Hitchcock Chronology: 1929

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Month by Month

January

• 21st - The Manxman is screened for the trade at the London Hippodrome at 3pm.

February

• 11th - The Farmer's Wife opens to the public at the Regal Marble Arch cinema in London.
• Principal photography starts on Hitchcock's fifth film for British International Pictures, Blackmail, staring Anny Ondra, John Longden and Donald Calthrop.

March

• The filming of Blackmail continues throughout March, including location shoots at the Lyons Corner House towards the end of the month.
• British International Pictures announces that Alfred Hitchcock will direct an adaptation of Sean O'Casey's play Juno and the Paycock.
• Newspapers begin reporting that Hitchcock will direct an original story by Benn Levy titled "Tambourine" after completing Juno and the Paycock.

April

• British International Pictures completes building temporary sound stages. The company announces in the trade papers that Blackmail will become its first "talking picture".
• 8th - Rehearsals start for the dialogue scenes to be shot for Blackmail, with filming scheduled to begin on the new sound stages on April 10th.
• Benn Levy completes writing the dialogue for the sound version of Blackmail by mid-April.

May

• 13th - The Duke and Duchess of York visit the British International Pictures studios, where they meet with Alfred Hitchcock and watch a scene from Blackmail being rehearsed.
• 22nd - Location filming for the exterior shots of the Blackmail chase finalé at the British Museum takes place. According to newspaper reports, Hitchcock encouraged cinematographer Jack E. Cox to include members of the general public in the sequences.
• Filming of the sound version of Blackmail is completed by late May.

June

• 21st - The sound version of Blackmail is given a trade screening at the Regal Marble Arch cinema.

July

• The sound version of Blackmail begins screening at selected cinemas.

August

• British International Pictures annouces massive layoffs, firing around 20% of the staff. Although the company is profitable, John Maxwell is concerned that too few British cinemas have equiped themselves for sound movies, which risks the company's future profits.

September

• 10th - Both the sound and silent versions of Blackmail are screened in Berlin to a large trade audience who are then asked to vote for their preferred version. The silent version wins by 685 votes to 439.

October

• British International Pictures announces that Hitchcock will direct a screen adaptation of Sean O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock, followed by an adaptation of the Clemence Dane/Helen Simpson book Enter Sir John.

November

• Principal photography begins on Juno and the Paycock, starring Barry Fitzgerald, Maire O'Neill, Edward Chapman and Sara Allgood.

December

• The filming of Juno and the Paycock is completed.
• The week before Christmas, Hitchcock directs the linking sequences for Elstree Calling.

See Also...

• articles from 1929
• births in 1929

Notes & References

Hitchcock Chronology
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