Number 17
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Year Released: 1932
Rating: 2.0
Several people arrive at a house containing a 'dead' body at the same time but for different reasons - it's a nice start for a Hitchcock picture that's all great ideas and somewhat shaky execution. The slow revelation that many of the people in involved are not what they appear to be is fascinating, as is the development of the plotline that has several people after a valuable necklace, but it loses considerable advantage when it turns into toy trains and trucks chasing each other. The editing and extreme close-ups (reminiscent of German expressionism) aren't so great, either. Hitch referred to it as "a disaster" - while Truffaut complained that it's "confusing" - but the Master has done far worse.
