Alfred Hitchcock: The British Years

Star Review

Alfred Hitchcock started as he meant to go on. Virtually the first shot of his first picture (The Pleasure Garden) announced the themes he’d explore throughout his career: a distinguished gent takes his opera glasses … and peers at a dancing girl’s legs. It’s voyeuristic. It’s sexually charged. It’s Hitchcock.

It took him rather longer to find the genre he’d be most associated with. It wasn’t until The Lodger – his third film – that he ventured into suspense for the first time and it took him a few films more to realise it was what suited him best. Until then, he’d make films like Downhill, a riches to rags story that’s utterly unlike what we think of today as ‘A Hitchcock Film’.

He found his groove with The Man Who Knew Too Much, which established the formula – glamour, intrigue, brilliant cinematic technique – that he’d use for the rest of his career. One of the great joys of this set is watching Hitchcock evolving and refining the style which would make him the most famous director in the world.

He didn’t have the resources he’d later enjoy in Hollywood but the sheer energy and enthusiasm he brought to these splendidly entertaining pictures transcended their occasional technical limitations. It isn’t just the acknowledged treasures like The 39 Steps or The Lady Vanishes that shine here: The Secret Agent is a nuanced romp while Young and Innocent is perhaps the most charming film he ever made.

In stark contrast, Sabotage is about the darkest, a seriously underrated Conrad adaptation that ought to be counted amongst his masterpieces. And the much maligned Jamaica Inn – a lusty smuggling yarn – is much better than its detractors (which included its director, alas) would have you believe.

Hitch’s British pictures, with a couple of exceptions, usually get overlooked or, worse, dismissed as rough drafts of later masterpieces. This essential set shows that’s hogwash. These wonderful, engaging, provocative films are some of the master’s very best. Even if this collection only gathered together the 1930s flicks, it would be thoroughly recommended. The three silents and plentiful extras make it practically compulsory.

James Oliver on 4th February 2008

View all 33 of James Oliver’s reviews

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Film Description

This fantastic box set contains ten of Hitchcock's most significant pre-war British films, from his rarely seen silent The Pleasure Garden (1925) through to classics such as Sabotage (1936), The 39 Steps (1935) and The Lady Vanishes (1938).

Comprises: The Pleasure Garden (1925); The Lodger (1927); Downhill (1927); The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934); The 39 Steps (1935); Secret Agent (1936); Sabotage (1936); Young and Innocent (1937); The Lady Vanishes (1938); Jamaica Inn (1939).

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• Classic Films from Network

DVD Extras

• 10 discs
• Digitally restored versions of The Lodger, The 39 Steps, Sabotage, Young and Innocent, The Lady Vanishes and Jamaica Inn
• Cinema: Alfred Hitchcock - unseen for forty years, Mike Scott interviews Hitchcock about his life and career
• Aquarius: Alfred the Great - taken from the 1972 arts programme, this show includes candid photography of Hitchcock filming Frenzy in London
• Charles Barr On… - a series of featurettes in which film historian Charles Barr introduces and analyses each of the ten films contained within this set
• On Location featurettes for both Sabotage and The 39 Steps, introduced by Robert Powell
• Original theatrical trailer for The Lady Vanishes
• Hitchcock: The Early Years - 25 minute documentary covering Hitchcock's pre-war career
• Script PDFs for The 39 Steps, The Lady Vanishes and Jamaica Inn
• Image Galleries
• Introductory booklet written by Charles Barr
• More TBC.

Film Details

Cast

Basil Radford, Michael Redgrave, Naunton Wayne, Ivor Novello, Margaret Lockwood

Technical Details