Murder! **** (1930, Herbert Marshall, Norah Baring, Phyllis Konstam, Edward Chapman, Miles Mander, Donald Calthrop, Marie Wright, Esmé Percy) – Classic Movie Review 861

The 1930 British thriller film Murder! is a rare whodunit from Alfred Hitchcock, who experiments with a daring psycho-sexual theme and improvised dialogue, with actors talking while a 30-piece orchestra played live on the set.

Alfred Hitchcock’s 1930 British thriller film Murder! is one of the Master’s very rare whodunit movies, a medium he often spoke of as despising. ‘I don’t really approve of whodunits because there’s no emotion,’ he said.

Hitchcock and his wife and collaborator Alma Reville base their intriguing and involving screenplay on the novel Enter St John by Clemence Dane, in which the English police find an actress called Diana Baring (played by Norah Baring) near the dead body of her friend, Edna Druce. The circumstantial evidence condemns her at her trial and she is sentenced to death for murder, awaiting being hanged.

But Sir John Menier, a right-minded jury member (played by Herbert Marshall in his first talkie) and a celebrated actor-manager, believes she is not guilty and tries to prove her innocence. He starts to suspect Diana’s boyfriend, Handel Fane (Esmé Percy, in his debut), who often plays cross-dressing roles and works as an acrobat wearing a dresses. It turns out that Fane has another secret.

In his first thriller after Blackmail (1929), Britain’s first talkie, Hitchcock elaborately tries to overcome the extreme difficulties and limitations of early sound. The 30-piece orchestra and their music had to be recorded on set along with the actors and their dialogue as it was not then possible to post-dub the soundtrack later. The scene where Sir John thinks out loud in front of a mirror had to be filmed with a recording of the lines and the orchestra hidden behind the set.

As usual, Hitchcock boldly goes and experiments with a pioneering, daring psycho-sexual theme in the script and improvised dialogue from the actors. It is also apparently the first movie where a person’s thoughts are presented on the soundtrack of the film.

Edward Chapman (as the stage manager Ted Markham), Phyllis Konstam (as his wife Doucie), Miles Mander as Gordon Druce, Donald Calthrop as Ion Stewart, Esme V Chaplin as the Prosecuting Counsel, Amy Brandon-Thomas as the Defending Counsel, Joynson Powell as the Judge, S J Warmington as Bennett and Marie Wright as Miss Mitcham are also among the stalwart cast.

Murder! is written by Hitchcock, his wife Alma Reville and Walter C Mycroft, based on the 1928 British crime novel Enter Sir John by Clemence Dane and Helen Simpson. Changes are made from novel, including the title (wisely changed during shooting), altering the names of the two principal characters, and making Sir John a member of the jury instead of a spectator at the trial. The film’s character of Sir John Menier (Sir John Saumarez in the original) is loosely based on that of the actor Gerald du Maurier, a friend of Hitchcock, who later adapted three novels by his daughter Daphne du Maurier: Jamaica Inn (1939), Rebecca (1940) and The Birds (1963). There is no evidence for the claim the book was ever adapted as a play. A second novel Re-enter Sir John followed in 1932.

Murder! is Hitchcock’s third all-talkie film, after Blackmail (1929) and Juno and the Paycock (1930).

It is Hitchcock’s first bilingual film, with simultaneous English and German versions made back to back on the same sets at Elstree Studios. Alfred Abel, Olga Tchekowa and Paul Graetz starred in the German language version of the film, which was called Mary (1931), shot with German-speaking actors, though Miles Mander reprised his role as Gordon Druce with his character’s name changed to Gordon Moore.

The cast are Herbert Marshall as Sir John Menier, Norah Baring as Diana Baring, Phyllis Konstam as Doucie Markham, Edward Chapman as Ted Markham, Miles Mander as Gordon Druce, Esme Percy as Handel Fane, Donald Calthrop as Ion Stewart, Esme V Chaplin as Prosecuting Counsel, Amy Brandon-Thomas as Defending Counsel, Joynson Powell as Judge, S J Warmington as Bennett, Marie Wright as Miss Mitcham, Hannah Jones as Mrs Didsome, Una O’Connor as Mrs. Grogram, Alfred Hitchcock as man with a female companion, Gus McNaughton as Tom Trewitt, and R.E. Jeffrey as Foreman, Alan Stainer, Kenneth Kove, Guy Pelham Boulton, Violet Farebrother, Clare Greet, Drusilla Wills, Robert Easton, William Fazan, George Smythson, Ross Jefferson and Picton Roxborough as Members of the Jury.

Hitchcock enjoys one of his earliest cameos, about an hour into the movie, walking past the house where the murder was committed. He is the man with a female companion walking along the street while Edward Chapman is speaking to Herbert Marshall and Phyllis Konstam.

His verdict: ‘It was an interesting film and was quite successful in London. But it was too sophisticated for the provinces. It was daring. There were several references to Hamlet. The whole film was about the theatre. We did many things that had not been done before. It was Herbert Marshall’s first talking part and the role was perfect for him. He turned out to be excellent in the sound medium.’

Esmé Percy in the film Pygmalion (1938).

English film actor Esmé Percy (8 August 1887 – 17 June 1957) appeared in 40 films between 1930 and 1956. He appeared in the espionage thriller On Secret Service (1933), as Samuel Pepys in Nell Gwyn (1934), as British Prime Minister Lloyd George in Royal Cavalcade (1935) and as Napoleon Bonaparte in Invitation to the Waltz (1935). His friend George Bernard Shaw wrote the role of Count Aristide Karpathy in Pygmalion (1938) for him. There is an Esme Percy Memorial in Kensington Gardens, London.

Esme Percy Memorial, Kensington Gardens.

Murder! is directed by Alfred Hitchcock, runs 101 minutes, is made by British International Pictures, is distributed by Wardour Films, is written by by Alfred Hitchcock, Walter Mycroft and Alma Reville, based on Enter Sir John by Clemence Dane and Helen Simpson, is shot by J J Cox, is produced by John Maxwell, and is scored by John Reynders (musical director).

The sets are designed by art director John Mead.

The opening of Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde prelude plays in a radio broadcast Sir John is listening to during the shaving scene.

Release date :31 July 1930.

Murder! is in copyrighted but bootleg copies proliferate.

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