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Rating: 
Summary: View "Easy Virtue" as an artifact and "Blackmail" as genius
Review: Easy Virtue is one of Hitchcock's forgettable silent melodramas about a woman who wants to divorce her alchoholic husband and is scarred for life as a result.Blackmail, on the other hand, is a work of genius! It's Hitchcock's and England's very first talking film and viewing it, one would think Hitchcock had been working with sound on film for decades already. Hitchcock has always been ahead of his time and I can't think of a better example of this than Blackmail. Unfortunately, most transfers of this film to home entertainment media over the years have been less than tolerable at worst and just okay at best (the best being Criterion's Laserdisc transfer from several years back) This recent Laserlite release of the film is merely okay. It's not terrible and it's not terrific. It's hard to believe no one's done a full-out restoration on a picture of such importance. Kudos to Criterion for giving it the old college try on laserdisc, but like many of the other early Criterion Hitchcock laserdiscs (39 Steps, Lady Vanishes, Secret Agent) it still falls just barely short of the mark (which isn't to say they're bad transfers at all, mind you, they're just not as restored as they should be.) Kudos also go to Laserlite for trying and succeeding to give us a watchable home DVD copy of this classic. Thankfully, it's a reasonably good transfer that seems to have had more time taken with the transfer than Laserlite's terrible release of "Murder," Let's just hope Criterion soups it up for this one like they did for "The Lady Vanishes" and "The 39 Steps" and gives us the ultimate copy of this, one of my 10 favorite Hitchcock films. Until then, this is the best you're going to get on the DVD market, but ultimately, I recomend Criterion's "Blackmail" Laserdisc if you're still a dinosaur looking for the best copy available. 5 Stars to Hitchcock for one of the best films in the history of cinema, 4 stars to Laserlite for doing the best they can with a small budget.
Rating:
Summary: View these films as historical artifacts...
Review: My wife and I are avid Hitchcock fans and have begun a collection of his DVDs. Surprisingly, we both enjoy many of his early efforts. I'm a bit disturbed by reviewers who ridicule early Hitchcock films. They seem to expect films produced in the late 1920s to be comparable to those produced ten, twenty or thirty years later. That's just plain silly -- like comparing Lindbergh's plane with a B-17 or an F-14. As usual for Hitchcock, the women in both films steal the show. Blond and delicious. Hitchcock knew how to cast and photograph young ladies. It's great that these "early" Hitchcock "thrillers" are available to collectors.
Rating:
Summary: View these films as historical artifacts...
Review: My wife and I are avid Hitchcock fans and have begun a collection of his DVDs. Surprisingly, we both enjoy many of his early efforts. I'm a bit disturbed by reviewers who ridicule early Hitchcock films. They seem to expect films produced in the late 1920s to be comparable to those produced ten, twenty or thirty years later. That's just plain silly -- like comparing Lindbergh's plane with a B-17 or an F-14. As usual for Hitchcock, the women in both films steal the show. Blond and delicious. Hitchcock knew how to cast and photograph young ladies. It's great that these "early" Hitchcock "thrillers" are available to collectors.
Rating: 
Summary: The Master is speaking
Review: Of course, Easy virtue is quite a boring film. But Blackmail is a chef d'oeuvre. Many of the scenes are unforgetable. Watch this movie, and you not only can't forget it, but you'll be sure (if not yet) that Hitchcock was a Master. This movie was a silent one, but a few scenes were shot again to make the first english talking movie ever! In my mind, the best scene is when, after the murder, lady Ondra hear a neighbour speaking about knive... knive... KNIVE... You feel yourself as bas as the "poor" girl. If you like oldie but goldie, don't miss this DVD The images are fine and the sound is OK
Rating: 
Summary: A Good Double Bill
Review: This is one of Laserlight's best Hitchcock DVDs. 'Blackmail' is worth a look if only for the fact that it was Britain's first talkie. In fact some of the early scenes are still silent and you expect a title card to appear at any moment. Although 'Blackmail' never reaches the heights of 'The 39 Steps' or the 1934's 'The Man Who Knew Too Much', it is significantly better than most of Hitchcock's other films of the late twenties and early thirties. A few of the scenes are rather long and stagey but there are still some eyecatching moments and Anny Ondra is definitely an asset to the film despite her voice being dubbed by another actress. Picture quality is also very good. Unfortunately, with the notable exception of 'The Lodger', Hitchcock's silent work does not measure up to much. 'Easy Virtue' is probably one of his better efforts but I doubt you will be on the edge of your seat come the film's climax. The picture quality isn't too good either - only watchable - but I guess we shouldn't expect too much given the budget nature of the DVD. All in all, a decent double bill at a decent price. Well done Laserlight!
Rating:
Summary: A Budding Genius...
Review: This review refers to the LaserLight Special Edition Double Feature DVD..... A pair of gloves is the only evidence in a murder case. One is found by the detective working the case, the other by a sinister eyewitness who wants to "Blackmail" the killer. No, this is not a TV movie about OJ Simpson, this is early Hitch!(Only he could have known.)
In 1929 Alfred Hitchcock was already displaying his innate senses of style, suspense, shadowy figures,sensuality and lets not forget his wonderful sense of humor. This film has all those qualities that makes his films so recognizable.
Alice is bored,and steps out on Frank, her Scotland Yard boyfriend. Her "date" offers to paint her portrait. She agrees, but once in his apartment, he attacks her and she kills him in self defense.
The investagation leads her Detective boyfreind to realize she is the killer, but keeps it to himself, There's another witness, one that can blow the lid off the whole case.Alice's guilt is getting the best of her(shades of "Tell Tale Heart" by Poe). Will she turn herself in before it's too late, or will they keep this secret buried.The film stars Anny Ondra (she's marvelous)as Alice,John Longden as Frank, and Donald Calthrop as the blackmailer.
"Blackmail started out as a silent but with films like the "Jazz Singer" opening in the States, Hitch decided to add sound to this one making it the first British "Talkie".
Looking for Hitch: I spied him in the first 10 minutes in quite a comical cameo, don't miss it! The 2nd feature is "Easy Virtue". This was a silent made in 1927.
Don't look for suspense or horror in this one. It's a great drama though, and you'll still recognize Hitchcock's signature in it.
Larita is an innocent woman whose name and reputation is dragged through the mud after a nasty divorce. The publicity of it all makes her infamous. She tries to start her life anew, marries and must deal with some very nasty mother-in-law problems while trying to live down her notoriety.It is based on a play by Noel Coward and the score is newly recorded. Isabel Jeans plays the misunderstood woman in question.
Where's Hitch: You got me!. I can't say that I saw him in this one, although I did spy a portly man in a suit walking off a tennis court(very strange) but Only from the back so.... LaserLight delights us with this DVD of early work of Hitch, although the film's do show their age(really old), especially "Easy Virtue", they are totally watchable, nice black and white images, and the sound is very good. There is an introduction by Tony Curtis and an Original Theatrical Trailer of Rear Window for an extra added treat! Hitch fan's you gotta add this to your collection.Oh and everything is on one side, no need to flip the disc for the second feature!
Have fun with this one......Laurie
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