alma Rubens: A Marked Woman
This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of The Half-Breed at SFSFF 2013 Today, Alma Rubens is remembered not for her films or versatility as an actress, but for the demons that plagued her and ultimately ended her life. Born in San Francisco in 1897, Rubens appeared in nearly … [Read more...] about Alma Rubens: A Marked Woman
Alma in Wonderland
This historical reprint was published in conjunction with the screening of The First Born at SFSFF 2013 An interesting article, proving that a woman’s place is not always in the home A man glancing at a passing girl observes that she is pretty, attractive, or ugly as the case may be, but a … [Read more...] about Alma in Wonderland
Amazing Tales from the Archives 2013
Presenters: Robert Byrne and Céline Ruivo Céline Ruivo discusses PHONO-CINÉMA-THÉÂTRE Curator of the film collection at the Cinémathèque française, Céline Ruivo has been instrumental in the restoration of the sound components of Phono-Cinéma-Théâtre, an attraction at the Paris Exposition … [Read more...] about Amazing Tales from the Archives 2013