Classic Cinema: Hitchcock's "Young and Innocent"

This 1937 film by Alfred Hitchcock is one of my favorites from the great director.

"Young and Innocent" is one of Hitchcock's many "wrongfully accused man on the run to prove his innocence" tales, but it's one I never get tired of watching. Nova Pilbeam and Derrick de Marney are perhaps as good as they ever were in this quick-moving film that dances deftly from drama to comedy to nail-biting thriller mode and back again over and over. And the climax at the restaurant is something filmmakers should look at and try to emulate even today.

Check out this week's "Classic Cinema" entry. If you've never watched early Hitchcock, "Young and Innocent" is a great place to start. (It's actually a better film than some of his more famous 1930s efforts.) Click here to read my review, or feel free to go straight to the movie below. And have a great weekend!.

Nazi scientists plot revenge on England

Counterblast (aka "The Devil's Plot") (1948)
Starring: Mervyn Johns, Robert Beatty, and Nova Pilbeam
Director: Paul Stein
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

A Nazi scientist (Johns) escapes from a British prison camp and murders and assumes the identity of a bacteriologist recently returned to Britain after decades abroad. In this guise, he continues developing deadly biological weapons as part of a plot to avenge Germany's defeat in WW2. Pressure on him grows, and risk of exposure becomes ever greater, as another scientist (Beatty) becomes suspicious, he is forced to take a well-meaning woman (Pilbeam) on as an assistant, and other Nazis start to press him to speed up his research. Will something give before a deadly plague is unleashed upon the English countryside?


"Counterblast" is a well-acted, well-written thriller. The complexity of the characters, particularly Johns' Nazi scientist, makes the film even more engaging and elevates beyond so many other similar films. Pilbeam, in one of her last roles before her retirement from screen acting, puts on an excellent show as always, as the young woman who travels half way around the world to take a position with the man she believes to be an old and good friend of her father's, only to find herself increasingly isolated and ever deeper involved in a deadly and monstrous research project. As in other roles she played, she projects a charming mix of vulnerability and independence. She is the perfect foil for the handsome, romantic Beatty... and it's easily believable that the young doctor would fall in love with her as quickly as he does.

"Counterblast" is a rarely seen post-WW2 drama, but I think it's worth tracking down, particularly if you are a fan of Nova Pilbeam (an actress whose work isn't given the recognition it deserves).

'The Man Who Knew Too Much'is worth knowing

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
Starring: Leslie Banks, Peter Lorre, Edna Best, and Nova Pilbeam
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

When Bob and Jill Lawrence (Banks and Best) become aware of an impending political assassination, the leader of the terror ring, Abbott (Lorre), has their daughter(Pilbeam) kidnapped. Abbott hoped the threat to the daughter would keep the couple frightened and silent until the deed was done, but he underestimates the courage and tenacity of these parents who will go to any length not only to rescue their child, but to see the terror ring destroyed.


"The Man Who Knew Too Much" may not be Hitchcock's greatest film, but it is still an exciting piece of work, and the family dynamics presented are very nice, particularly between the characters of Bob and Jill Lawrence. Lorre also portrays a villain who manages to come across as charming and supremely creepy at the same time.

One thing that I noticed about this film is that the characters seemed different than what seem to be the mainstays of Hitchcock's movies... they seemed to be more apt to openly accept and embrace adventure; most of the central characters in his movies seem to be unwilling heroes at best. However, I recently learned that the script was originally supposed to be a Bulldog Drummond film, set years after he and Phillys Clavering were married. Hitchcock was unable to get the rights to those characters, so the script was redrafted to remove all references to Hugh Drummond and friends.

Faster paced than just about any other Hitchcock movie, and with more witty banter that even in "The Lady Vanishes", "The Man Who Knew Too Much" is a fine way to spend an hour and a half.

'Young and Innocent' is classic, if overlooked, Hitchcock

Young and Innocent (aka "The Girl Was Young")
Starring: Nova Pilbeam and Derrick DeMarney
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

"Young and Innocent" is not one of Hitchcock's best-known films, and this is a shame. It is one of his most entertaining films from the 30s, featuring suspenseful situations, charming characters portrayed by excellent actors, snappy, witty dialogue, and fabulous camera work. This under-appreciated film deserves more viewers!

The story revolves around a destitute writer who is accused of murdering a truly bitchy movie star. Locating his missing raincoat seems to be the key to proving his innocence and finding the real killer, but between an incompetant attorney and policemen wanting a quick end to the case, he seems destined to hang. But that is until he slips from the courthouse during a moment of confusion. He is joined in his mad dash for evidence by the domestic, yet-tomboyish and strong-willed daughter of the local chief of police. Will the unlikely pair manage to clear our hero's name before he is recaptured by the police?


This film shares a number of similar elements with the better-known "The 39 Steps." However, unlike that film, in which the modern viewer is able to see the end coming about twenty minutes before it arrives, "Young and Innocent" keeps the viewer on the edge of his seat up to the very end. The climactic nightclub sequence is particularly well-done, thrilling, and one of the most Hitchcockian Hitchcock scenes of them all.

Additionally, Nova Pilbeam gives a stellar performance in this film. She was a successful child star whose career faded as she grew older, with work pretty much having dried up completely for her by the end of the 1940s.