BEFORE: Tonight is the last of Hitch's silent films, and not a moment too soon. I think the man's entire body of work is important - out of 50 films no less that 17 of them are on that list of "1,001 Movies to See Before You Die", so this chain will represent some great progress on that front. But man, it has not been easy getting through these early works.
Finally, though, we see some evidence that Hitchcock was years ahead of his time. In this film (I'm assuming) a man gets bitten by a radioactive Manx, and gains the proportionate speed and agility of a tailless housecat. What else could it be?
Linking from "Champagne", Gordon Harker was also in "The Ring" with Carl Brisson. What goes around, comes around.
THE PLOT: A fisherman and a rising young lawyer, who grew up as brothers, fall in love with the same girl.
AFTER: Oopsie, it turns out that a Manxman is just a regular person from the Isle of Man. It's another relationship film tonight, and another love triangle. Hitchcock's women just can't seem to stay faithful to one man, can they? In this case Kate promises herself to Pete, a fisherman, who first must go off to Africa to seek his fortune. Which seems a little odd, since the film is set in a fishing village - why can't he just work a little harder and make his fortune close to home?
But let's assume it's one of those "Deadliest Catch" situations, where he has to travel far from home to make the big bucks, but it's also a very dangerous prospect. In fact Pete is believed dead when his ship goes down, so his girl Kate believes herself free to give her heart (and other body parts) to Philip. Philip happens to be Pete's best friend, and was entrusted with looking after her in Pete's absence.
This would only be a problem if the news about Pete's death was incorrect, and he survived somehow. Umm, guess what? He comes back to marry Kate and neither she nor Philip have the heart to tell him about their relationship. Besides, Philip is on track to become the island's Deemster, which isn't as strange as it sounds, it's some kind of chief magistrate.
And about the only thing that could prevent him from obtaining this lofty position would be if a married woman were still in love with him, and there was a possibility that he was the father of her baby, and...well, you get the idea. This is all pretty standard soap-opera fare nowadays, but I'm guessing that back in 1929 this was a whole lot more scandalous. Affairs and babies born out of wedlock and paternity tests were all seen as immoralities, and none of this behavior was encouraged in proper society.
NITPICK POINT: Much is made at the start of the film about the fisherman's petition against steam trawlers. But this story thread never even gets followed up on. What's wrong with steam trawlers, why is everyone so upset about them? Did the petition work or not? It seems once the film starts to focus on the love triangle, this plotline goes right out the window. Err, porthole.
Also starring Malcolm Keen (last seen in "The Lodger"), Anny Ondra, Randle Ayrton
RATING: 4 out of 10 powdered wigs
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