Showing:
BBC TWO, Sunday July 29, 10.30am
Synopsis:
(1937) A woman is found murdered, and the prime suspect escapes from the courthouse. With the help of the daughter of the chief of police, he goes on a quest to clear his name and find the true killer.
Read the full synopsis on BFI Screenonline.
Director:
Alfred Hitchcock
Screenplay by:
Charles Bennett, Edwin Greenwood and Anthony Armstrong
Cast:
- Nova Pilbeam (Erica Burgoyne)
- Derrick De Marney (Robert Tisdall)
- John Longden (Detective Inspector Kent)
- Edward Rigby (Old Will)
- Basil Radford (Basil, Erica's Uncle)
Full cast and credits on BFI Screenonline.
Analysis:
Young and Innocent is another of Hitchcock's stories in which the hero undertakes a quest to clear his name, a series which also includes The 39 Steps (1935), Saboteur (US, 1942), To Catch a Thief (US, 1955), The Wrong Man (US, 1957) and North by Northwest (US, 1959). Like several of these, it features a couple pushed together by circumstance, reluctant partners at first, but finally lovers.
It is much lighter in tone than most of Hitchcock's previous thrillers, thanks in part to the easy charm of lead Derrick de Marney, and anticipates the successful blend of comedy and suspense in The Lady Vanishes the following year. The climax of the film is a justly celebrated sequence in which the camera glides over a crowded dancefloor to pick out the true murderer. But this is not the only impressive scene in the film.
Read the full analyisis on BFI Screenonline.
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