'A cottage on Dartmoor', from 1929, opens with an escaped convict who runs over the open moors, fleeing the police. The images are interspersed with those of a mother and her child. As a viewer you know right away that it will not be long before these two will cross each other's path. It does not take long before the prisoner has entered her house. When they come face to face with each other, she shouts 'Joe!'.
Immediately there follows a flashback that shows how Joe has come to his terrible deed and that it is no coincidence that he is now standing on her doorstep.
This film shows that silent films can have more power than the talkies. The simple fact of a jealous man out for revenge is depicted in a brilliant way. We sympathise with the insecure Joe who falls in love, we feel his frustration when he accidentally picks up the wrong signals from the lady in question, which ultimately will lead to an untenable jealousy.
The tension is well built up and director Anthony Asquith, who also wrote the script, has chosen interesting positions for the camera, which strengthen the tension. Hitchcock could not have done better. The editing is also done brilliantly. The tempo at which the images follow each other adds to the tension build-up of the story.
There is also an interesting scene that takes place in a cinema. We do not see which film is shown, but it is clear that a silent comedy precedes a talkie. Maybe I put too much into it, but it could be that Asquith realized that the silent film era was over and the talkie had the future. The audience laughs at the silent film and let themselves carry away talkie. But with this film Asquith has proven that the quality of the silent film was at its height when this film was made. The many talkies that would follow later could learn a lot from this film.
'A Cottage on Dartmoor' would also be the last film in which an international cast would work together in an equal way. Uno Henning, who played Joe, came from Sweden, Norah Baring, who played Sally, came from England and Hans Adalbert Schlettow, who played Harry, came from Germany. The advantage of silence was that nobody had an accent and no stereotypes or prejudices could be projected based on the origin of the actors. They were only chosen because they were good actors. And the cast of this film certainly has proven that with this film.
'A Cottage on Dartmoor' is one of those films that, like 'The Lodger' from 1927 by Hitchcock, can be fully appreciated in silence. To my knowledge there has never been a speaking version of 'A Cottage On Dartmoor’ made, but all later versions of 'The Lodger' have, in my opinion, never surpassed the silent version. It is perhaps good that there was never a remake made from ‘A Cottage on Dartmoor'. It is one of the best silent films I've seen so far.
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