4 out of 5

Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock

From its opening shots, it’s clear that The Manxman is a step beyond director Alfred Hitchcock’s previous silent films. Its visual balance isn’t flashy: it’s observational. The shot of boats at sea is patient – storytelling and tone; not hurried to announce anything.

Best of friends fisherman Pete (Carl Brisson) and lawyer Philip (Malcolm Keen) are working on a petition for better rights for the local workers; they convene the signing of said petition at Caesar’s bar, whose daughter, Kate (Anny Ondra) happens to be the conquest of both men. Philip, reserved and focused, stands by while Pete flirts, even going to bat for his friend with Caesar when Pete wants to propose to Kate. The old man throws Pete out on his bum, though – he’s a penniless lout! Pete goes to propose to Kate any way, proclaiming he’ll travel afar and makes some riches, then come back to marry the lass if she promises to wait. She does make the promise – while making google eyes at Philip – and the friend equally promises to watch over her until Pete returns. He leaves; they stay; and circumstances allow Philip and Kate to start an “affair,” only in quotes because a modern viewer might be puzzled, but in the 1920s, y’know, if your word was bond and all, and you’re godless and/or a whore if you break that bond.

There are a couple of twists and turns I won’t spoil, even if that same modern viewer can probably guess them from 100+ years of movie history turning them into cliche, but in short, things become especially complicated for the would-be couple: The Manxman doesn’t have the dose of comedy found in the last few Hitchcocks, even in passing, really; nor is it a character study or necessarily a romance – it is a straight drama. That “straightness” feels like its biggest boon: unlike some of the immediately preceding movies Hitch worked on, he actually feels invested in these characters (conflicting morals do seem like a preferred topic, even if he had trouble bringing it to life previously), and whether it was the impending sound revolution, or his evolving filmcraft, or new editor Emile de Ruelle, the film is shot with compositional confidence that is unmarred by the distracting trickery / technique wank Hitch was always trying out, leading to a movie that always looks good, and effects its technique through subtle and effective means, like shooting through panes of glass, or letting lighting and how close or far we are from a scene add everything to its moments, but without taking us outside of the sea-town setting.

There’s also much better control of actors here. Ondry is kind of maddeningly inconsistent, but it’s her silent way of communicating the character’s complexities, I’d think; it doesn’t work, but it makes “sense.” On the other hand, Brisson and Keen, both with some Hitch experience, find the right balance of expressiveness and body language for, again, not taking us out of the setting or tone. After battling with narration cards, Hitchcock (or, again, in tandem with his editor) seems more comfortable applying them as needed, giving his actors more room to add the over-the-top detail only as necessary. I mean, to be clear, everyone’s still mugging, it just all comes across as more natural for the form, and not folks figuring out how this moving-pictures biz works.

There are some rough edges, of course: I always question how much of this stuff would’ve been obvious to audiences at the time (or if it didn’t matter as much because we weren’t 100+ years into the medium), but Pete’s character has to be pretty dumb for this story to work, and even for the time, I think the film had a bit more wiggle room to explore Philip’s and Kate’s relationship – we end up oversimplifying their characters, when a couple scenes hint at possible complexities. Visually, some film standards were still a bit sketchy, like the 180 degree rule – making for some clunky transitions – and despite my praise above about the scene compositions, that applies to about 85% of the movie, with the other 15 being repeated shots of a living room or bar where it looks, and functions, exactly like a play set. Not bad, but rather plain.

Which is probably a more fitting description for the movie, but watching it in sequence with the other silent Hitch films, it’s an incredible step up in quality all around, and definitely my favorite (and most watchable from start to finish) of the bunch.