Based on the play by John Galsworthy, this early Hitchcock film explores themes of social class conflict and industrialization, focusing on the feud between the Hillcrist (C.V. France and Helen Haye play the elder Mr. and Mrs. Hillcrist, and Jill Esmond appears as their daughter, Jill) and the Hornblower (Edmund Gwenn, John Longden, and Frank Lawton) families. Despite being a member of the working class, Mr. Hornblower plays the skin game: buying up land under false pretenses, claiming he’s allowing tenant farmers to remain, then booting them out, and then constructing factories. The Hillcrists learn of this and regret giving him land, as he plans to transform their gorgeous views into smoke and industry.

The Hillcrists respond to this by muckraking up some gossip about the sordid past of Hornblower’s now pregnant daughter-in-law Chloe (Phyllis Konstam), wife of Charles, who learns the secret — she was a sex worker — before Chloe can explain, and she drowns herself, highlighting the tragic consequences of societal judgment and personal secrets.

When Truffaut spoke to him about this movie, Hitchcock said, “I didn’t make it by choice, and there isn’t much to be said about it. We shot with four cameras and a single soundtrack because we couldn’t cut sound in those days.” This reflects the stage play origins and the technical limitations of early filmmaking, which contrast with Hitchcock’s later innovative style.

You can download this from the Internet Archive.

Based on the novel It Is Never Too Late to Mend by Charles Reade, this was produced at Shepperton Studios as a “quota quickie” for MGM, but it was popular enough to be rereleased in 1942. Directed by David MacDonald (Devil Girl from Mars) and written by H. F. Maltby, this stars Tod Slaughter as John Meadows, a wealthy man who wants a farmer’s (D.J. Williams) daughter (Marjorie Taylor) and takes out the competition by sending her lover, George Fielding (Ian Colin), to prison.

Luckily, Reverend Eden (Roy Russell) takes a tour of Meadows’ jail and notes how horrible it must be for the prisoners. He takes a special interest in ensuring that Fielding gets out and back to his true love. 

It’s what you expect from a Tod Slaughter movie: He’s a respected society man who is secretly evil and gets found out right at the end. But if it works…it works.

You can watch this on YouTube.

Jack Wilson (Lon Chaney Jr.) is a cop looking for a stolen ruby who decides to go undercover as Butch Curtain, a drunken bar owner. This marks the first time that Lon Chaney Jr. used his new stage name, reflecting a key moment in his career development.

Directed by Fred C. Newmeyer and written by Norman Springer, this movie was completed in August of 1935, but it didn’t reach theaters until 1943, when Astor Pictures acquired the rights and released it to capitalize on Chaney Jr.’s horror-movie popularity.

Why is Chaney in this, playing a romantic leading man? Because he’s dressed as a scarred-up pirate for most of it, which was probably a more comfortable role for him. Philip Ahn also appears; many decades later, he would play David Carradine’s master on Kung Fu. 

It’s fine for the time, but Cganey Jr. was meant for better things.

You can watch this on YouTube.

Adapted from a play by Campbell Dixon, based on two stories in the 1927 collection Ashenden: Or the British Agent by W. Somerset Maugham, this adaptation introduces Edgar Brodie (John Gielgud) returning from the war, only to discover he’s been reported dead. The story then follows his transformation into Richard Ashenden, with help from characters like ‘the hairless Mexican’ and ‘the general,’ whose identities are misleading. Elsa Carrington (Madeleine Carroll), who took the assignment for excitement, is also introduced as his wife for cover.

While the Mexican has no issues with killing anyone in his way, both Edgar/Richard and Elsa have problems doing so. She’s already fallen in love with our hero as well and soon learns that Robert Marvin (Robert Young), the man who has been hitting on her from the start, is really the enemy agent everyone is after. And the killer in the middle of all of this, the General (Peter Lorre), seems like he could murder anyone at any time. Also, if he feels twitchy, he was kicking drugs at the time that this was made.

Gielgud wasn’t happy that his character was an enigma, and director Alfred Hitchcock later said that, since he didn’t seem heroic, it was hard to be on his side.

You can watch this on Tubi.

Based on The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White, this Hitchcock thriller is about Iris Henderson (Margaret Lockwood), who is traveling through Europe by train and soon learns that her fellow passenger, Miss Froy (May Whitty), has disappeared, and no one remembers her. Is Iris just seeing things? Has a hit on her head ruined her hold on reality? Will she fall in love with clarinet player Gilbert (Michael Redgrave) and leave her fiancé?

Originally called The Lost Lady, this was to be directed by Roy William Neill. A crew went to Yugoslavia to shoot some background shots, but when the police accidentally learned that the country wasn’t treated well in the story, they kicked the crew out. A year later, as Hitchcock was trying to fulfill his contract, he took on this story.

The characters of Charters and Caldicott, played by Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne, were so popular that they would appear in three more movies: Night Train to Munich, Crook’s Tour and Millions Like Us. While not called by name, they also played versions of the characters in The Next of Kin, Dead of Night, A Girl In a Million, Quartet, It’s Not Cricket, Passport to Pimlico and Stop Press Girl as well as radio appearances. The 1979 Hammer remake featured Arthur Lowe as Charters and Ian Carmichael as Caldicott, while a modern-day TV series from 1985 starred Robin Bailey as Charters and Michael Aldridge as Caldicott.

You can watch this on YouTube.

Probably the best movie of Hitchcock’s British era, one he would remix and remake in 1956. Of these films, he said, “Let’s say the first version is the work of a talented amateur and the second was made by a professional.”

Bob and Jill Lawrence (Leslie Banks and Edna Best) are on vacation in Switzerland, a serene setting that is soon disrupted by the tension of a clay shooting competition. Jill almost outshines a sharpshooter named Ramon Levine (Frank Vosper) before Mr. Abbott’s (Peter Lorre) watch distracts her. This moment of distraction leads to a sudden turn of events, as a French man by the name of Louis Bernard (Pierre Fresnay) is shot while dancing with Jill. The Lawrences are then forced into a dangerous game, as Abbott kidnaps their daughter, Betty, and compels them to be part of his plan to murder a leader.

The release of this film was a significant event, given the circumstances. C.M. Woolf, a powerful figure in the English cinema industry, initially opposed the film, stating that it would only be released if it was remade with a new director, different cast, and different writers. However, Hitchcock’s appeal to Isidore Ostrer, the owner of Gaumont-British, led to the film’s release. The movie’s success was a source of contention, as Woolf, who was forced to release it as a supporting feature, was left displeased.

Lorre made this soon after he had escaped from Nazi Germany. In his first meeting with Hitchcock, he smiled and laughed as the director spoke; this meant that even though Lorre barely spoke English, he made a good impression. He said most of his lines in this movie phonetically.

You can watch this on YouTube.

Dr. Cross, portrayed by the remarkably young Vincent Price, is treating a young patient for shock. She fell into a coma after witnessing a man kill his wife with a candlestick. The twist? The man she saw was Dr. Cross himself. The question remains, how will she escape this perilous situation?

Lynn Bari plays the Doctor’s lover/nurse, Elaine, and, if you know anything about noir, she’s never a leading lady but always the seductress —a “sultry, statuesque man-killer,” as Wikipedia calls her. Sadly, her career fizzled by the 1950s, “sabotaged by unresolved problems with her domineering, alcoholic mother and three marriages.”

As Dr. Cross realizes that Janet is aware of his dark secret, Elaine, his lover and nurse, persuades him to induce a coma in Janet through insulin overdose and shock therapy. Despite his reluctance to harm her, he is left with no choice but to end her life. However, Dr. Harvey intervenes just in time, saving the day and preventing a tragic end.

You can watch this on Tubi.

Based on The Lodger by Marie Belloc Lowndes and the play Who Is He?, which was co-written by Belloc Lowndes, Hitchcock’s third movie was his first thriller and also the start of his cameo appearances. 

A killer named the Avenger has already murdered seven young blondes, always on Tuesday nights. Daisy Bunting (June Tripp), a model, has taken to hiding her hair color, as many other women do. Maybe her cop boyfriend Joe (Malcolm Keen) can keep her safe.

Daisy’s parents (Marie Ault and Arthur Chesney) keep a room at the top of their home and rent it out. The new lodger, Jonathan Drew (Ivor Novello), demands they remove all the photos of young blondes. You would think that this would scare Daisy, but you know how bad boys turn on good girls. Soon, she’s dating the lodger and has left Joe behind; Joe’s convinced she’s dating a killer and even tries to arrest him. 

There’s a reason: the lodger has a photo of the first victim and maps of each murder. Initially, this was supposed to end with a question about whether he really was the killer; the studio wouldn’t let that happen.

For the beginning of the film, Hitchcock wanted to show the Avenger’s murder victim being dragged out of the River Thames. Scotland Yard refused but said they would “look the other way” if he could do the filming in one night. It wasn’t to be. Hitchcock learned that his cameraman had forgotten to put the lens on the camera before filming the scene. It was replaced with a scene where the victim faces the camera and screams. She was lying on a sheet of glass, lit from underneath with the camera mounted on its side and the footage shot downward. An amazing piece of in-camera effects.

You can watch this on YouTube.

Based on “The Gold-Bug” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, this at least has a great title. In the U.S., at least, as it was sold as Calypso in Great Britain.

Directed by W. Lee Wilder (Billy’s brother) and written by his brother Myles and Joel Murcott, this begins with Inspector Warren (Jack Lewis) coming to Jamaica to arrest a criminal known only as the Professor (Victor Jory). There’s also a captain named Brannigan (John Bromfield) who has won a ship called Manfish and the service of its first mate, Swede (Lon Chaney Jr.). Brannigan notices the ring the Professor wears and links it to a treasure map he finds, sending everyone to an island in search of the booty of pirate Jean Lafitte. Also: Brannigan wants the Professor’s woman, Alita (Tessa Prendergast, who would go on to design Ursula Andress’ bikini in Dr. No). Plus, you get another good-looking lady, Mimi (Barbara Nichols, The Human Duplicators). 

A lot of this movie finds the crew of the Manfish — “Big Boy” (Theodore Purcell) and Domingo (Vincent Chang) — turtle hunting. There’s also music by Clyde Hoyte and the Calypsos, and you’ll wonder, how do they get Poe into this? At least Chaney is good, all sweaty and drunk, but still wonderful.

You can watch this on YouTube.

Michael Reeves only directed three movies: this film, The Sorcerers and Witchfinder General. He also had something to do with Castle of the Living Dead* and assisted Don Siegel, worked for Jack Cardiff on The Long Ships and for Henry Levin on his movie Genghis Khan.

Made in 21 days for hardly any money — even when Barbara Steele made $1,000 for one day of work, that day was 18 hours long — and most of the crew is in the movie. Reeves also wrote the script, along with F. Amos Powell and Mel Welles (the director of Lady Frankenstein), under the name Michael Byron.

Two hundred years ago in Transylvania, a witch named Vardella was burned at the stake, but not before threatening to come back for revenge. This would end up ruining the honeymoon of Philip (Ian Ogilvy) and Veronica (Barbara Steele) and that’s not even counting the squalid hotel owned by Ladislav Groper (Welles).

As they enjoy breakfast, Count Von Helsing (John Karlsen) delights in sharing the legend of Dracula and the story Vardella. Well, those foreigners have no interest in this weird old man and blow him off. That night, Phillip catches Groper peeping on his wife and beats him into oblivion. If that doesn’t make this a rough wedding getaway, he wrecks their car into a lake and when they pull out his new bride, it’s the dead body of the witch instead of the gorgeous Steele.

Now, Phillip has to make nice with Von Helsing and be part of his plan to take this dead body, drug it and perform an exorcism to get his wife back. It seems like a lot of work, but I’ve done so much more for women who couldn’t stand in the brightness of Steele’s flawless alabaster skin.

How do you kill a witch? You drown it. That’s also how you find out if someone is a witch.

This played double features in America — distributed by American-International Pictures — with The Embalmer. 

*Depending on who is asked, Reeves either did minor second unit work, a polish on the script’s dwarf character, a complete takeover of the movie or nothing at all.

You can watch this on YouTube.