Rent Murder! (1930)

Major spoiler. - Murder! review by Steve

A year after Blackmail, Alfred Hitchcock made another suspense film adapted freely from a stage play. But Murder! is more of an English style detective story than a thriller. It stars Herbert Marshall, who was The Master's first really successfully cast leading man.

Marshall lost a leg in WWI, so it's hard to imagine him doing action scenes. Hitch didn't use him again until Foreign Correspondent in 1940. He plays an aristocrat on a jury who begins to question the guilty verdict and decides to investigate. Hitch regular Edward Chapman is enjoyable as his sidekick.

There's a famously innovative scene  when we hear the gentleman detective's interior monologue.  The primitive technology meant a recording was made of Marshall's voice and played back as he shaved, staring mutely into the mirror, while accompanied by a live orchestra!    

There's an exciting climax when the real murderer- a cross dressing trapeze artist- is chased down while performing his act and accidentally hangs himself. Another Hitchcock villain who falls to his death. While the  character's sexuality is accepted, there are dated reflections on him being of mixed race. It's slow, and a bit creaky, but still entertaining.

“My art is not satisfied.” - Murder! review by LJ

A murder mystery that gives no red herrings, just points us exactly at the solution and includes some unfortunate racist and other inappropriate attitudes of the time.