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Number Seventeen
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by Alpha Video Distributors
Sales Rank: 91068
Price: $12.99
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The technical challenges of this 1932 "old dark house" mystery are largely what appealed to Alfred Hitchcock, who uses a staircase quite inventively to create a series of emotional and dramatic thresholds from which to tell a story (adapted from a play) about a policeman, a hobo, and a gang of jewel thieves. Besides the technical temptations of filming in the house, Hitch turns (as he often did in the early days) to models to create an exciting chase-climax between a train and a bus. A very minor work, indeed, but revealing of the director's early interest in transcending dull material with exercises in what he termed "pure cinema." The print of the film used in the DVD release is serviceable and probably comparable to an average 16mm classroom or museum presentation. The DVD also includes a Hitchcock filmography, trivia questions, a director biography, and scene access. <I>--Tom Keogh</I>
Viewer Reviews
Hitchcock co-wrote this British comic thriller early in his career and it is very entertaining. Based on a Jefferson Farjeon play about a hobo stumbling across a body at Number 17 on a windy night, Hitchcock compensated for the smaller budget often afforded him during this period in Britain with droll humor and the lighting of photographers John J. Cox and Bryan Langley. The results are fun to watch.
Leon M. Lion is excellent and quite amusing as the bum who has the misfortune of entering Number 17 and discovering the body. John Stuart is also fine as Gilbert Fordyce, a mystery man who comes across the body only moments after Ben (Lion) does. Before they can collect their thoughts a young girl (Ann Casson) quite literally drops through the ceiling into Fordyce's arms. Her father has gone missing and only a telegram regarding a Suffolk necklace traced to Number 17 and a man named Shelldrake offer any clues to the mystery.
Soon there is a flurry of people at Number 17, including a lovely girl reportedly both deaf and mute. Anne Grey is very beautiful in the role and has some fine moments as Hitchcock balances the humor and mystery perfectly, with just a dash of romance on the horizon. Part of the fun is figuring out who are the good guys and who the bad.
Fordyce gives a bus full of tourists a wilder ride than bargained for in an exciting race with a train which leads to an enjoyably romantic finale. The special effects during the chase often cited as cheesy really aren't that bad for this time period in British cinema and hardly scrutinized by viewers caught up in the fun.
It takes a bit to get going but once it does this is very good Hitchcock and compares well to his more heralded films before moving across the pond. Don't waste your money on a dvd, as no prints of this film are spectacular, and you are just as well off to get it less expensively on vhs. Great fun for a rainy night!
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Number Seventeen
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