A lot of fun.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

This is not a good movie. The story line is awful. It is really slow. It is boring has hell. Never ever see it. It is a wast of money. It is also a waste of time. Do not see. I do not know why people like this crap. It one the worst movie ever. It not has bad has The Godfather. Bu it is pretty dame close

The great film critic Roger Ebert coined the phrase "the idiot plot" in connection with movies that depend on idiotic behavior by their main characters in order to work at all. Here's proof of the concept in action long before Ebert came along to christen it.Bosom buddies Pete (Carl Brisson) and Philip (Malcolm Keen) follow different career paths on the Isle of Man; Pete fishes and Philip practices law. Pete falls in love with the barkeeper's daughter, pretty Kate (Anny Ondra) and asks Philip to look after her while he goes off to make his fortune. Philip looks after her alright, enough to be worried at news of Pete's return.The idiot plot, in this instance, is the fact that Pete and Kate aren't exactly lovers even before he leaves; director Alfred Hitchcock clues us in early to the fact Kate wants Philip and vice versa. Why then the hang-up about her pairing off with Philip? Philip himself says something about Pete's "faith in our loyalty," but it seems a thin idea to build a story around.An idiot plot alone isn't enough to condemn a film; looked at rationally it could be said "The Searchers" and Hitchcock's own "Vertigo" have them, too, and I think they're swell anyway. Here, however, the idiot plot is in service of a slow-moving film rife with unintentional comedy and two performances (Keen's and Ondra's) which are cringingly bad. You can't help noticing the characters acting stupidly when there's nothing much of quality to distract you.The only arresting element to this whole film, other than the fact it represents Hitchcock's final silent feature (he made some good ones, but really needed sound to find himself), is the cinematography by Jack E. Cox, which calls attention to itself from the opening shot of fishing boats sailing into port amid a strikingly craggy shoreline. Each outdoor shot grants you a new perspective at this offbeat location from this distant time.Whenever this film is inside, it is a real tooth-pull. Hitchcock favors long shots of the actors staring into the camera, eyes darting back and forth to indicate hidden secrets. Kate flounces about in a state of perpetual minxhood, seemingly unable to control her desire for Phil even if it means abandoning her baby to set up residency in Phil's closet. Phil could have been interesting if he was played as a bit of a louse, but instead Keen gives us a series of pained looks to indicate how aggrieved he is by the whole thing. He looks instead like a used-car salesman.There's a funny moment where Phil and Kate first get it on inside a mill, in which the camera decorously cuts to a grinding millstone after they embrace. Hello, train tunnel. But it gets rather ridiculous when Kate and Pete hold their reception in the same room, and Kate's Bible- thumping Dad somehow decides to use that same grindstone as an object lesson against backsliding and adultery."The mills of God grind slowly..." he warns, as Kate and Phil shrink in fear.The mills of Hitch grind slowly indeed in this film, all because Phil is too much of an idiot to tell his buddy the truth. If you want to see a solid example of Hitchcock before he really found himself, give this a look; if you want classic silent entertainment, look elsewhere.

I had low hopes of this movie when I picked it up for £1 at a local flea market. Hitchcock himself said "It was a very banal picture". It is a poor story - surely no-one is happy at the end ? and to call Malcolm Keen's acting wooden is to give him more praise than is deserved, after all wood can be varied and beautiful. Plus there is a complete lack of rapport between him and Anna - whatever happens he is pop-eyed and worried! When they disappear up the grassy hill at the end you can imagine the inevitable breakdown of the relationship. However the film was redeemed for me by 1) Anna Ondra - she looks gorgeous in every scene and conveys a wide range of emotions with sincerity and 2) the photography - the shots of the fishing village and boats(Cornwall) and especially the beach meeting between Ondra and Keen are stylish and impressive. So I enjoyed it - it's well worth £1!

It's an old story. Poor fisherman Carl Brisson (as Pete Quilliam) goes off to sea, to make his fortune, and is presumed dead. Well-heeled boyhood chum Malcolm Keen (as Phil Christian), whom he's asked to look after fickle sweetheart Anny Ondra (as Kate Cregeen), accomplishes what you'd expect. Then, Mr. Brisson returns… This variation on an often-told tale was director Alfred Hitchcock's last silent film. And, not a moment too soon. The old-fashioned picture's main strength is Mr. Hitchcock and photographer Jack Cox' beautiful use of the "Isle of Man" locations; if only D.W. Griffith could have filmed his "Enoch Arden" there...***** The Manxman (1/21/29) Alfred Hitchcock ~ Carl Brisson, Malcolm Keen, Anny Ondra, Randle Ayrton