The Manxman (1929)

Some months back I DVRed Pandora's Box when TCM ran it in Silent Sunday Nights. I was surprised to see that it's out of print on DVD, so when it came time to do a post on a silent movie, I couldn't do that one. Instead, I pulled out my cheap Mill Creek box set of Alfred Hitchcock movies to watch The Manxman.

Carl Brisson plays Pete Quilliam, a fisherman on the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea between Britain and Ireland. He's in love with Kate (Anny Ondra), the daughter of the local innkeeper (Randle Ayrton), but Dad thinks that Pete is of too low a social class for his daughter, so when Pete asks for Kate's hand in marriage, her dad says no

Pete has a best friend in Philip (Malcolm Keen), son of a long line of Deemsters (Isle of Man judges), which seems a bit surprising since you'd think their class differences would be bigger than the one between Pete and Kate. But apparently Philip's father married a woman who wasn't of a high enough class, which ruined his career, so Philip's mom doesn't want her son to make the same mistake.

Pete tells Philip that he's going to get a job as a sailor, go out in the world, and make enough money so that when he comes home, he'll be able to take care of Kate. (And by that time her father could die, one supposes.) Pete would like Philip to keep an eye out on Kate to make certain she stays OK. Of course, more than that happens as Philip and Kate start to spend time together.

Things get more intense when news comes from abroad by telegram that Pete has been lost at sea. This would leave Kate open to marry Philip, if only it wouldn't screw up his career as Deemster. Further complicating matters is that Pete didn't die, and he's eventually coming back with the money to marry Kate and set her up right.

The big problem, of course, is that Kate no longer loves Pete, but still loves Philip, although telling Pete this truth would probably crush him. So she suffers until she can suffer no longer....

I found The Manxman to be very well done. It's certainly not the sort of movie you'd expect from Alfred Hitchcock, but then again, the "master of suspense" style generally dates to the first The Man Who Knew Too Much and The 39 Steps, even if several earlier movies were precursors. There's also not much of the distinctive camera work that Hitchock would become known for, although there's really nothing wrong with the cinematography here. (Well, a better print would be nice.)

The Manxman is a nice change of pace for Hitchcock fans, and a nice silent movie for silent fans. Amazon lists a DVD-R version available, although the box artwork they show frankly makes it look a bit sketchy to me. The TCM Shop lists a version from Reel Vault, although it's about a half hour shorter than the one on my box set.