Product: Young & Innocent [VHS] (1938)
Rating: 3.0
A wrongfully accused murderer
Alfred Hitchcock's 1937 "Young and Innocent" filmed in England with predominately unknown, to me, players is not what I would consider one of his better efforts. Following chronologically 39 Steps, Secret Agent and Sabotage it unfortunately is merely a lukewarm drama of a man wrongfully accused of murdering a famous actress Christine Clay.In the opening scene we see Clay played by Pamela Carme in a heated argument with her ex-husband who's furiously jealous of her bevy of young paramours. We next observe a woman in bathing attire wash ashore to be observed from some overlooking cliffs by Robert Tisdall played by Derrick DeMarney. DeMarney climbs down to find the woman is actually Clay and is obviously dead with a belt washed up nearby the body. We learn that DeMarney was one of Clay's boyfriends. He runs away to get help but is obseved by two bathers who assume that he is the guilty party fleeing the crime.DeMarney is soon apprehended and charged with the murder which was caused by strangulation with a belt from a raincoat. Unfortunately DeMarney had jusr recently lost his coat at a roadside cafe and therefore couldn't prove his innocence.While at the courthouse a prisoner snafu allows DeMarney to escape. He is aided by the chief constable's young daughter Erica Burgoyne played by a baby faced Nova Pilbeam in his escape. Reluctant to help at first, she gradually becomes convinced of DeMarney's innocence. They travel to the roadside cafe to find his coat had been taken by an old tramp Will played by Edward Rigby. Old Will helps them try to find the murderer, remembering that the man who gave him the beltless coat had a face that twitched incessantly. A matchbook found in the coat lead them to the Grand Hotel were they try to identify the real killer.Despite the mediocre quality of this film, Hitchcock followed "Young and Innocent" with the classic "The Lady Vanishes" proving that he hadn't lost his touch.