[4]
In this early Alfred Hitchcock film, an actress (Diana Baring) is found in a fugue state next to a bloody fire poker and a murdered acquaintance. She’s sentenced to death for a crime she doesn’t remember committing, but a skeptical juror (Herbert Marshall) takes it upon himself to discover who the real killer is. The screenplay (credited in part to Hitchcock’s long-time collaborator and wife, Alma Reville) leads Marshall to examine all the actors in Baring’s theater troupe. When he thinks he’s found the culprit, he casts the actor in a dramatization of the crime, hoping the guilty party will slip up and confess.
Murder! is very much a plot-driven mystery at the expense of any compelling characters. We barely get to know Baring’s character, so Marshall’s compulsion to clear her name is more abstract than emotionally engaging. Even though it’s a little too dry for my taste, there’s still plenty to appreciate. Marshall (The Letter, Midnight Lace) is a very good leading man for the piece, and Hitchcock incorporates a fair amount of comedy to liven up the proceedings. The third act is easily the most interesting and exciting, as Marshall begins to entrap the actor he believes committed the murder — a gay, crossdressing trapeze artist (Esme Percy) who surely fulfills Hitch’s penchant for sexual perversion. Highlights include a fairly shocking climax at a circus, and a curious ‘meta’ ending that casts doubt on whether the whole story is real, or if it’s all part of a stage production.
With Edward Chapman, Phyllis Konstam, and Una O’Connor (The Bride of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man) as the mother of several comically unruly children.