- Ever wonder what would have happened if Henry Fonda's character in 12 Angry Men caved in and voted guilty? It's difficult to imagine Juror #8 redeeming himself by hunting down the real murderer, but that's exactly the task reluctant juror Sir John Menier (Herbert Marshall) undertakes in Alfred Hitchcock's Murder!. Noble Sir John is so convinced of the gentle actress Diana Baring's (Norah Baring) innocence that he immediately enlists the help of her fellow thespians Ted and Deucie Markham (Edward Chapman and Phyllis Konstam) to catch the killer. While Miss Baring's memory blackout makes it difficult to reconstruct precisely what happened, the evidence gradually suggests the guilt of a spurned lover with a strange secret. The real challenge will be tricking the cunning Handel Fane (Esme Percy) into incriminating himself.
- Despite its rather slow start, Murder! proves to be a very enjoyable offering from the early part of Hitchcock's illustrious career. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the film is its great diversity of good scenes. Even at this early date, Hitchcock proved himself equally adept at handling the mob mentality of a jury, a foreboding sunrise on the morning of an execution, and an unhinged murderer taking fate into his own hands. This last item is especially memorable as Fane escapes Sir John's "mousetrap" only to bring himself to justice during a highwire act. Contemporary critics may have categorized Murder! as just another "highbrow shocker", but the rest of Hitchcock's career argues that it was something much more than that.
- This was my 41st Hitchcock film, but I watched it completely out of chronological order with the others.
- I spotted Hitchcock walking down the sidewalk.
- Though this didn't seem worth dwelling on in the review, it is worth mentioning that Fane was a "half-caste", which I assume means that his parents were different races.
- The imdb claims that this was the first film to put someone's thoughts on the soundtrack.
- Based on a novel and play by Clemence Dane and Helen Simpson.
