Dir: Alfred Hitchcock | Scr: Eliot Stannard | Novel: Mrs Belloc Lowndes | Ph: Baron Ventimiglia | Prod: Michael Balcon & Carlyle Blackwell | Mus: Nitin Sawhney (2012) | Ed: Ivor Montagu | AD: C. Wilfrid Arnold & Bertram Evans | Cast: Ivor Novello, June, Malcolm Keen, Marie Ault, Arthur Chesney
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A landlady comes to suspect that her new lodger is The Avenger, a serial killer targeting curly-haired blonde women. And so, when he starts to take an interest in her daughter, who just happens to have blonde curly hair, the middle-aged woman quickly becomes rather worried, despite the fact that a young policeman, coincidentally assigned to the Avenger case, is also courting her affections. And whilst she only suspects, we, being witness to far more seemingly damning evidence, quickly become convinced of his guilt. Hitchcock’s dynamically flamboyant (though never flashy) direction, a number of fine performances, and some smartly tricksy plotting combine to hugely entertaining, oft brilliant effect.
