Second sound film by immortal British filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock, with which he would definitely enter in the then new stage of the cinema, the stage that included the sound, the silent cnema had already passed into history. Unlike many other giant directors, the master of suspense did not put up much resistance to such a dramatic and significant change, such incontestable and decisive evolution, although it is true that in this film we will find what is most likely his most atypical work, which brings the least amount of his most representative artistic vertices. As was almost a tradition in the Hitchcockian films, the director adapts a literary work, a play again, this time work of Sean O'Casey, a referential a work by Irish theater, which presents the story of a family of that country, during the war of Irish revolution, they live in severe austerity; but after thoughtlessly receiving a large inheritance, their lifestyle changes radically, without suspecting anyone in the family that actually this will be the beginning of a nightmare. A very peculiar film, which as well contains other features in its realization, as some of the theatrical actors involved in filmmaking, among other facts that make this film a true and valuable rarity in the Hitch cinema.
Is Ireland, are the years of the Revolution, the Irish are facing each other, a man (Barry Fitzgerald) touts on the need to unite, the division will lose them; he is interrupted by gunshots. In a bar, we see the "captain" Boyle (Edward Chapman), drinking with his friend "Joxer" Daly (Sidney Morgan), in the bar property of Mrs. Maisie Madigan (Maire O'Neill). After that, Boyle goes home, where his wife, Juno (Sara Allgood), scolds him for his lack of work, for his fondness for drink, for being a total maintained man. At home, also he lives with his eldest son, Johnny (John Laurie), who has an injury, has lost an arm for political activity, linked to the IRA. Amid discussions of Boyles and the occurrences of "Joxer", one day receive the visit of Charles Bentham (John Longden), who informs them that, because of the death of a sick relative, the family has inherited a fortune. They do not waste time to change their lives, buy expensive new furniture, a colorful musical apparatus, while Bentham woos Mary (Kathleen O'Regan), the daughter of the spouses. They hold meetings with neighbors, continue to spend money in those meetings where talks and songs by the guests happen, but then the problems begin. Bentham fails, the heritage is lost, debtors pressure Boyle and confiscate things, but that's just the beginning of their nightmare.
Among the interesting stuff in film, it is appreciating the pulse of the filmmaker to translate
such a theatrical work to movies, as this is one of Ireland's most emblematic plays, capturing its humor, its reality, its context then, the harsh reality of civil war by the revolution, graphed in dialogues and actions by Boyles. Interestingly, it is said that Hitch accepted very reluctantly to make this film, and seeing the nature of this creation, is understandable, and becomes very interesting to know the ultimate cause of genuine realization of this project by Hitch. The marked theatrical guideline that permeates the entire film unfolds from the beginning, with scenic design, composition of the frames, the distribution of the characters within those frames, transmitting that conception proper of theater, happening almost everything in a single environment, the Boyle family room. It is clear the idea of the filmmaker, the idea that governed the picture, is a work with more theatrical that filmic overtones, a very unusual feature in the Hitchcockian oeuvre, even though Hitch has adapted numerous times successful plays to the big screen. Thus, after more than twenty minutes at the opening of the film, the camera is virtually static most of the time, something unheard of in the most of Hitch's movies, even from his beginnings in silent film. Is an unprecedentedly static camera for a Hitchcock feature, rarely gets broken the linear narrative of that camera, in dribs and drabs, as in the case of Johnny, to whom approaches the camera performing zooms in, breaking that perennially flat behavior. We appreciate a minimalist film, and to this film with minimal resources, the closest reference by director himself is found in the much later
Rope (1948), where a bedroom is the scenario of virtually all the action. As the film progresses, we see that it is indeed a Hitchcockian rarity, but not any rarity, as several of his silent works, but the greatest oddity of all, because even in his silent films one of his greatest artistic traits is always embodied. Whether the murder, whether the false culprit, either the love triangle, or the mystery and intrigue that spreads through an investigation of a crime; always one of the seals was present, to a greater or lesser extent. But this time none of these big issues is manifested, all conspicuous by their absence.
Thus, there are not only missing the main topics of his career, but also his traditional visual experiments, technical resources where his dominance in that area was evident. These two vital characteristics of the hitchcockian work are absent, to set what is certainly, at least for the writer,
the less hitchcockian picture of all that produced the master of suspense. More than one unwary will be greatly surprised when addressing this picture without knowing what will be presented, an almost unrecognizable work as a creation of its author, something that, more than corroborate the old virtues and strengths of the British's filmmaking, is a film for completists of the oeuvre of the director, one of those examples where the irregular work of an artist can teach as much as his masterpieces, we speak of true followers of the filmmaker. The master chooses another key to narrate his film, which for the time -being the second talkie of the english genius-, turns the feature even most unusual, that because the narrative vehicle are the dialogues of the protagonists, almost recited at times, extensive dialogues which largely summarize the picture, and the Irish reality of those days. Among the dialogues, Juno compares Boyle with a peacock, a bird that looks a lot but does not produce anything, and in that sense the lawyer is one of the most interesting fellows, the one who speaks differently within the characters. We heard him talking about various topics as a well educated man, telling the story of Juno, setting a parallel between the protagonist wife and Greek mythology, Juno, wife of Zeus, which is anything but a devoted and submissive wife, but rather willing to scold and yell the adulterer Zeus. The dialogues are therefore vital part of the film, as well as the songs, at the meeting of the Boyles, where much of the Irish culture is captured. It is noteworthy that the original theater actor for Captain Boyle, Fitzgerald, appears with ephemeral prominence, ephemeral but significant, as the fervid initial crier, which seeks to arouse the feeling of togetherness and fellowship, in the midst of the division of the Irish civil war, division that ensures always led to be defeated; also closes the first and only participation of this character the later recurrent resource of the shooting, the shots that will be heard more than once. The actor who plays Boyle in the film, Edward Chapman, also made his debut in the seventh art, and makes it in a compelling and decent way.
The roles are promptly and clearly defined, Boyle and "Joxer" are freeloaders, they only know how to drink, with Captain Boyle as the main character, is an almost appendix at home, a parasite in a household whose real sustenance is Juno, the wife, she is who wears the pants at home -even the title of the film and play appoint her first, giving her a higher profile-, shouting and bossing her lazy husband. The film was charged a little for supposedly creating stereotypes in excess, being of course Captain Boyle's the major one, always ready for boose, ready to enjoy an ever better drink if it is not at his expense; always alien to work, even pretending to limp to run away from his responsibilities as head of the family, being dominated by his wife. In the picture we appreciate drama but also humor, the warm mood spread through the picture, as when in the beginning we see the bar owner, Ms. Madigan inviting a few drinks to good for nothing Boyle and "Joxer", drinks that they accept willingly, but they withdraw as it's their turn to invite alcohol, leaving the woman. We also have the captain, with a regret as artificial as comic, his false sympathy to the demise of a relative he never liked, whose death rather means such a welcome economic heritage. Technically, is corrected completely any flaw that had his first sound film,
Blackmail, of the same year, and now we appreciate a perfect synchronization of sound and actors, the audio, the sound of voices walk alongside the movement from the lips of the protagonists. An imperfection that it is striking is certain "misframing" seen in more than one sequence, with the faces of the actors that sometimes remain "outside" the framings, a visual flaw actually improper of Hitchcock. We found other interesting elements, some sorts of leitmotif, like the sound of the bullets that flows mostly in moments starring Johnny, denoting haste, anguish; also the Virgin Mary, at peak moments, and always involving Johnny, finally converging both resources in the fatal outcome, with that good final shot, in which Juno speaks to the virgin in a pathetic moment. A feature as attractive as strange for the connoisseur of Hitch, degradation is printed, the decline faced by a family when the money comes, how they forget the most important things, losing dignity, and in some cases life. An unusual film, but for those completing the filmography of Hitch, is a real gem.
Second sound film by immortal British filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock, with which he would definitely enter in the then new stage of the cinema, the stage that included the sound, the silent cnema had already passed into history. Unlike many other giant directors, the master of suspense did not put up much resistance to such a dramatic and significant change, such incontestable and decisive evolution, although it is true that in this film we will find what is most likely his most atypical work, which brings the least amount of his most representative artistic vertices. As was almost a tradition in the Hitchcockian films, the director adapts a literary work, a play again, this time work of Sean O'Casey, a referential a work by Irish theater, which presents the story of a family of that country, during the war of Irish revolution, they live in severe austerity; but after thoughtlessly receiving a large inheritance, their lifestyle changes radically, without suspecting anyone in the family that actually this will be the beginning of a nightmare. A very peculiar film, which as well contains other features in its realization, as some of the theatrical actors involved in filmmaking, among other facts that make this film a true and valuable rarity in the Hitch cinema.
Is Ireland, are the years of the Revolution, the Irish are facing each other, a man (Barry Fitzgerald) touts on the need to unite, the division will lose them; he is interrupted by gunshots. In a bar, we see the "captain" Boyle (Edward Chapman), drinking with his friend "Joxer" Daly (Sidney Morgan), in the bar property of Mrs. Maisie Madigan (Maire O'Neill). After that, Boyle goes home, where his wife, Juno (Sara Allgood), scolds him for his lack of work, for his fondness for drink, for being a total maintained man. At home, also he lives with his eldest son, Johnny (John Laurie), who has an injury, has lost an arm for political activity, linked to the IRA. Amid discussions of Boyles and the occurrences of "Joxer", one day receive the visit of Charles Bentham (John Longden), who informs them that, because of the death of a sick relative, the family has inherited a fortune. They do not waste time to change their lives, buy expensive new furniture, a colorful musical apparatus, while Bentham woos Mary (Kathleen O'Regan), the daughter of the spouses. They hold meetings with neighbors, continue to spend money in those meetings where talks and songs by the guests happen, but then the problems begin. Bentham fails, the heritage is lost, debtors pressure Boyle and confiscate things, but that's just the beginning of their nightmare.
Thus, there are not only missing the main topics of his career, but also his traditional visual experiments, technical resources where his dominance in that area was evident. These two vital characteristics of the hitchcockian work are absent, to set what is certainly, at least for the writer, the less hitchcockian picture of all that produced the master of suspense. More than one unwary will be greatly surprised when addressing this picture without knowing what will be presented, an almost unrecognizable work as a creation of its author, something that, more than corroborate the old virtues and strengths of the British's filmmaking, is a film for completists of the oeuvre of the director, one of those examples where the irregular work of an artist can teach as much as his masterpieces, we speak of true followers of the filmmaker. The master chooses another key to narrate his film, which for the time -being the second talkie of the english genius-, turns the feature even most unusual, that because the narrative vehicle are the dialogues of the protagonists, almost recited at times, extensive dialogues which largely summarize the picture, and the Irish reality of those days. Among the dialogues, Juno compares Boyle with a peacock, a bird that looks a lot but does not produce anything, and in that sense the lawyer is one of the most interesting fellows, the one who speaks differently within the characters. We heard him talking about various topics as a well educated man, telling the story of Juno, setting a parallel between the protagonist wife and Greek mythology, Juno, wife of Zeus, which is anything but a devoted and submissive wife, but rather willing to scold and yell the adulterer Zeus. The dialogues are therefore vital part of the film, as well as the songs, at the meeting of the Boyles, where much of the Irish culture is captured. It is noteworthy that the original theater actor for Captain Boyle, Fitzgerald, appears with ephemeral prominence, ephemeral but significant, as the fervid initial crier, which seeks to arouse the feeling of togetherness and fellowship, in the midst of the division of the Irish civil war, division that ensures always led to be defeated; also closes the first and only participation of this character the later recurrent resource of the shooting, the shots that will be heard more than once. The actor who plays Boyle in the film, Edward Chapman, also made his debut in the seventh art, and makes it in a compelling and decent way.
The roles are promptly and clearly defined, Boyle and "Joxer" are freeloaders, they only know how to drink, with Captain Boyle as the main character, is an almost appendix at home, a parasite in a household whose real sustenance is Juno, the wife, she is who wears the pants at home -even the title of the film and play appoint her first, giving her a higher profile-, shouting and bossing her lazy husband. The film was charged a little for supposedly creating stereotypes in excess, being of course Captain Boyle's the major one, always ready for boose, ready to enjoy an ever better drink if it is not at his expense; always alien to work, even pretending to limp to run away from his responsibilities as head of the family, being dominated by his wife. In the picture we appreciate drama but also humor, the warm mood spread through the picture, as when in the beginning we see the bar owner, Ms. Madigan inviting a few drinks to good for nothing Boyle and "Joxer", drinks that they accept willingly, but they withdraw as it's their turn to invite alcohol, leaving the woman. We also have the captain, with a regret as artificial as comic, his false sympathy to the demise of a relative he never liked, whose death rather means such a welcome economic heritage. Technically, is corrected completely any flaw that had his first sound film, Blackmail, of the same year, and now we appreciate a perfect synchronization of sound and actors, the audio, the sound of voices walk alongside the movement from the lips of the protagonists. An imperfection that it is striking is certain "misframing" seen in more than one sequence, with the faces of the actors that sometimes remain "outside" the framings, a visual flaw actually improper of Hitchcock. We found other interesting elements, some sorts of leitmotif, like the sound of the bullets that flows mostly in moments starring Johnny, denoting haste, anguish; also the Virgin Mary, at peak moments, and always involving Johnny, finally converging both resources in the fatal outcome, with that good final shot, in which Juno speaks to the virgin in a pathetic moment. A feature as attractive as strange for the connoisseur of Hitch, degradation is printed, the decline faced by a family when the money comes, how they forget the most important things, losing dignity, and in some cases life. An unusual film, but for those completing the filmography of Hitch, is a real gem.
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