Young and Innocent Movie Review

Young and Innocent turns up so often in scratched and dupey prints on public domain channels that it's easy to under-appreciate what a gem it is. For starters, there's Erica, a wonderful teen heroine (Nova Pilbeam), who trusts her own instincts and relies on her resources to save Robert, a suspected killer (handsome Derrick DeMarney). Then there's the tramp (Edward Rigby) who's vital to her search for the real killer. The wonderful Basil Radford (a year before The Lady Vanishes) has a delightful cameo as a sympathetic ally. And there's that dazzling camera work at a tea dance where we RE-discover the killer we met in the first reel. A children's party game of Blind Man's Bluff mid-way through the film reinforces the lighthearted, intense quality of Erica and Robert's situation. It's very British, with few concessions to an international audience, but great fun. Based on Josephine Tey's A Shilling for Candles. Hitchcock's cameo is as a court photographer. AKA: The Girl Was Young.

1937 80m/B GB Derrick DeMarney, Nova Pilbeam, Percy Marmont, Edward Rigby, Mary Clare, John Longden, George Curzon, Basil Radford, Pamela Carme, George Merritt, J.H. Roberts, Jerry Verno, H.F. Maltby, John Miller, Beatrice Varley, Syd Crossley, Frank Atkinson, Torin Thatcher; D: Alfred Hitchcock; W: Charles Bennett, Alma Reville, Gerald Savory, Antony Armstrong, Edwin Greenwood. VHS, LV