This movie is interesting to me because of it's concentrating on Hitchcock's romance formula which runs through most of his films. In this film it IS the story. Hitch's recurring theme of romance is the partnership of man & woman; the way that partnership is formed, renewed & nurtured. I have always liked his concept of love & romance. It greatly enriches his films. It is a truer & nobler view of this part of life than is usually seen. I like to think that it mirrors the relationship of him & his wife (billed in the titles as Alma Reville; her maiden name). There is certainly more than a hint of things to come. The hero obsesses in much the way as the master did over several of the women he made stars of. I would imagine that Alma had to play much the same role as Joan Barry at some point. Oh well, Hitch was Hitch. He was supposed to be a cruel practical joker too. The movie starts out way too slow for modern audiences. Hang in there or fast forward if you can't stand it. The structure is quite interesting in that it is a hybrid of the silent & sound movie. The first sequence is silent & music is cleverly used in the bit with the umbrellas. All thru the movie portions are silent with faux sync or other tricks. Sometimes the sound quality is awful but bear in mind that getting ANY sound at all was a technical feat in those days. Could probably be cleaned up with Cakewalk (sound program) or similar. Somebody should make the effort. The film lab work too is less than stellar. I have worked the film labs & I really think some of the footage was developed in strong British tea. All in all a quirky & somewhat dated film but good for those who are studying the master.
Review of East of Shanghai
