---
title: "Blackmail"
year: 1929
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/blackmail"
fi1m_id: "blackmail"
imdb_id: "tt0019702"
tmdb_id: 543
wikidata_id: "Q916078"
fi1m_score: 74
critics_score: 63
critics_reviews: 5
published: "2026-09-25T00:21:34.368718+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-25T00:22:47.764125+00:00"
region: "NO"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Blackmail (1929)

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock · 1h 26m · Drama, Thriller, Crime

## Identity

Blackmail

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/blackmail
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** blackmail
- **IMDb ID:** tt0019702
- **TMDB ID:** 543
- **Wikidata ID:** Q916078
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0019702/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/543, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q916078

**Fi1m score: 74** · Critics 63 (early) from 5 reviews

*In a sentence:* Alfred Hitchcock discovers sound and immediately uses it to torment a woman at breakfast

> Alfred Hitchcock’s first sound film is stiff in the joints and slow through the middle, and it still holds two sequences that unsettled us far more than we expected. Anny Ondra, dubbed live from just off camera, somehow keeps it together.

## Synopsis

London, the late 1920s. Alice White (Anny Ondra) is stepping out with Detective Frank Webber (John Longden) of Scotland Yard. Frank is late for their date, and the pair quarrel in a tea room. Alice has already arranged to meet an artist (Cyril Ritchard) and, when Frank walks out, she goes with him to his studio. What begins as a flirtation over a canvas and a song at the piano turns into an assault, and Alice kills him with a bread knife. Next morning she must sit through breakfast in the family shop, while Frank is assigned to the case and a stranger named Tracy (Donald Calthrop) arrives with something he saw.

## Review

Alfred Hitchcock’s first sound film was begun as a silent one and reworked for talk part way through, and you can hear the join. *Blackmail* runs 86 minutes and carries a PG, and a fair stretch of the middle is three people around a table waiting for the plot to come back. It is also, at its best, as frightening as anything he made before the war, and we would rather have a creaky film with two sequences like these than a smooth one with none.

The opening reel is pure silent cinema. A police van, a flat above a shop, a man reaching for a gun under his pillow, then fingerprints, a line-up, the cells: nobody says a word and nobody needs to. Then Alice and Frank sit down in a tea room and the sound arrives, and the actors slow as if it weighed something. Anny Ondra’s voice belongs to Joan Barry, who stood out of frame and spoke the lines while Anny Ondra mouthed them, and it should be a disaster; mostly it is not. There is a faint lag between face and word that gives Alice a dazed, not-quite-present quality, and for a woman about to be absent from her own life for an evening, it fits.

The studio scene is the film’s first great passage. Cyril Ritchard plays the artist as charm with a clock running on it, and the room is full of things that will matter later: a canvas on which he guides Alice’s hand to paint a face on a nude, a painting of a jester laughing straight out at us, a ballad he sings at the piano. Jack E. Cox shoots it warm and close, and then the struggle happens behind a curtain, with only a hand groping out for the bread knife and the curtain going still. We watched it with dread, and we were not sure, for a moment, which of them was going to come out.

What follows is better still. Jack E. Cox tracks Alice through London at night in long takes, and everything she passes seems to hand her back the knife. A sleeping tramp’s arm hangs off the kerb the way the artist’s did. Then breakfast, and a customer in the shop chatters about the murder until her voice thins to mush and the one word knife comes through, again and again, and Alice’s father asks her to cut the bread. We flinched with her.

Donald Calthrop’s Tracy is the best performance in the film. He arrives with a glove, sits at the Whites’ table, helps himself to a cigar and orders a breakfast he cannot pay for, and Donald Calthrop plays him as a small man delighted to have, at last, a large morning. John Longden’s Frank is stiffer, and the script, credited to Alfred Hitchcock with Michael Powell among the writers, hands him a real moral problem and then does little with it. Sara Allgood and Charles Paton bustle about the shop and are exactly as much as the parts need.

The middle sags. Once Tracy has sat down, the film sits down with him, and Emile de Ruelle’s cutting, brisk in the first reel, goes slack in the parlour talk. Hubert Bath’s music does most of its work at the top and tail and leaves the long conversations to fend for themselves. It moves again for a chase through the British Museum, which we will say nothing more about beyond that it is worth the wait.

The silent version survives and some critics prefer it. We understand why: the images are cleaner and the pacing is less bruised. But the repeated word knife needs sound, and it is what stays with us. Alfred Hitchcock turns up himself on a train, pestered by a small boy, and it is a fair picture of the whole enterprise, a man trying to read while something new keeps tugging at his sleeve. Watch the sound version first, for the knife, and forgive it the parlour.

*Fi1m score 74, published 25 September 2026.*

## Straight answers

**Is Blackmail worth watching?**

*Blackmail* is worth watching for its unsettling use of sound and Anny Ondra’s performance, and we score it 74 out of 100. We recommend it to anyone interested in early sound thrillers, provided they can forgive stiff dialogue and a sagging middle; the studio scene and the repeated word knife at breakfast justify the patience.

**How long is Blackmail, and what is it rated?**

*Blackmail* runs 1h 26m. It is a drama and thriller film.

**Where can I watch Blackmail in Norway?**

*Blackmail* is not on any streaming or rental service in Norway at the moment. It is available in 12 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily.

**How violent or frightening is Blackmail, and is it suitable for children?**

*Blackmail* carries a UK PG, but its assault scene and sustained dread make it a cautious choice for children. The struggle happens behind a curtain, with a hand reaching for a bread knife rather than explicit injury shown. We find the tension more disturbing than the visible violence, so the certificate should not be taken to mean it suits every child.

**How does Blackmail compare to M?**

*Blackmail* is the creakier choice beside [*M*](https://film.one/film/m), which we recommend more strongly for its frightening, humane treatment of a child murderer. Both use sound to unsettle: a repeated word in Hitchcock’s film, a whistle in Lang’s. We favour *Blackmail* for viewers interested in the awkward transition from silent cinema; *M* offers the more troubling central performance, though some surrounding characters are overdrawn.

**What should I watch after Blackmail?**

After *Blackmail*, try [*M*](https://film.one/film/m) (1931, Fi1m 94): Fritz Lang’s first sound film, and a whistle does what the knife does here. Then [*Sabotage*](https://film.one/film/sabotage) (1936, Fi1m 77): Alfred Hitchcock returns to a woman, a kitchen and a knife, and finishes the thought; and [*Le Jour se lève*](https://film.one/film/daybreak) (1939, Fi1m 82): A killer barricaded in a room, a whole night of remembering how he got there.

### Reviews we read (5)

- **The New Yorker** (85/100, inferred): The capsule presents the silent version as a revelation, showing Hitchcock’s visual storytelling at its best. It especially praises the striking canvas scene as a metaphor for his creative method and the film’s carnal undercurrents. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/blackmail)
- **Slant Magazine**, Chuck Bowen (3.5/5): Bowen finds the film a sophisticated early work that probes guilt, vulnerability, and the abuse of power. He praises its striking Hitchcockian imagery but criticizes the uneven sound-version restoration, while singling out the silent version’s gorgeous transfer. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/review-alfred-hitchocks-blackmail-on-kino-lorber-blu-ray/)
- **Empire**, David Parkinson (65/100, inferred): The review finds the film creaky for modern audiences but still effective and disturbing. It especially praises Hitchcock’s intuitive use of sound, including the psychologically powerful repeated “knife” sequence. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/blackmail-2-review/)
- **Variety**, Variety Staff (25/100, inferred): The critic finds the film draggy, lacking pace and suspense. Donald Calthrop’s performance and the camera work, especially in the British Museum chase, are singled out for praise. [Read](https://variety.com/1928/film/reviews/blackmail-1200410201/)
- **Eye for Film**, Leanne McGrath (75/100, inferred): The review finds Blackmail an intriguing early Hitchcock film whose suspense anticipates his later classics. It particularly praises the murder scene and Hitchcock’s inventive use of sound and image. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/blackmail-film-review-by-leanne-mcgrath)

## Details

- **Director:** Alfred Hitchcock
- **Director:** Alfred Hitchcock
- **Screenplay:** Alfred Hitchcock
- **Writer:** Michael Powell
- **Cinematography:** Jack E. Cox
- **Editor:** Emile de Ruelle
- **Music:** Hubert Bath, Reginald Connelly, Jimmy Campbell
- **Producer:** John Maxwell
- **Cast:** Anny Ondra as Alice White; Sara Allgood as Mrs. White; Charles Paton as Mr. White; John Longden as Detective Frank Webber; Donald Calthrop as Tracy; Cyril Ritchard as The Artist; Hannah Jones as The Landlady; Harvey Braban as The Chief Inspector
- **Runtime:** 1h 26m
- **First release (the UK):** 28 July 1929
- **Genres:** Drama, Thriller, Crime

## Where to watch in Norway

Not streaming, renting or buying in Norway at the last check.

Also available in: AT, AU, CA, CH, DE, GB, IE, IT, MX, NL, NZ, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *The Lodger* (1927): Alfred Hitchcock two years earlier, silent, with London fog doing the talking.
- *M* (1931), Fi1m 94: Fritz Lang’s first sound film, and a whistle does what the knife does here. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/m.md)
- *Sabotage* (1936), Fi1m 77: Alfred Hitchcock returns to a woman, a kitchen and a knife, and finishes the thought. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/sabotage.md)
- *Le Jour se lève* (1939), Fi1m 82: A killer barricaded in a room, a whole night of remembering how he got there. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/daybreak.md)
- *Frenzy* (1972): Late Alfred Hitchcock back in London, colder and crueller, with a market instead of a shop.

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/blackmail