Young and Innocent (AKA “The Girl Was Young”)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Written by Charles Bennett et al based on a novel by Josephine Tey (“A Shilling for Candles”)
1937/UK
Gaumont British Picture Corporation
Repeat viewing
[box] [last lines] Erica Burgoyne: Father, don’t you think we ought to ask Mr. Tisdall to dinner?[/box]
Except for the iconic restaurant shot, this is unexceptional fare from Hitchcock, who is always entertaining.
Robert Tisdall (Derrick De Marney) is a young writer who is friendly with an older actress. Her ex-husband is insanely jealous. Tisdall finds her strangled on a beach with the belt from his own raincoat, which was earlier stolen. He is apprehended and taken to the local police station where things look bleak for him but he seizes an opportunity to escape.
He winds up hitching a ride in the car of the Chief Constable’s even younger daughter, Erica (Nova Philbeam). Gradually, he earns her trust. They spend the rest of the film trying to find the evidence to clear him amidst other adventures. With Basil Radford, later of Charters and Caldicott fame in The Lady Vanishes, as Erica’s uncle.
Young and Innocent was billed as “the successor to The 39 Steps“. It shares a wrong-man theme and some of the cheeky flavor of that film. It is missing the conflict between the leads that was half of the fun and the caliber of acting necessary to pull this kind of thing off. It comes off as rather predictable, but enjoyable. There are a couple of very good Hitchcock set pieces – a cliffhanger in a mine and the aforementioned restaurant shot.
Clip – restaurant shot
Even though not his best work, I still like this Hitchcock film. I though Nova Pillbeam was a very strange looking girl but he also used her in “The Man Who Knew Too Much”. I couldn’t tell if she was 16 or 35!!!! The restaurant shot is reminiscent of the long shot down the stairs in Hitchcock’s “Frenzy”, many years later. Good supporting cast in this film and some very nice camera work….I like the beach scene.
I tried to get across that I like the film pretty well myself. I shouldn’t nitpick so much. It’s probably not fair to hold any film up to the standards of The 39 Steps.