''Murder!'' is a 1930 British

mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' *Mystery, a seahorse that SpongeBob SquarePants adopts in the episode " My Pre ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

co-written and directed by

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...

, and starring

Herbert Marshall Herbert Brough Falcon Marshall (23 May 1890 – 22 January 1966) was an English stage, screen, and radio actor who starred in many popular and well-regarded Hollywood films in the 1930s and 1940s. After a successful theatrical career in the Un ...

Norah Baring Norah Baring (26 November 1905 – 8 February 1985), born Nora Minnie Baker, was an English stage and film actress best known on screen for portraying "Diana Baring" in the Alfred Hitchcock thriller ''Murder!'' (1930). Her other notable roles i ...

and Edward Chapman. Written by Hitchcock, his wife

Alma Reville Alma Lucy Reville, Lady Hitchcock (14 August 1899 – 6 July 1982) was an English screenwriter and film editor. She was the wife of film director Alfred Hitchcock. She collaborated on scripts for her husband's films, including ''Shadow of a Doub ...

, and Walter C. Mycroft, based on the 1928 novel '' Enter Sir John'' by

Clemence Dane Winifred Ashton CBE, better known by the pseudonym Clemence Dane (21 February 1888 – 28 March 1965), was an English novelist and playwright. Life and career After completing her education, Dane went to Switzerland to work as a French tutor ...

and Helen Simpson, it is Hitchcock's third all-

talkie A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed befo ...

film, after ''

Blackmail Blackmail is a criminal act of coercion using a threat. As a criminal offense, blackmail is defined in various ways in common law jurisdictions. In the United States, blackmail is generally defined as a crime of information, involving a thr ...

'' (1929) and ''

Juno and the Paycock ''Juno and the Paycock'' is a play by Seán O'Casey. Highly regarded and often performed in Ireland, it was first staged at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 1924. It is set in the working-class tenements of Dublin in the early 1920s, during the I ...

'' (1930).

Plot

Diana Baring, a young actress in a travelling theatre troupe, is found in a daze with blood on her clothes, sitting by the murdered body of another young actress, Edna Druce. The poker used to commit the murder is at Diana's feet, but she has no memory of what happened during the minutes that the crime was committed. The two young women are thought to have been rivals, and the police arrest her. Diana withholds some important information deliberately, to protect something about the identity of a man that she will not name. At her trial, most of the jury are certain she is guilty. One or two feel that she may have a severe mental illness which means that she really does have no memory of killing the other woman, but they are convinced that she should still be hanged lest she strike again. One juror, Sir John Menier, a celebrated

actor-manager An actor-manager is a leading actor who sets up their own permanent theatrical company and manages the business, sometimes taking over a theatre to perform select plays in which they usually star. It is a method of theatrical production used co ...

, seems sure she must be innocent, but is brow-beaten into voting "guilty" along with the rest of the jury. Diana is imprisoned, and awaits hanging. John feels responsible, as he had recommended that Diana take the touring job in order for her to get more experience. He discovers Diana has been a fan of his since childhood, and considers her far too honest and straightforward to be a criminal of any kind. Using skills he has learned in the theatre, John investigates the murder with the help of the stage manager Ted Markham and his wife Doucie. They narrow the possible suspects down to a male actor in the troupe, Handel Fane. During a prison visit with Baring, John learns Fane's secret: he is

half-caste Half-caste is a term used for individuals of Multiracial, multiracial descent. The word ''wikt:caste, caste'' is borrowed from the Portuguese or Spanish word ''casta'', meaning race. Terms such as ''half-caste'', ''caste'', ''quarter-caste'' an ...

and passing as white, and Druce had threatened to expose him to Diana, with whom he was in love, neither of them knowing that Diana already knew this. John cunningly tries to lure a confession out of Fane, by asking him to audition for a new play he has been writing. John describes a plot closely resembling the murder, and Fane realises that they know he committed the crime and understand how and why he did it. Fane leaves without confessing and returns to his previous job as a

transvestite Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothes traditionally or stereotypically associated with a different gender. From as early as pre-modern history, cross-dressing has been practiced in order to disguise, comfort, entertain, and express onesel ...

trapeze A trapeze is a short horizontal bar hung by ropes, metal straps, or chains, from a ceiling support. It is an aerial apparatus commonly found in circus performances. Trapeze acts may be static, spinning (rigged from a single point), swinging or ...

performer in a circus. John and the others go there to confront him again. During Fane's performance, he looks down and sees them waiting. Despairing, he knots his access rope into a noose, slips it over his head, and jumps to his death. John and Markham discover Fane had written a confession to the murder before his suicide. At the film's conclusion, Diana is shown free and glamorously dressed in a white

fur A fur is a soft, thick growth of hair that covers the skin of almost all mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an ...

, entering a beautiful room and being welcomed warmly by John, who receives her lovingly. The camera pulls back and reveals this is the last scene of a new play, possibly ''the'' new play, in which Diana stars opposite John. They kiss as the curtain falls.

Cast

as Sir John Menier *

as Diana Baring *

Phyllis Konstam Phyllis Esther Kohnstamm (14 April 1907 – 20 August 1976), known as Phyllis Konstam, was an English film actress born in London. She appeared in 12 films between 1928 and 1964, including four directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Life Phyllis Est ...

as Doucie Markham * Edward Chapman as Ted Markham *

Miles Mander Miles Mander (born Lionel Henry Mander; 14 May 1888 – 8 February 1946), was an English character actor, writer, director and producer in the post-war period of early British cinema during the 1920s to mid-1930s, as well as a playwright an ...

as Gordon Druce * Esme Percy as Handel Fane *

Donald Calthrop Donald Esme Clayton Calthrop (11 April 1888 – 15 July 1940) was an English stage and film actor. Born in London, Calthrop was educated at St Paul's School and made his first stage appearance at eighteen years of age at the Comedy Theat ...

as Ion Stewart * Esme V. Chaplin as Prosecuting Counsel *

Amy Brandon-Thomas Amy Marguerite Brandon Thomas (9 March 1890 – 6 May 1974) was an English film and stage actress. She was the daughter of the playwright Brandon Thomas. She is also known as Amy Brandon-Thomas. Life and career Amy Brandon Thomas was born in L ...

as Defending Counsel * Joynson Powell as Judge * S. J. Warmington as Bennett * Marie Wright as Miss Mitcham * Hannah Jones as Mrs. Didsome * Una O'Connor as Mrs. Grogram *

as man walking with a female companion in the foreground while Edward Chapman is speaking to Herbert Marshall and Phyllis Konstam ncredited*

Gus McNaughton Gus McNaughton (29 July 1881 – 18 November 1969), also known as Augustus Le Clerq and Augustus Howard, was an English film actor. He appeared in 70 films between 1930 and 1947. He was born in London and died in Castor, Cambridgeshire, Cast ...

as Tom Trewitt ncredited ''Members of the Jury'' * R.E. Jeffrey as Foreman * Alan Stainer *

Kenneth Kove Kenneth Kove (1892–1984) was a British actor. He was a regular member of the Aldwych farce team between 1923 and 1930, often in "silly-ass" roles; appearing in '' It Pays to Advertise'' (1923), '' Thark'' (1927), '' A Cup of Kindness'' (1929), ...

* Guy Pelham Boulton *

Violet Farebrother Violet Farebrother (22 August 1888 – 27 September 1969) was an English actress. She appeared in 25 films between 1911 and 1965, including three films directed by Alfred Hitchcock. She was born in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, and died in Eastbou ...

Clare Greet Clare Greet (14 June 1871 – 14 February 1939) was an English stage and film actress. She began on stage in Shakespeare with the Ben Greet Company. She appeared in 26 films between 1921 and 1939, including seven films directed by (and one ...

Drusilla Wills Drusilla Wills (14 November 1884 – 6 August 1951) was a British stage and film actress. After making her stage debut in 1902, she played character roles in many films, including as a jury member in Alfred Hitchcock's '' Murder!'' (1930). Se ...

* Robert Easton * William Fazan * George Smythson * Ross Jefferson * Picton Roxborough

Production

The film was made by

British International Pictures Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC), originally British International Pictures (BIP), was a British film production, distribution and exhibition company active from 1927 until 1970 when it was absorbed into EMI. ABPC also owned appro ...

. It was originally to be released under the same title as the novel, ''Enter Sir John'', but this was changed to the simpler ''Murder!'' during shooting. A number of changes were made from the book, including altering the names of the two principal characters. The portrayal of the character Sir John Mernier was loosely based on that of the actor

Gerald du Maurier Sir Gerald Hubert Edward Busson du Maurier (26 March 1873 – 11 April 1934) was an English actor and Actor-manager, manager. He was the son of author George du Maurier and his wife, Emma Wightwick, and the brother of Sylvia Llewelyn Davies ...

, who was a friend of Hitchcock.Chandler p.80 Hitchcock later adapted two novels and one short story written by du Maurier's daughter

Daphne du Maurier Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning, (; 13 May 1907 – 19 April 1989) was an English novelist, biographer and playwright. Her parents were actor-manager Gerald du Maurier, Sir Gerald du Maurier and his wife, actress Muriel Beaumont. Her gra ...

: ''

Jamaica Inn The Jamaica Inn is a traditional inn on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, England, which was built as a coaching inn in 1750, and has a historical association with smuggling. Located just off the A30, near the middle of the moor close to the hamlet of ...

'' (1939), ''

Rebecca Rebecca () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical tradition, Rebecca's father was Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram, also called Aram-Naharaim. Rebecca's brother was Laban (Bi ...

'' (1940) and '' The Birds'' (1963). Hitchcock makes his

cameo appearance A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking on ...

in the film as a man walking past the murder victim's house. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

John Mead. The

German language German (, ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western Europe, Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and Official language, official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switze ...

version of the film, ''

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

'' (1931), was shot simultaneously on the same set with German-speaking actors.

reprised his role as Gordon Druce in ''Mary'', though the character's name was changed to Gordon Moore.

Music

In addition to the original music composed by

John Reynders John Reynders (1888–1953) was a British musician and composer who worked on the film scores of a number of films. Selected filmography * ''Moulin Rouge'' (1928) * ''Under the Greenwood Tree'' (1929) * '' The American Prisoner'' (1929) * ''Hig ...

, the film uses the opening of

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

's ''

Tristan und Isolde ''Tristan und Isolde'' (''Tristan and Isolde''), WWV 90, is a music drama in three acts by Richard Wagner set to a German libretto by the composer, loosely based on the medieval 12th-century romance ''Tristan and Iseult'' by Gottfried von Stras ...

'' prelude in a radio broadcast Sir John is listening to during the shaving scene. For the filming, an orchestra played the music live on the set. Hitchcock described the filming of this scene to

François Truffaut François Roland Truffaut ( , ; ; 6 February 1932 – 21 October 1984) was a French filmmaker, actor, and critic. He is widely regarded as one of the founders of the French New Wave. He came under the tutelage of film critic Andre Bazin as a ...

in the book-length interview ''

Hitchcock/Truffaut ''Hitchcock/Truffaut'' is a 1966 book by François Truffaut about Alfred Hitchcock, originally released in French as ''Le Cinéma selon Alfred Hitchcock''. First published by Éditions Robert Laffont, it is based on a 1962 dialogue between H ...

''. In the early days of

sound film A sound film is a Film, motion picture with synchronization, synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, bu ...

, there was no way to post-dub sound, so Hitchcock had Herbert Marshall's voice recorded on a phonograph record, which was played back during the filming of the scene, while the orchestra played the "radio" music live.

Copyright status and home media

''Murder!'' is copyrighted worldwide but has been heavily bootlegged on home video. Despite this, various licensed, restored releases have appeared on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

and

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films Digital distribution, digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typica ...

services from

Optimum Mathematical optimization (alternatively spelled ''optimisation'') or mathematical programming is the selection of a best element, with regard to some criteria, from some set of available alternatives. It is generally divided into two subfiel ...

in the UK,

Lionsgate Lions Gate, Lion Gate or similar terms may refer to: Gates *Lion Gate at Mycenae in Greece *Lion Gate, one of the entrances to the ancient Hittite city of Hattusa, now in Turkey *Lion Gate, one of the entrances to the gardens of Hampton Court Pala ...

and

Kino Lorber Kino Lorber is an international film distribution company based in New York City. Founded in 1977, it was originally known as Kino International until it was acquired by and merged into Lorber HT Digital in 2009. It specializes in art film, art ho ...

in the US, and others.

References

Bibliography

* Chandler, Charlotte. ''It's only a movie: Alfred Hitchcock : a personal biography''. First Applause, 2006. * Yacowar, Maurice. ''Hitchcock's British Films''. Wayne State University Press, 2010.

External links

* * * *
''Alfred Hitchcock Collectors’ Guide: Murder!'' at Brenton Film''Cinema Then, Cinema Now: Murder!'
a 1990 discussion of the film hosted by Jerry Carlson of

CUNY TV CUNY TV is a non-commercial educational station of the City University of New York, based in New York City. It offers telecourse programming in various subjects ranging from mathematics, physics, and biology to history, art, and social studies ...

{{Authority control 1930 films 1930 drama films 1930 multilingual films 1930 mystery films 1930s British films 1930s English-language films 1930s mystery thriller films British black-and-white films British drama films British multilingual films British mystery thriller films Films about actors Films based on British novels Films based on crime novels Films directed by Alfred Hitchcock Films set in 1930 Films set in London Films shot at British International Pictures Studios Films about juries British murder mystery films English-language mystery thriller films