Hitchcock Shorts

"Textbook exercises in screen tension, infiltrated with Hitch’s sly humour" – Evening Standard.

Arriving in London in 1943 shortly after completing Lifeboat, Hitchcock was anxious to do his bit for the war effort and found himself making these two featurettes for the Ministry of Information. Both films were shot in French and intended solely for propaganda purposes, encouraging the Resistance in France and, especially, the French colonies. Both were filmed by Gunther Krampf, the cinematographer of the Weimar classics PANDORA'S BOX and KUHLE WAMPE. And both were swiftly banned because the French authorities found their stance too ambivalent.

BON VOYAGE: "BON VOYAGE is closer to the espionage chase thrills of THE 39 STEPS, THE SECRET AGENT and YOUNG AND INNOCENT... A Scottish RAF officer is debriefed in London following his escape across Occupied France... Like a prototype Rashomon, the story is told from two points of view - first by the officer himself, then by the interrogating officer who reveals another, previously hidden element of the story... There is much to delight." — Evening Standard.

UK | French | 1944 | 26 min | Black & White

AVENTURE MALGACHE: In a Madagascan court a corrupt Vichyite police chief confronts a lawyer who is organising the escape of the French to join the Allies. Jailed, the lawyer continues his clandestine work through a radio receiver cunningly hidden in an alarm clock. "Fans will relish the imaginative touches and the characteristically droll dénouement." — Time Out.