Murder!

 

(1930)
Directed by Alfred Hithcock
Written by Alfred Hitchcock, Alma Reville, Edward Chapman, from a book by Clemence Dare and Helen Simpson
Starring Herbert Marshall, Norah Baring
IMDB Entry

I'm a big fan of Hitchcock and seen most of his films. Some of his earlier ones are interesting not just for their story, but as a way to see how he developed as a director. Murder! was his third sound film and shows how he was feeling his way as a director.

Diana Baring (Norah Baring) is a member of a theater company, and is found sitting by the body of another actress, Edna Druce, killed by a fireplace poker* lying at the floor. dazed and not knowing what had happened. She is tried for the murder. When the jury deliberates, Sir John Menier (Herberg Marshall) is reluctant to declare  her guilty, but is finally persuaded to condemn her.  Menier, the manager of a theatrical troupe, regrets his change of mind and, while Diana is waiting for the noose, decides to meet her, and feels it unlikely she killed Edna. He starts to investigate, to find evidence of the real murderer.

The story is more a traditional whodunnit than an exercise in suspense. Menier searches out the clues, with some dead ends, until he finds the culprit, but, unusually for this type of film, the killer does not immediately confess when confronted with the evidence.

There also is little suspense, though Hitchcock shows how to do it as he juxtaposes Diana in her cell with the noose that awaits her.**

The acting is serviceable, though very much of its time. 

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*Fireplace pokers are the third leading cause of death in old movies, after guns and strangulation.

**And a noose figures in the final resolution.