Blackmail/Easy Virtue

Starring:Sara Allgood, Joan Barry, Ex-Det. Sergt. Bishop, Harvey Braban, Johnny Butt, Donald Calthrop, Hannah Jones, Phyllis Konstam, Sam Livesey, John Longden, Phyllis Monkman, Anny Ondra, Percy Parsons, Charles Paton, Cyril Ritchard
Studio: Delta
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Description
When Frank's job at Scotland Yard comes between them, Alice goes out on a date with another man, but as he attacks her, she kills him in self defense. In Easy Virtue, an innocent woman cannot escape her past.

Includes an intro by Tony Curtis and the trailer for Hitchcock's classic, "Rear Window".

Menus: English  Spanish  Chinese  Japanese
Subtitles: Spanish  Chinese  Japanese

Amazon.com

Essentially a one-joke story line based on Eden Philpotts's comic play, the 1928 silent film The Farmer's Wife makes up for its lack of substantive material with a noticeable leap in Alfred Hitchcock's cinematic skills. Jameson Thomas stars as a rustic farmer named Sweetland whose recently deceased wife has left a hole in his home and life. The subsequent marriage of his daughter inspires Sweetland to contemplate the altar again, and he enlists the aid of his lovely housekeeper, Minta (Lillian Hall-Davies), to draw up a list of available if ill-considered candidates. One by one, Sweetland proposes to the ladies and is rebuffed, then huffs his way home to a warm reception by the woman he should obviously be with: Minta. In almost anyone else's hands, this slight and silly tale would instantly evaporate, but Hitchcock takes it as an opportunity to make a lively, good-looking film full of delightful transitions (this is the kind of movie where a wordless exchanged glance leads us from one world and into another), at least one early experiment with a rapid dolly shot (all roads lead to Vertigo, don't you know), and a remarkable amount of suggestively grim humor. One paving stone on the path to Hitchcock's full, brilliant career, The Farmer's Wife reveals a great talent still growing. Tom Keogh

Description

7 DVD SET INCLUDES:
Sabotage
The Lodger
Blackmail
Easy Virtue
Rich and Strange
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
The Farmer's Wife
Murder!
The Man Who Knew Too Much
The Lady Vanishes

B&W/826 min.

Customer Reviews:

A very young promise in progress!.......2007-03-09

Believe or not, this is a slapstick comedy, in spite of the fact we are talking about an early Hitchcock. The dramatis personae turns round a humble farmer who seeks desperately a bride after his wife has died. He doesn't seem to realize his housekeeper is in love with him since a long time. A very interesting proposal of a director in progress by then.

Strictly for the Film Historians.......2006-08-30

OK, let's get this over with; none of us would even consider watching this movie if it weren't for the fact that it was directed by a young Alfred Hitchcock. Indeed, it's doubtful that the movie would have even survived into the 21st Century if it weren't for the director who was to go on to much greater heights. Yet Hitchcock WAS the director and we KNOW he was a masterful director so he must have done a GREAT job, right? Well, not really. I found myself interested somewhat in "The Farmer's Wife" because there is a fair amount of humor in it. I don't know if I laughed out loud but I smiled a few times. I considered asking my wife to waych it and see if she thought I'd end up the same way. However, the one real problem with this movie is that it is TOO long. Frankly, I breathed a sigh of relief when I thought the movie was over. "Maybe it wasn't all that long afterall" I told myself. Yet when the film actually did end about 10 minutes after I thought it would, I had to admit, a lot of it belong on the film editor's floor. For the record, this is a silent movie (Hitchcock directed England's first "talkie" shortly after he made "The Farmer's Wife"). Silent movies need good expressive acting to succeed and I felt that this movie had that. It was proably it's stregth (along with the humor). It's the story of a widower who decides he'll take another wife and how he is angered when his choice of spouse isn't receptive to the idea. He goes through several disappointments all seemingly in the same day before he discovers the obvious choice.

I got this movie as part of an "Early Hitchcock" set. In that sense, I have no qualms that I bought the DVD. I would have been disappointed to have bought this by itself. I liked it well enough but I doubt (due to its' length) that I'll ever watch it again.

Wrong running time.......2001-01-22

Even though the film originally ran about 97 minutes, and even though Amazon's info shows the running time to be 93 minutes, this Laserlight's DVD version of THE FARMER'S WIFE runs 129 minutes. Apparently, the wrong film speed was used in transferring the film to DVD, stretching the film by an additional half hour. The film's tempo is therefore slowed down a great deal, and the pacing and timing of the various comedy scenes are very much ruined. The DVD does have decent picture and sound (mono) quality.

This dated and predictable film was nevertheless well-acted by Jameson Thomas as the farmer and Lillian Hall-Davis as his housekeeper. Hall-Davis also starred in another Hitchcock's silent comedy "The Ring" (a much better film), also available as a Laserlight DVD.

Imperdible..........2000-09-25

En esta era de la tecnología y el gusto por lograr las mejores imágenes y los mejores efectos, esta colección nos lleva a darnos cuenta que las grandes obras de arte se deben edificar a partir de eso, "El Arte". Y esto es precisamente lo que demuestra este box set. El arte de la cinematografía puesta en las manos del genial Hitchcock. Ni que hablar de la producción: Siete discos, cada uno en su propio estuche, excelente sonido, y todo el material subtitulado (includo extras, introducción y trailers), además de que los discos son multizona. Cabe destacar que esto no fue obra de una gran empresa sino de LaserLight Video, pero es algo que los grandes estudios deberían tomar como ejemplo, hartos ya de ver películas con extras sin subtítulos. Si a eso le sumamos el costo del set, nos encontramos con una joya que no podemos desperdiciar. Muy recomendable.

A Hitchcock Film In Name Only That Goes On For Ever.......2000-06-26

I have nothing against silent films. In fact Clara Bow's 'It', Lon Chaney's 'The Phantom of The Opera' and Louise Brooks's 'Pandora's Box' are amongst my all-time favourites. But with the exception of 'The Lodger', Hitchcock never really got going in silent films. 'The Farmer's Wife' certainly had the potential for an easy going, enjoyable comedy, but NOT when it lasts over 2 hours. I challenge anyone to watch this film in one sitting without their eyelids feeling increasingly heavy. On the plus points, Laserlight has dispensed with one of those embarrassing Tony Curtis introductions, and has provided us with a newly recorded (and very good) score. The picture quality is also very good. If you're tempted to buy this DVD because it's a Hitchcock film, I'd say don't. It is only worth a look to anyone with an interest in silent films or a genuine Hitchcock enthusiast.

Average customer rating:

View "Easy Virtue" as an artifact and "Blackmail" as genius
A Budding Genius...
View these films as historical artifacts...
A Good Double Bill
The Master is speaking

Blackmail/Easy Virtue
Starring: Sara Allgood , Joan Barry , Ex-Det. Sergt. Bishop , Harvey Braban , and Johnny Butt
Manufacturer: Delta
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Similar Items:

Sabotage and The Lodger
Number 17/The Ring
Rich & Strange/ The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Young & Innocent/The Cheney Vase
Alfred Hitchcock's Jamaica Inn

ASIN: B00000JNVD
Release Date: 1999-07-24

Description

When Frank's job at Scotland Yard comes between them, Alice goes out on a date with another man, but as he attacks her, she kills him in self defense. In Easy Virtue, an innocent woman cannot escape her past.

Includes an intro by Tony Curtis and the trailer for Hitchcock's classic, "Rear Window".

Menus: English • Spanish • Chinese • Japanese
Subtitles: Spanish • Chinese • Japanese

B&W/164 min.

Customer Reviews:

View "Easy Virtue" as an artifact and "Blackmail" as genius.......2003-02-01

Easy Virtue is one of Hitchcock's forgettable silent melodramas about a woman who wants to divorce her alchoholic husband and is scarred for life as a result.

Blackmail, on the other hand, is a work of genius! It's Hitchcock's and England's very first talking film and viewing it, one would think Hitchcock had been working with sound on film for decades already. Hitchcock has always been ahead of his time and I can't think of a better example of this than Blackmail.

Unfortunately, most transfers of this film to home entertainment media over the years have been less than tolerable at worst and just okay at best (the best being Criterion's Laserdisc transfer from several years back) This recent Laserlite release of the film is merely okay. It's not terrible and it's not terrific. It's hard to believe no one's done a full-out restoration on a picture of such importance. Kudos to Criterion for giving it the old college try on laserdisc, but like many of the other early Criterion Hitchcock laserdiscs (39 Steps, Lady Vanishes, Secret Agent) it still falls just barely short of the mark (which isn't to say they're bad transfers at all, mind you, they're just not as restored as they should be.) Kudos also go to Laserlite for trying and succeeding to give us a watchable home DVD copy of this classic. Thankfully, it's a reasonably good transfer that seems to have had more time taken with the transfer than Laserlite's terrible release of "Murder," Let's just hope Criterion soups it up for this one like they did for "The Lady Vanishes" and "The 39 Steps" and gives us the ultimate copy of this, one of my 10 favorite Hitchcock films. Until then, this is the best you're going to get on the DVD market, but ultimately, I recomend Criterion's "Blackmail" Laserdisc if you're still a dinosaur looking for the best copy available.

5 Stars to Hitchcock for one of the best films in the history of cinema, 4 stars to Laserlite for doing the best they can with a small budget.

A Budding Genius..........2002-11-23

This review refers to the LaserLight Special Edition Double Feature DVD.....

A pair of gloves is the only evidence in a murder case. One is found by the detective working the case, the other by a sinister eyewitness who wants to "Blackmail" the killer. No, this is not a TV movie about OJ Simpson, this is early Hitch!(Only he could have known.)
In 1929 Alfred Hitchcock was already displaying his innate senses of style, suspense, shadowy figures,sensuality and lets not forget his wonderful sense of humor. This film has all those qualities that makes his films so recognizable.
Alice is bored,and steps out on Frank, her Scotland Yard boyfriend. Her "date" offers to paint her portrait. She agrees, but once in his apartment, he attacks her and she kills him in self defense.
The investagation leads her Detective boyfreind to realize she is the killer, but keeps it to himself, There's another witness, one that can blow the lid off the whole case.Alice's guilt is getting the best of her(shades of "Tell Tale Heart" by Poe). Will she turn herself in before it's too late, or will they keep this secret buried.The film stars Anny Ondra (she's marvelous)as Alice,John Longden as Frank, and Donald Calthrop as the blackmailer.
"Blackmail started out as a silent but with films like the "Jazz Singer" opening in the States, Hitch decided to add sound to this one making it the first British "Talkie".
Looking for Hitch: I spied him in the first 10 minutes in quite a comical cameo, don't miss it!

The 2nd feature is "Easy Virtue". This was a silent made in 1927.
Don't look for suspense or horror in this one. It's a great drama though, and you'll still recognize Hitchcock's signature in it.
Larita is an innocent woman whose name and reputation is dragged through the mud after a nasty divorce. The publicity of it all makes her infamous. She tries to start her life anew, marries and must deal with some very nasty mother-in-law problems while trying to live down her notoriety.It is based on a play by Noel Coward and the score is newly recorded. Isabel Jeans plays the misunderstood woman in question.
Where's Hitch: You got me!. I can't say that I saw him in this one, although I did spy a portly man in a suit walking off a tennis court(very strange) but Only from the back so....

LaserLight delights us with this DVD of early work of Hitch, although the film's do show their age(really old), especially "Easy Virtue", they are totally watchable, nice black and white images, and the sound is very good. There is an introduction by Tony Curtis and an Original Theatrical Trailer of Rear Window for an extra added treat! Hitch fan's you gotta add this to your collection.Oh and everything is on one side, no need to flip the disc for the second feature!
Have fun with this one......Laurie

View these films as historical artifacts..........2001-06-14

My wife and I are avid Hitchcock fans and have begun a collection of his DVDs. Surprisingly, we both enjoy many of his early efforts. I'm a bit disturbed by reviewers who ridicule early Hitchcock films. They seem to expect films produced in the late 1920s to be comparable to those produced ten, twenty or thirty years later. That's just plain silly -- like comparing Lindbergh's plane with a B-17 or an F-14. As usual for Hitchcock, the women in both films steal the show. Blond and delicious. Hitchcock knew how to cast and photograph young ladies. It's great that these "early" Hitchcock "thrillers" are available to collectors.

A Good Double Bill.......2000-06-28

This is one of Laserlight's best Hitchcock DVDs. 'Blackmail' is worth a look if only for the fact that it was Britain's first talkie. In fact some of the early scenes are still silent and you expect a title card to appear at any moment. Although 'Blackmail' never reaches the heights of 'The 39 Steps' or the 1934's 'The Man Who Knew Too Much', it is significantly better than most of Hitchcock's other films of the late twenties and early thirties. A few of the scenes are rather long and stagey but there are still some eyecatching moments and Anny Ondra is definitely an asset to the film despite her voice being dubbed by another actress. Picture quality is also very good. Unfortunately, with the notable exception of 'The Lodger', Hitchcock's silent work does not measure up to much. 'Easy Virtue' is probably one of his better efforts but I doubt you will be on the edge of your seat come the film's climax. The picture quality isn't too good either - only watchable - but I guess we shouldn't expect too much given the budget nature of the DVD. All in all, a decent double bill at a decent price. Well done Laserlight!

The Master is speaking.......2000-06-12

Of course, Easy virtue is quite a boring film. But Blackmail is a chef d'oeuvre. Many of the scenes are unforgetable. Watch this movie, and you not only can't forget it, but you'll be sure (if not yet) that Hitchcock was a Master. This movie was a silent one, but a few scenes were shot again to make the first english talking movie ever! In my mind, the best scene is when, after the murder, lady Ondra hear a neighbour speaking about knive... knive... KNIVE... You feel yourself as bas as the "poor" girl. If you like oldie but goldie, don't miss this DVD The images are fine and the sound is OK

Alfred Hitchcock: Blackmail/Easy Virtue/Rich & Strange/The Sorcerer's Apprentice

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Alfred Hitchcock: Blackmail/Easy Virtue/Rich & Strange/The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Starring: Alfred Hitchcock
Manufacturer: Delta
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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