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Young and Innocent
Young and Innocent
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Alfred Hitchcock
Written by	Gerald Savory (dialogue); Alma Reville (continuity);
Screenplay by	Charles Bennett; Edwin Greenwood; Anthony Armstrong;
Based on	A Shilling for Candles; 1936 novel; by Josephine Tey
Produced by	Edward Black (uncredited)
Starring	Nova Pilbeam; Derrick De Marney;
Cinematography	Bernard Knowles
Edited by	Charles Frend
Music by	Jack Beaver (uncredited); Louis Levy (uncredited);
Production; company	Gaumont-British
Distributed by	General Film Distributors
Release dates	November 1937 (London); 17 February 1938 (US);
Running time	83 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Young and Innocent, released in the US as The Girl Was Young,^[1] is a 1937 British crime thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Nova Pilbeam and Derrick De Marney.^[1] Based on the 1936 novel A Shilling for Candles by Josephine Tey, the film is about a young man on the run from a murder charge who enlists the help of a woman who must put herself at risk for his cause. An elaborately staged crane shot Hitchcock devised, which appears towards the end of the film, identifies the real murderer.^[1]

Plot

On a stormy night, at a retreat on the English coast, Christine Clay, a successful actress, argues passionately with her jealous ex-husband Guy. Not accepting her Reno divorce as valid, he accuses her of having an affair. Finally, she slaps him and he leaves the room. His eyes twitch violently.

The next morning, writer Robert Tisdall is walking along the seaside when Christine's dead body washes ashore. He recognizes her, and runs for help. Two young women arrive just in time to see him racing away from the corpse. The police quickly decide that Tisdall is the only suspect. Christine was strangled with the belt from a raincoat; his raincoat is missing and he says it was recently stolen. He admits having known Christine for three years since he sold her a story.

Scotland Yard detectives grill him all night. They suggest he was having an affair with Christine. When they tell him she left him a large sum of money in her will, he faints. He is revived with the aid of Erica Burgoyne, daughter of the local police Chief Constable. Tisdall is assigned an incompetent solicitor, and is taken into court for his formal arraignment. Doubting if his innocence will ever be established, he takes advantage of overcrowding in the courthouse to escape. He gets away by riding on the running board of Erica's Morris car, revealing himself to her after the car runs out of petrol.

He helps push the car to a filling station, pays for petrol, and convinces her to give him a ride. Though she is initially fearful and unsure about her passenger, Erica eventually becomes convinced of his innocence and decides to help him. They are eventually spotted together, forcing both to stay on the run from the police. Tisdall tries to prove his innocence by tracking down the stolen coat: if it still has its belt, the one found next to Christine's body must not be his.

The duo succeed in tracing Tisdall's coat to Old Will, a homeless china-mender. But Will was not the thief; he was given the coat by a man with "twitchy eyes", and with its belt already missing.

After becoming separated from the others, Erica is taken in by the police. Upon realizing that his daughter has fully allied herself with a murder suspect, her father chooses to resign his position rather than arrest her for assisting a felon. Tisdall sneaks into their house to see Erica, intending to surrender and assert he kidnapped her, but she mentions that the coat had a box of matches from the Grand Hotel in a pocket. As Tisdall has never been there, he surmises perhaps the murderer has a connection to the hotel.

The following evening, Erica and Will go to the hotel together, hoping to find him. It is revealed that Guy is the drummer in band in the hotel ballroom, performing in blackface. His eyes are twitching.

Recognizing Old Will in the audience, and seeing policemen nearby (who have actually followed Will, hoping he would lead them to Tisdall), Guy performs poorly due to fear. He is berated by the conductor and, during a break, takes medicine to try to control the twitching, but it makes him very sleepy. Eventually, in mid-performance, Guy passes out, drawing the attention of Erica and the police. Immediately after being revived and confronted, he confesses his crime and begins laughing hysterically.

Main cast

Nova Pilbeam as Erica Burgoyne
Derrick De Marney as Robert Tisdall
Percy Marmont as Colonel Burgoyne
Edward Rigby as Old Will
Mary Clare as Erica's aunt Margaret
John Longden as Inspector Kent
George Curzon as Guy
Basil Radford as Erica's uncle Basil
Pamela Carme as Christine Clay
George Merritt as Detective Sergeant Miller
J. H. Roberts as the Solicitor, Henry Briggs
Jerry Verno as Lorry Driver
H. F. Maltby as Police Sergeant
John Miller as Police Constable
Syd Crossley as Policeman
Torin Thatcher as the owner of Nobby's Lodging House
Anna Konstam as Bathing Girl (uncredited)
Bill Shine as Manager of Tom's Hat Cafe (uncredited)
Beatrice Varley as Accused Man's Wife (uncredited)
Peter Thompson as Erica Burgoyne's bespectacled brother (uncredited)

Production

The film was the first of two Hitchcock made for producer Ted Black, the other being The Lady Vanishes.^[2]

Reception

Variety called the film a "Pleasing, artless vehicle" for Nova Pilbeam, who was "charming" in her role and concluded, "If the pic is not Hitchcock's best effort, it is by no means unworthy of him."^[3] Frank Nugent of The New York Times called it a "crisply paced, excellently performed film."^[4] The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote, "Innumerable small touches show Hitchcock's keen and penetrating observation and his knowledge of human nature. Comedy, romance, and thrills are skilfully blended."^[5] Harrison's Reports wrote, "Good melodramatic entertainment. Because of the novelty of the story, the interesting plot developments, and the expert direction by Alfred Hitchcock, one's attention is held from the beginning to the end."^[6]

John Mosher of The New Yorker, however, wrote that it was "rather exasperating and disappointing to me. It begins with a smart murder, but wanders off through the English rural landscape in a fashion so lacking in that sound common sense we like in our mysteries, or like to feel is there anyhow, that one's interest fades away."^[7]

Aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports 100% approval of Young and Innocent, with an average rating of 7.6/10.^[8]

Changes from the novel

American theatrical release poster with alternate title

Significant changes were made in adapting the book for the film. The novel is a whodunit centred on the Scotland Yard inspector, who is Tey's regular character Alan Grant.^[1] The storyline involving Robert Tisdall, Erica Burgoyne, and the missing coat is similar to the film story, but in the novel it is only a subplot and ends part way through the book when Erica finds the coat and it is intact. Grant then focuses on other suspects, none of whom (including the actual murderer in the novel) appear in the film. Christine Clay in the novel is not divorced, but is in an unconventional marriage to an aristocrat.

Hitchcock's cameo

Alfred Hitchcock's cameo is a signature occurrence in most of his films. He can be seen outside the courthouse, holding a camera, at 14 minutes into the film.

Copyright status and home media

Young and Innocent is copyrighted worldwide^[9]^[10] but has been heavily bootlegged for home video.^[11] Despite this, licensed releases have appeared on Blu-ray, DVD and video on demand services worldwide from the likes of Network Distributing in the UK, MGM and The Criterion Collection in the US, and others.^[1]

References

Citations

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Alfred Hitchcock Collectors' Guide: Young and Innocent (1937)". Brenton Film. 25 June 2020.
^ Vagg, Stephen (1 December 2024). "Forgotten British Film Moguls: Ted Black". Filmink. Retrieved 1 December 2024.
^ "Young and Innocent". Variety: 17. 8 December 1937.
^ Nugent, Frank S. (11 February 1938). "The Screen". The New York Times: 27.
^ "Young and Innocent". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 4 (47): 242. November 1937.
^ "'The Girl Was Young' with Nova Pilbeam". Harrison's Reports: 30. 19 February 1938.
^ Mosher, John (12 February 1938). "The Current Cinema". The New Yorker. p. 72.
^ "Young and Innocent (1938)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
^ "Alfred Hitchcock Collectors' Guide: Slaying the public domain myth". Brenton Film. 8 August 2018.
^ "Alfred Hitchcock: Dial © for Copyright". Brenton Film. 30 August 2018.
^ "Bootlegs Galore: The Great Alfred Hitchcock Rip-off". Brenton Film. 8 August 2018.

Bibliography

Spoto, Donald (1992). The Art of Alfred Hitchcock (Second ed.). New York: Anchor Books. pp. 63–69. ISBN 978-0385418133.
Spoto, Donald (1999). The Dark Side of Genius (Centennial ed.). New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0306809323.