[8]

This one is often regarded as the first quintessential Alfred Hitchcock film, and what’s not to like? A little girl is kidnapped and her family are forced to go through the hoops for her safe return. Peter Lorre steals the show as the baddie, complete with a scarred brow and white streak in his hair. There are some wonderfully understated moments of horror, like the inciting murder scene, in which a man hears a popping sound and doesn’t realize until a moment later that he’s been fatally shot. There are also some spectacular set-pieces, including an assassination attempt during a live performance at Albert Hall and a climactic shoot-out between Lorre’s gang and the London police.

The stars take a bit of a back seat during the third act, which is odd, and Leslie Banks acts pretty nonchalant for a man whose daughter has been abducted. Hitchcock remade the film with Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day, all big-budget Hollywood-style, in 1956. The remake is good in its own right, with better leads and more refined set-piece execution, but I have to give this original version credit for cutting to the chase and keeping the plot remarkably streamlined.