Murder!

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, Murder! follows a young actress (Norah Baring’s Diana) as she’s accused of killing one of her costars (Aileen Despard’s Edna). It’s compelling subject matter that is, at the outset, employed to disastrously underwhelming and uninvolving effect by Hitchcock, as the filmmaker, armed with a screenplay written alongside Walter Mycroft and Alma Reville, delivers a sluggish endeavor that does, for the most part, seem to be unfolding in interminable slow motion – with this particularly true of a jury-room sequence that just feels endless. There’s little doubt, as well, that the movie’s subsequent emphasis on a juror’s (Herbert Marshall’s John Menier) investigation into the crime boasts few compelling, appealing attributes, although it’s equally clear that Murder! picks up substantially in an unexpectedly engrossing third act, dominated as it is by John’s fascinating efforts at tricking the killer into a confession, that’s capped off with a genuinely exciting climax – which does, in the end, cement the picture’s place as a woefully erratic piece of work that probably should’ve topped out at 60 minutes (ie there’s just so much filler here, ultimately).

** out of ****