The Manxman

1929

Action / Drama / Romance

7
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 46% · 12 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 46% · 1K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.2/10 10 3597 3.6K

secret love baby love triangle wife marriage fisherman

Plot summary

A fisherman and a rising lawyer who grew up together as brothers fall in love with the same woman.

Director

Alfred Hitchcock Photo
Alfred Hitchcock

Top cast

Clare Greet Photo
Clare Greet as Mrs. Cregeen
Anny Ondra Photo
Anny Ondra as Kate Cregeen
Malcolm Keen Photo
Malcolm Keen as Philip Christian
Harry Terry Photo
Harry Terry as Man
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
924.56 MB
968*720
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
19.98 fps
1 hr 40 min
Seeds ...
1.68 GB
1440*1072
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
19.98 fps
1 hr 40 min
Seeds 10

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Steffi_P 7 / 10

"I resign this – this dignity that I strove for"

Hitchcock's final silent film is another drama focusing on a love triangle – his primary plot basis in these early days before he became the master of suspense.In many ways The Manxman can be seen as something of a loose remake of The Ring (1928), following a similar story of a love triangle between a man, his wife and his best friend, with similar characters and circumstances and the same lead man in Carl Brisson. However while that earlier boxing drama eventually pulled its punch (excuse the pun), The Manxman is a far harsher affair, with a ruthless disregard for its characters' fates that prefigures film noir.As was Hitchcock's style from his earliest works, his aim here as a director is to place the audience inside the scenario, no matter how uncomfortable it makes them. The film is almost entirely composed of point-of-view shots, and an unusually large number of them in which an actor looks straight into the camera. Time and time again Carl Brisson's big innocent face stares out at us, as if implicating us in the guilt of the other two leads.This also happens to be one of a small number of Hitchcock pictures which is very beautiful to look at. There are plenty of exquisite location shots and great use of natural lighting, in ironic counterpoint to the darkness of the story.While not quite the best of them, The Manxman is perhaps the most confident of Hitchcock's silent pictures. Whereas the majority of his silents relied too much upon rather obvious expressionist camera techniques, The Manxman is shot much more straightforwardly, and yet it still has a smooth, flowing style and isn't cluttered up with too many title cards. For me though, Hitchcock didn't really become an interesting director until he started making talkies.
Reviewed by jpsgranville 7 / 10

Overlooked, uncharacteristic Hitchcock gem

Though immortalised for his thrillers, Alfred Hitchcock always wanted to try his hand at other genres, especially in his earlier British films. This film and 'Jamaica Inn' are two cases in point. Above all what he wanted to do was to engage the audience with the emotions of the characters, and this he successfully achieves with what is essentially soap opera material with his usual technical mastery - such as the stern father seen from the fiancée's perspective through the glass of a window, or the girl's diary where she turns the pages and finds her true love's name gradually dominating her life. The locations are also uncommonly rich and beautiful for a Hitchcock film - more so than 'North by Northwest' or 'Vertigo' - with Cornwall very atmospherically standing in for the Isle of Man! It was Hitch's last *total* silent ('Blackmail' came out in both sound & silent versions),and showcases the first Hitchcock blonde of sorts, pretty little Anny Ondra, whose career was sadly numbered once talkies came along - in 'Blackmail', her Swedish-accented voice was dubbed by Joan Barry.Knowing it's Hitch, you expect a big action finale or an attempted murder of some kind, but it never happens. In terms of style I actually find Anthony Asquith's similar 'A Cottage on Dartmoor' much more exciting. But viewers should wash preconceived notions aside, and just enjoy the film for what it is.
Read more IMDb reviews

1 Comments

Be the first to leave a comment