In The Man Who Knew Too Much, a fifteen year old Nova Pilbeam played the abducted child, and two years later she was back as the romantic lead, the young blonde woman entangled with Derrick De Marney's innocent man wrongly accused of murder.
So it's a classic Hitchcock set up with a charming rural setting and pure friction free entertainment. It's the first of quite a few of his films with a Cornish location.
While Young and Innocent rarely gets much of a mention among Hitchcock favourites, there is a justly famous scene near the end of the film when Pilbeam and Edward Rigby are trying to find the real murderer in a hotel ballroom, only knowing that his eyes twitch. Hitch's crane shot sweeps the room and then tracks in on the drummer in a minstrel band, until his eyes are in close up... and then they twitch. It's my favourite single shot in all of his films.
There is romance, there are laughs, there are thrills and there is the legendary touch of the Master of Suspense. Hitch made more auspicious films in his British period, but it's still a wonderful film.
This pacey little movie begins in a fantastic and memorable way: we hear the frustrated cry of a name, "Christine!" and at once we're hooked. A murder is committed, and the wrong man is put in the frame. The film is a cat and mouse chase, with our two young heroes trying to stay one step ahead of the police in a bid to find the real murderer and bring him to justice. There are classic Hitchcock touches throughout this early film by the Master. When two young women discover the body on the beach, instead of letting the audience see what they are seeing the scene cuts to a few seconds of seagulls in flight, screaming. It's very effective. Later on the camera zooms in and stays on actress Nova Pilbeam's horrified face as she dangles above an old mineshaft, about to fall to her death. Does she scream? No - she's totally silent, though her mouth is open and she may be trying to speak. It's an agonising few moments as we will her to cling on, and another understated touch of genius by Hitchcock. Close to the end is the best scene of all: the camera slowly moving in on the face of the real murderer in a crowded, noisy nightclub, getting closer and closer until at last all we see are his eyes. Then he blinks - which gives him away as the wanted man. Superb. The film is somewhat dated, especially in its awkward depiction of a band of white musicians in 'blackface' make up; nevertheless it is a memorable early entry into the canon of brilliance that Hitch was rightly famous for. And 18 year old actress Nova Pilbeam is luminous throughout. She was Hitch's choice for the part of 'The Girl' in the 1940 Hollywood movie Rebecca, which he directed, and what a choice she would have been. Except that her contract did not permit her to go to America at that time. The part went instead to American actress Joan Fonteyn. Pilbeam was rarely seen again on screen, and eventually left the film industry, depriving future audiences of her potential to go on to achieve great things.