UnowPriceless hyped garbage

Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Brainsbell The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

bbmtwist THE MANXMANHitchcock's 9th and final silent, THE MANXMAN, is the second film adaptation of a popular novel of the 1890s. Essentially a triangle with best friends in love with the same girl. One goes off to make his fortune, is falsely reported dead, and returns to find his girl in love with his best friend.This is a good solid drama, well photographed and edited, very well directed and well acted. There is a minimum use of title cards, as by 1928, the last year of the silent film, the art form had become so visual, explanatory or dialogue cards were rarely needed. The story told itself in the visuals.The film was held back a year and released at the end of 1929.Carl Brisson in one of two films made for Hitchcock (the other THE RING) plays the loving, trusting fisherman, Pete, with more naivete and innocence than sometimes seems possible. As his girlfriend, Kate, Anny Ondra gives a stunning and complex performance. Kate is not nice, but she is able to capture our sympathy with her tortured existence, trying to do "the right thing" by keeping her affair secret from her returned husband.These two would have been ideal casting in LILIOM, the one as Liliom and the other as Julie.The piece of bad casting is that of Malcolm Keen as best friend Philip. He is too old for the part and unattractive. It is inconceivable Kate would choose him over the younger and better looking Pete, even were she trying to marry above her station. The latter motive might have made sense, but there is nothing in the screenplay to denote she is more interested in money than love. She seems genuinely in love with Philip.There are the usual fine bits of cinematography and editing we expect to find in a Hitchcock silent: Pete's point of view of his intended in-laws and Philip viewed through the panes of an inner window; Philip's view of Kate and Pete through at a distance through a crowd at the bar; the use of Kate's diary pages flipping to show her increased company with Philip in Pete's absence; a series of beautifully framed shots of Kate and Philip meeting on the beach, using rock sculptures; Kate walking towards us into a close-up of despair at Pete's return; the wedding, using lapse dissolve close-ups of the proceedings; a triptych of Kate and Philip miserably facing the audience at opposite ends of the screen, with an exuberant and clueless Pete in the middle; a lapse dissolve of a table usually set for two now set for one; the dissolve of water just accepting a suicide drowning to the ink, being used for the inquest.There's lots to admire in these carefully composed and edited images.The impeccable nitrate print on DVD that I viewed is the most pristine of any of the Hitchcock silent films I've viewed to date – I have one to go – and came in at a timing of 1:23:30, not the 1:50 on the IMDb web page, nor the "restored" 1:41 timing on that page as well.Highly recommended as a very well done silent drama.

Dan Franzen (dfranzen70) Some people may not realize that Alfred Hitchcock, master of suspense, got his start by directing silent pictures in England. The Maxman was his last non-talkie. And, like most of the Master's silent films, it's decent but not as clever as his later movies. It's a love triangle movie, really, which puts it firmly in the realm of the melodrama and pretty far from scares and chills.Pete (Carl Brisson) is a down-on-his-luck fisherman. He may not pull down a great paycheck, but he does have Kate (Anny Ondra), the beautiful daughter of Pete's landlord, Caesar (Randle Ayrton). Pete and Kate seem to really be into each other, and Pete plans to ask for her hand in marriage by way of her father, whose approval is mandatory. But he can't quite bring himself to ask the old man himself, so he asks his best friend Philip (Malcolm Keen), a lawyer, to speak for him. But Caesar will have none of it, seeking a man of actual means for his daughter, and he kicks Pete out. But that's okay, because Pete plans to sail to "foreign parts" and seek his fortune, and then they'll all be sorry! Pete asks Philip to look after Kate while he's gone, and Philip obliges. But soon he and Kate are falling madly in love with each other, which may complicate things when Pete returns. Suddenly - no spoiler! - news arrives that Pete has died while at sea. Now what do Kate and Philip do? They've kept the nature of their relationship a secret so far, but are they now free to bring it out into the open? In addition, Philip is a fast-rising barrister there on the Isle of Man, and he is line to be named the new Deemster (chief judge on the island). Will the revelation derail his career? This is one of those silent films that demands attention really be paid. There are some title cards, but there will be plenty of times when the viewer must make a reasonable inference of the dialog. There are, in fact, two scenes in which someone mouths something that isn't noted at all in a title card - and each instance is quite important to the plot. One must deduce their nature by checking the reaction of the other characters in the scene.The Manxman (i.e., man from the Isle of Man) does feature three fine performances and is a solid representation of films of the era. There are some plot twists, although modern viewers may be able to spot them well before they make their appearance in this movie.

morrison-dylan-fan Since hearing about the legendary comedies of Charlie Chaplin,and the 1927 Fritz Lang film Metropolis,I have always been meaning to (at least) have a bit of a look at the "silent" era of film making,sadly it has always ended up being something that I have kept pushing back,mostly due to always ending up having far too many "sound" films to watch.With being a long time fan of Have I Got News For You,I was very intrigued to find out that Paul Merton had made a three part documentary about the Silent film making era in Hollywood called Birth of Hollywood.During my viewing of this tremendous series,I became very keen on at last watching a silent film.Looking round to see what silent films were in my collection,I was thrilled to find that a Hitchcock boxset called The Early Hitchcock Collection. (that also contains the fun,haunted-house style sound film Number Seventeen )Checking the collection ,I was very happy to discover a selection of Hitchcocks silent films in the set,looking at the films,I decided that I would pick this film as the first silent film that I would ever watch.The plot:On a small island called the Isle of Man,an unlikely friendship is struck between a poor fisherman named Pete,and a budding lawyer called Philip.The friendship is built on trust and loyalty,with Pete being impressed that Philip is the only lawyer on the island who defends the rights and working conditions of the fishermen,and Philip having a deep respect for the intense amount of hours that Pete spends doing a very tough job.On a night night out,Pete falls in love,at the very first sight of a girl called Kate.Pushing Philip to ask Kate's father if Pete can take his daughters hand in marriage,Pete is left with a huge amount of disappointment and anger,when the Kate's father tells Philip that he will never let his best friend marry his daughter,due to him being "not worthy" and too low down on the food chain.Infuriated by her dad's response,Pete announces that he is going to go on a trip to Africia right away,so that he can come back wealthy,and at last get Kate's hand in marriage.Just before he leaves,Pete makes sure to tell Philip to look after Kate,whilst he is away.Agreeing to this,Philip and Kate start to become great friends,with Kate's sense of anticipation for Pete's return,increasing day by day.Suddenly,Philip and Kate's lives start to spiral out of control when news reaches them that Philip has died.Attempting to comfort her,Philp's and Kate's friendship gradually begins to develop in to a much more romantic one,to the point where they have both settled down together,and have had a baby.Early one morning,whilst Kate is on her own feeding the baby,the front door to the house suddenly opens,and Pete suddenly appears!.Whilst She tries to make sense of what is happening,Pete tells Kate that he has spoken to her father,and he has at last agreed to the marriage.Looking around the room,Pete is filled with joy to see that she has had a baby,due to him thinking that he must have gotten Kate pregnant just before he left..View on the film:The first people that I feel deserve a huge amount of praise for the film,is the DVD company Canal+,who have taken this great film out of it's worn out Public Domain past,and have now given it a new coat of paint,with the image being surprisingly very clean,and the new piano music score being able to brilliantly give more depth to the dramatic moments,as well as making the early,light-hearted moments much more playful.Looking at the cast,Malcolm Keen gives a brilliant performance as Philip Christan,who although oddly giving a strong vibe that he might be about to star in Unerversal Studio's next monster horror movie,Keen is still able to cleverly show Christan's change,from someone who is willing to do as much as possible for everyone,to a person who tries to keep to himself as much as possible to himself,whilst always making sure that he never let's the character completely fall into the shadows of darkness For what would turn out to be his last ever silent film,Hitchcock show's a huge bundle of creative idea's that he would continue to use and expand upon,for the rest of his legendary career.One of the main things,that makes this a key piece of his film career,is Hitchcock making Anny Ondra (Kate Cregeen) his first Blonde leading lady,although here,he interestingly gives the character a very noticeable wide-eyed innocent side,whilst letting the icy side of Kate ,only be shown as the film reaches its ending.Along with the creation of the Hitchcock Blonde,Hitchcock shows strong hints in his great directing for this film, of some moments that would be reused and expanded upon in the future,with a sequence which involves a character attempting to commit suicide by jumping off a cliff,being something that he would return to for his classic film Vertigo,although in this case,he chooses to end the scene with a startling fade-out,which helps to give the scene a very haunting feel,as well as showing that the film is now going into a much more bleak direction.Final view on the film:For his last ever silent film,Hitchcock leaves the era with style,by making a very entertaining drama,that also has him showing some of his main idea's and themes that he would expand and build upon for the rest of his astonishing career.

JoeytheBrit Anny Ondra, eh? What a woman.The plot of Hitchcock's last silent movie reads like a storyline from the unaccountably popular Brit soap 'EastEnders.' Even though she doesn't really love him, Kate (the truly delectable Anny Ondra), a flirtatious pub landlord's daughter, rashly promises to wait for her young beau Pete (a hulking Carl Brisson) to return from Africa where he plans to go to make his fortune after the surly pub landlord refuses him her hand in marriage. She loves Philip (Malcolm Keen), an up-and-coming lawyer who just happens to be Pete's best mate and who also reciprocates her feelings of ardour. Lord only knows what she sees in him though, as he comes across as something of a stuffed shirt and looks like Piers Fletcher-Dervish. Anyway, word comes from Africa that Pete has died, leaving Kate and Philip free to declare their love for one another – something neither had felt able to do when poor old Pete was alive.Of course, this being an opera of the soapiest kind, it turns out the jungle drums got it wrong and Pete isn't dead after all! He returns to the Isle of Man a wealthier man, instantly making himself more acceptable to Kate's father. Now this is where you'd think Kate and Philip would come clean – after all, they thought Pete was dead – but instead they keep quiet about their affair and Kate marries Pete out of a sense of obligation.There's plenty more plot to follow, but suffice it to say that a lot of hand-wringing and soul-searching follows. And either Kate and Phil were still at it after Pete returned from Africa, or Pete's too thick to do the maths and release that he was still ocean-bound when his loving wife conceived.The plot summary above actually makes the film sound more interesting than it really is. Everyone over-acts terribly, and all the characters are too shallowly drawn to be of much interest. The plot grows increasingly silly as coincidence is piled upon contrivance, and the downbeat ending proves an inadequate pay-off.