1929
Alfred Hitchcock
The Manxman was to be Alfred Hitchcock’s last silent film, and one of the best and most mature works of his early career. It was adapted from a very popular novel by Sir Hall Caine, a once-celebrated author who specialised in stories set on the Isle of Man.
Set in a small fishing community, two boyhood friends take markedly differing paths in adulthood, but still manage to fall in love with the same woman – a luminous Anny Ondra. Tragedy inevitably ensues.
An intriguing study of secrecy, suspicion and guilt, Hitchcock ensures the viewer’s sympathies keep shifting and makes dramatically effective use of scenes where characters witness or overhear others while remaining unseen themselves. Whilst set on the Isle of Man, The Manxman was very evocatively shot on location in Cornwall.
Written by Eliot Stannard
The Manxman features three different scores:
A new score by Stephen Horne, orchestrated and conducted by Ben Palmer, performed by the Orchestra da Camera di Pordenone
A score composed and performed by Antonio Coppola
A piano score composed and performed by Andrew Earle Simpson
Please note The Manxman is only available as part of the Hitchcock The Beginning blu-ray box-set
For the 2012 restoration of The Manxman, three source elements were used to reconstruct the film – the original camera negative, an acetate fine grain positive and a nitrate print from the twenties. Balancing these sources without disrupting the flow of the film was a major concern in restoration.
A restoration by the BFI National Archive in association with STUDIOCANAL. Restoration funding provided by Daniel & Joanna Friel and Ronald T Shedlo. Additional funding provided by Deluxe 142.
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