#TO CATCH A THIEF BLACKFACE MOVIE#
Once again I have to thank American Movie Classics for bringing us another worthy movie from the past. Then again, is he really the lead, or is the story about the girl after all? I'm sure Hitch intended this touch of ambiguity.
One thought is that the title is perhaps a bit of a double entendre we always associate the phrase "Young and Innocent" with a female, but the story is really about the attempt of the lead character - a young man - to prove his innocence. Derrick deMarney as the romantic lead does a particularly fine job sort of a foreshadowing of the kind of thing Cary Grant later did so well. Though certainly not as well-done as some of his more noteworthy movies, I found it to be thoroughly captivating and entertaining, with the blend of suspense and humor that one finds in, say, "To Catch a Thief" or "Family Plot". that this early Hitchcock effort is a neglected gem. I hold with what seems to be the majority opinion here, i.e. Beyond that, any fan of thrillers who can look past an unfamiliar cast, and who is willing to look for the subtle touches that characterized the great director's British work, will also find the film a satisfying experience. Any Hitchcock fan should thoroughly enjoy "Young and Innocent". Three sequences are especially worth noting: (i) the renowned tracking shot at the climax of the film, which is not only a fine technical achievement but also an ideal way to set up the suspenseful conclusion (ii) the birthday party in the middle, which encapsulates in very subtle ways most of the themes and contrasts of the movie, and (iii) the sequence towards the beginning involving the hero's conference with his lawyer, his court appearance, and his escape, a sequence which is filled with comic details too numerous to catch all at once (including one of the director's most humorous cameos).
It is worth watching several times in order to catch and appreciate all of the details. Despite the film's short length, it is filled with classic Hitchcock touches of detail, artistry, and humor, many of which are more low-key than those in his more familiar Hollywood films. Pilbeam is not a glamorous heroine (and this may be one of the reasons why "Young and Innocent" is unjustly neglected), but she was a good choice to portray the youthful earnestness and resulting moral dilemmas of her character. In the story she finds her youthful naivete, especially the assumptions she has acquired in growing up as a chief police constable's daughter, challenged by the real world - perhaps for the first time in her life. Erica (Nova Pilbeam), his reluctant friend and helper, is innocent in a different sense. Young Tisdall is being chased by the law, but we know from the beginning that he is innocent, and his knowledge of that innocence enables him to remain upbeat and even playful despite the dangers and complications he faces. At the least, it could refer either to the hero, to the heroine, or to the overall atmosphere and themes of the movie. As is often the case with Hitchcock's British pictures, the title is capable of multiple interpretations. Derrick de Marney is engaging as the unjustly accused hero Robert Tisdall, and his character is balanced nicely by good performances from the rest of the cast (several of whom appeared in more than one of Hitchcock's British movies).
#TO CATCH A THIEF BLACKFACE FULL#
The actors would all be unfamiliar to most contemporary American viewers, but it is a fine cast that does full justice to a good story, and that responds well to Hitchcock's expert direction. It contains all of the features that characterized the finest of his British movies, and is (as many others have commented) a film often undeservedly overlooked amongst Hitchcock's large collection of classics. "Young and Innocent" is one of the best of Alfred Hitchcock's pre-Hollywood movies.
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