Number 17 Reviews

Honestly, I wasn't sure what to expect from this flick but since I'm a huge fan of Alfred Hitchcock, I was really eager to check it out. At first, I thought it was one of his silent features and I was quite surprised to hear some dialogs within the first 10 minutes. Apparently, this flick was not as old as I thought. Anyway, even though Alfred Hitchcock was rather dismissive about this movie (apparently, he didn’t want to make it at all but his studio more or less forced him), I actually enjoyed the damned thing. Indeed, it is a rather fun and well made thriller with some really nice mood, definitely Hitchcock’s specialty. To be honest, not all the shots and scenes were great, some of them were rather awkward and weak but there were many impressive little scenes with a great play on the shadows. Furthermore, even though most of the movie was pretty cheap-ass, taking place only in one empty house with some obscure characters (it didn’t bother me at all, in the contrary), in the last act, Hitchcock gave it all with one massive ambitious chase involving a train and a bus. Seriously, it came a bit from nowhere but it was actually pretty well done and quite impressive. To conclude, even though it is nothing really amazing, I thought it was a pretty good thriller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Like 1948's Rope, I personally feel that Number Seventeen would probably have worked better as a play, in this case as originally intended. It's interesting to see that Leon M. Lion (who I remember from The Amazing Quest Of Earnest Bliss) is credited as the main star even though he plays a secondary character, although he is probably the best thing about this film with plenty of comedic appeal. Similarly to Rope again, this film is technically brilliant with atmospheric, shadowy, brilliantly lighted opening scenes as well as a thrillng climatic chase between a train and a bus, but the story itself is relatively simple but very effective. In fact a lot more effective than Rope. John Stuart, despited being a Scotsman, plays a typical cinematic English gentleman of the era and Ann Casson overplays her role but is nice enough before being put to one side when Anne Grey enters the picture. The fight scene near the middle of the film, is still pretty damn good, although it begins to drag and in doing so, the sped up film becomes more noticeable and rather dated.
A minor but entertaining Hitchcock thriller.