Rent The Manxman (1929)

Silent Hitchcock melodrama. - The Manxman review by Steve

On Hitchcock' ninth and last silent film he finally found a female lead of charm and exceptional beauty just as she was rendered obsolete by the arrival of sound. She was the blonde Anny Ondra whose strong middle European accent made her suddenly and sadly unsuitable for the talkies.

Which was perhaps apt on the release of a film whose theme was the paradox of fate. The key scene relates to bitter irony of a husband celebrating his wife's pregnancy, with the man who was actually the father of the child.

The Manxman is a melodramatic love triangle, with Cornwall standing in for the Isle of Man, and a film which concluded with one of Hitch's few tragic endings. It has relatively little comic relief and is unrepresentative of the Master's signature work.

The film is a curiosity which spotlights that at the end of the silent era, Hitch was still an artist in search of a medium.