Murder!
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Murder! is a 1930 British drama film co-written and directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Herbert Marshall, Norah Baring and Edward Chapman. Written by Hitchcock, his wife Alma Reville and Walter C. Mycroft, it is based on a novel called Enter Sir John by Clemence Dane and Helen Simpson. It was Hitchcock's third all-talkie film, after Blackmail and Juno and the Paycock.
Plot
In 1930, Diana Baring (Norah Baring), a young actress in a travelling theatre troupe, is found in a daze with blood on her clothes, standing by the murdered body of another young actress, Edna Druce. The poker used to commit the murder was at Diana's feet, but she has no memory of what happened during the minutes the crime was committed. The two young women were thought to have been rivals, and the police arrest her. Diana withholds some important information deliberately, to protect something about the identity of a man that she will not name.
At her trial most of the jury are certain she is guilty. One or two feel that she may have a severe mental illness which meant that she really did have no memory of killing the other woman, but they are convinced that she should still be hanged lest she strike again. One juror, Sir John Menier (Herbert Marshall), a celebrated actor-manager, seems sure she must be innocent, but is brow-beaten into voting "guilty" along with the rest of the jury. Diana is imprisoned, and awaiting hanging.
Sir John feels responsible, as he was the one who had recommended that Diana take the touring job in order for her to get more life experience. It also turns out that Diana has been a fan of his since childhood. She is beautiful, and seems far too honest and straightforward to be a criminal of any kind. Using skills he has learned in the theatre, Sir John investigates the murder with the help of the stage manager Ted Markham (Edward Chapman) and his wife Doucie (Phyllis Konstam). They narrow the possible suspects down to one male actor in the troupe, Handel Fane (Esme Percy), who often plays cross-dressing roles.
During a prison visit with Baring, Sir John learns Fane's secret: he is a half-caste, only passing as white, and Druce threatened to expose him. Later, Sir John cunningly tries to lure a confession out of Fane, by asking him to audition for a new play that Sir John has written, on the subject of the murder. Fane realizes that they know he committed the crime, and that they understand how and why he did it. Fane leaves the audition without confessing, and goes back to his old job; he is a solo trapeze performer in a circus. Sir John and the others go there to confront him again. During his performance, from his high perch he looks down and sees them waiting. Despairing, he knots his access rope into a noose, slips it over his head and jumps to his death. Afterwards, Sir John and Markham discover Fane had written a confession to the murder before his suicide.
We then see Diana, free, and gloriously dressed in white furs, entering a beautiful room and being welcomed warmly by Sir John, who receives her as if he loves her. The camera pulls back and we realise we are watching the very last scene of a new play, possibly the new play, in which Diana stars opposite Sir John. They kiss as the curtain falls.
Cast
- Herbert Marshall as Sir John Menier
- Norah Baring as Diana Baring
- Phyllis Konstam as Doucie Markham
- Edward Chapman as Ted Markham
- Miles Mander as Gordon Druce
- Esme Percy as Handel Fane
- Donald Calthrop as Ion Stewart
- Esme V. Chaplin as Prosecuting Counsel
- Amy Brandon-Thomas as Defending Counsel
- Joynson Powell as Judge
- S.J. Warmington as Bennett
- Marie Wright as Miss. Mitcham
- Hannah Jones as Mrs. Didsome
- Una O'Connor as Mrs. Grogram
Members of the Jury
- R.E. Jeffrey as Foreman
- Alan Stainer
- Kenneth Kove
- Guy Pelham Boulton
- Violet Farebrother
- Clare Greet
- Drusilla Wills
- Robert Easton
- William Fazan
- George Smythson
- Ross Jefferson
- Picton Roxborough
- Alfred Hitchcock as man, with a female companion, walking along the street, while Edward Chapman is speaking to Herbert Marshall and Phyllis Konstam [uncredited]
- Gus McNaughton as Tom Trewitt [uncredited]
