MOVIEmeter
SEE RANK
Up 3,207 this week

Blackmail (1929)

7.0
Your rating:
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -/10 X  
Ratings: 7.0/10 from 5,109 users  
Reviews: 71 user | 43 critic

Alice White is the daughter of a shopkeeper in 1920's London. Her boyfriend, Frank Webber is a Scotland Yard detective who seems more interested in police work than in her. Frank takes ... See full summary »

Director:

Writers:

(from the play by), (adapted by), 2 more credits »
0Check in
0Share...

Related News

The Forgotten: Start Talkin'
| MUBI
Hitchcock's Earliest Films to Tour the Us
| FEARnet

User Lists

Related lists from IMDb users

a list of 100 titles created 08 Feb 2011
 
a list of 1006 titles created 8 months ago
 
a list of 1103 titles created 20 Feb 2012
 
a list of 1517 titles created 2 months ago
 
a list of 1078 titles created 6 months ago
 

Connect with IMDb


Share this Rating

Title: Blackmail (1929)

Blackmail (1929) on IMDb 7/10

Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.

Take The Quiz!

Test your knowledge of Blackmail.
Learn more

People who liked this also liked... 

Frenzy (1972)
Crime | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.5/10 X  

A serial killer is murdering London women with a necktie. The police have a suspect... but he's the wrong man.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Stars: Jon Finch, Alec McCowen, Barry Foster
Topaz (1969)
Certificate: M Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.2/10 X  

A French intelligence agent becomes embroiled in the Cold War politics first with uncovering the events leading up to the 1962 Cuban Missle Crisis, and then back to France to break up an international Russian spy ring.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Stars: Frederick Stafford, Dany Robin, John Vernon
Crime | Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.5/10 X  

A happily married London barrister falls in love with the accused poisoner he is defending.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Stars: Gregory Peck, Ann Todd, Charles Laughton
Crime | Mystery | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7/10 X  

Man on the run from a murder charge enlists a beautiful stranger who must put herself at risk for his cause.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Stars: Nova Pilbeam, Derrick De Marney, Percy Marmont
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Crime | Drama | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 9/10 X  

The lives of two mob hit men, a boxer, a gangster's wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.

Director: Quentin Tarantino
Stars: John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis
Manhunter (1986)
Crime | Mystery | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.2/10 X  

An FBI specialist tracks a serial killer who appears to select his victims at random.

Director: Michael Mann
Stars: William Petersen, Kim Greist, Joan Allen
Run Lola Run (1998)
Action | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.8/10 X  

A young woman in Germany has twenty minutes to find and bring 100,000 Deutschmarks to her boyfriend before he robs a supermarket.

Director: Tom Tykwer
Stars: Franka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu, Herbert Knaup
M (1931)
Crime | Film-Noir | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.5/10 X  

When the police in a German city are unable to catch a child-murderer, other criminals join in the manhunt.

Director: Fritz Lang
Stars: Peter Lorre, Ellen Widmann, Inge Landgut
Snatch. (2000)
Crime | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.3/10 X  

Unscrupulous boxing promoters, violent bookmakers, a Russian gangster, incompetent amateur robbers, and supposedly Jewish jewelers fight to track down a priceless stolen diamond.

Director: Guy Ritchie
Stars: Benicio Del Toro, Dennis Farina, Brad Pitt
Femme Fatale (2002)
Crime | Mystery | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.2/10 X  

A woman tries to straighten out her life, even as her past as a con-woman comes back to haunt her.

Director: Brian De Palma
Stars: Rebecca Romijn, Antonio Banderas, Peter Coyote
Red Dragon (2002)
Crime | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.2/10 X  

A retired FBI agent with psychological gifts is assigned to help track down "The Tooth Fairy", a mysterious serial killer; aiding him is imprisoned criminal genius Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter.

Director: Brett Ratner
Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Edward Norton, Ralph Fiennes
Crime | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.2/10 X  

A botched card game in London triggers four friends, thugs, weed-growers, hard gangsters, loan sharks and debt collectors to collide with each other in a series of unexpected events, all for the sake of weed, cash and two antique shotguns.

Director: Guy Ritchie
Stars: Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher, Nick Moran
Edit

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Anny Ondra ...
Sara Allgood ...
Charles Paton ...
John Longden ...
Donald Calthrop ...
Cyril Ritchard ...
The Artist
Hannah Jones ...
The Landlady
Harvey Braban ...
The Chief Inspector (sound version)
Ex-Det. Sergt. Bishop ...
The Detective Sergeant (as Ex-Det. Sergt. Bishop - Late C.I.D. Scotland Yard)
Edit

Storyline

Alice White is the daughter of a shopkeeper in 1920's London. Her boyfriend, Frank Webber is a Scotland Yard detective who seems more interested in police work than in her. Frank takes Alice out one night, but she has secretly arranged to meet another man. Later that night Alice agrees to go back to his flat to see his studio. The man has other ideas and as he tries to rape Alice, she defends herself and kills him with a bread knife. When the body is discovered, Frank is assigned to the case, he quickly determines that Alice is the killer, but so has someone else and blackmail is threatened. Written by Col Needham <col@imdb.com>

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Plot Keywords:

murder | blackmail | detective | knife | glove | See more »

Taglines:

See and Hear It - Our Mother Tongue As It Should Be Spoken

Genres:

Crime | Thriller

Certificate:

See all certifications »
Edit

Details

Country:

Language:

Release Date:

6 October 1929 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Chantaje  »

Filming Locations:

 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

(R.C.A. Photophone System)

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

When the film came to be released, the silent version did considerably better business than the sound one, as few cinemas outside the big cities were equipped for sound. See more »

Goofs

After Alice fills out the form to see the Inspector, she lays down the pen on the table. In the next shot she still has it in her hand. See more »

Quotes

[first lines]
Det. Frank Webber: Well, we finished earlier tonight than I expected.
See more »

Connections

Referenced in Telescope: A Talk with Hitchcock (1964) See more »

Soundtracks

"Miss Up-to-Date"
(1929) (uncredited)
Words by Frank Eyton and music by Billy Mayerl
Performed by Cyril Ritchard
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more (Spoiler Alert!) »

User Reviews

 
Pretty good for its time
14 August 2005 | by (Oxford, Oxfordshire, England.) – See all my reviews

I watched Blackmail last night on BBC Four having hard it was Britain's first 'talkie' and an Alfred Hitchcock classic. A really good thriller for the early-mid 20th century and is obviously directed by Hitchcock. Not to mention a good opportunity to see London as it was in 1929! Quite a simple story lines with Anny Ondra who stars as our sweet timid heroine, Alice White, who is blackmailed after she killed man who tried to rape her.

The beginning is rather weird as you'll see when watch it and because of this, for one reason or another, I failed to understand it. Hitchcock performs a similar trick as he did later on in his career in Psycho, introducing Alice after he introduces the supporting characters.

The film sadly lacks action scenes as there is a pretty long build up and after the murder takes place we are more focused upon the psychological damaged inflicted upon Alice as she deals with the fact that she has taken another man's life. It is very obvious she is being dubbed, as her mouth and Joan Barry's flawless, girly English accent do not clash at some points during the movie. Ondra was may I add a very pretty lady for her time and I couldn't help but notice a jaw-resemblance to Meryl Streep. Most people won't know what I mean, but I could see it.

Hitchcock was a perfect choice to direct and did it considerably well, taking advantage of all the possible SFX's that were available in the late 20s. He also has a very clear cameo appearance – on a train being annoyed by a child early on in the picture.

A real treat and an enjoyable way to spend my Saturday night!


12 of 18 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

Message Boards

Recent Posts
Sound vs. silent ancientnut
First 8 minutes of film? jerm9798
Maybe little underrated freku
Dreadful. dinosaurs-will_die
How did the Blackmailer get the other Glove? mikegrijak
KNIFE! blablabla...KNIFE! blablabla...KNIFE!!! manferot
Discuss Blackmail (1929) on the IMDb message boards »

Contribute to This Page

Create a character page for:
?