Number Seventeen

Number Seventeen
Directed by	Alfred Hitchcock
Produced by	John Maxwell
Screenplay by	Alfred Hitchcock Alma Reville Rodney Ackland
Story by	Jefferson J. Farjeon
Starring	John Stuart Anne Grey Leon M. Lion Donald Calthrop Barry Jones Ann Casson
Cinematography	Jack Cox Bryan Langley
Distributed by	Wardour Films
Release date(s)	1932
Running time	64 min.
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Number Seventeen is a 1932 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, based on a stage play by J. Jefferson Farjeon, and starring John Stuart, Anne Grey and Leon M. Lion. The film is about a group of criminals who committed a jewel robbery and put their money in an old house over a railway leading to the English Channel, the film's title being derived from the house's street number. An outsider stumbles onto this plot and intervenes with the help of a neighbour, a police officer's daughter.

After being available only in poor-quality prints for decades, the film was released in high quality by French media company Canal+ in 2005.^[1]

Plot

Detective Gilbert is searching for a necklace robbed by a gang of thieves. In the beginning, the gang is in a house in London, before going on the run

The film starts off with Detective Gilbert arriving at a house marked for sale or rent. The door is unlocked and he wanders in. An unknown person with a candle is wandering about and a dead body is found. When confronted the mysterious person claims innocence of the murdered person. The detective asks the stranger what he has in his pockets (handkerchief, string, sausage, picture of a child, half a cigarette), before the shadow of a hand is shown reaching for a doorknob. The stranger searches the body of the dead person and finds handcuffs and a gun which he takes.

The detective returns from investigating the weird sound and finds the handcuffs which the stranger left on the ground. A person is seen to be crawling on the roof through shadows, who then falls through the roof. This is a woman called Nora who is revived and cries out for her father. She explains that her father went onto the roof and that they are next door in number 16.

The bell tolls half past midnight and the dead body has disappeared. Three people arrive at the windswept house, Mr. Ackroyd, Rose Ackroyd (who is deaf and dumb) and a third person. Ben draws out the gun. Ben accidentally shoots the governor. Mr. Ackroyd draws out a gun and asks him to search the gentlemen, Ben and Nora. The telegram is revealed to Mr. Ackroyd. Sheldrake gets the diamond necklace, which he has hidden in the upper portion of a toilet. Ben causes a commotion and is locked away with Sheldrake.

The two hands of Sheldrake reach out and appear to strangle Ben who is only pretending to be knocked out. More members of the gang arrive. They suggest tying up Nora and Doyle. The three thieves all have to catch a train. However, one of the "thieves" is Nora's father who locks away two of the thieves and frees Nora and Doyle. He opens the door where Ben is locked away with Sheldrake and gets into a fist fight with Sheldrake.

The other man reveals himself as Sheldrake and frees the others. Nora and Forsythe are tied up again. Mrs. Ackroyd reveals herself to be able to speak and says "I'm coming back". She comes back and frees Nora and Doyle. Nora has fainted but recovers. They free Ben and Nora's father. The thieves arrive at the train yard, and board a freight train that is departing. The train says Deutsch-Englisaher fahrverkehr Ferry Service between Germany-Great Britain.

The train departs with Ben aboard and he stumbles onto crates of wine. The thieves, after dispatching the conductor, go to the front of the train, shoot the fireman, and catch the Driver as he faints. Doyle commandeers a bus. Ben is revealed to have the necklace. Sheldrake discovers he doesn't have the diamond and the thieves fight each other. Barton is revealed as a detective posing as a thief. A chase scene occurs on the train as the thieves go after Barton. Barton escapes and handcuffs Mrs. Ackroyd. The bus that Forscythe is on races after the train. The thieves, realizing the train is accellerating, try and find the brakes. They turns dials helplessly and notice the bus that Doyle is on.

Pushing levers and turning dials does nothing, indeed, it only makes the train go faster, leaving the theives unable to escape. at the dock, The Ferry pulls up. as Doyle watches, the train hurtles through the dock, crashes into the train currently on the ferry, and pushes it out to sea, dragging the remaining cars into the ocean. People are rescued from the water. Henry Doyle is posing as Detective Barton he tells Forsythe. But actually Forsythe is Detective Barton! Who says to Barton, you can't be Barton because I am. All of the thieves are apprehended by the police who are on the scene. Detective Barton says to Nora, what are you going to do about it? Barton says you better come along with me. Nora says where? To breakfast Barton says. Ben then reveals he has the Diamond Necklace.

Production

Hitchcock returned to England from a trip to the Caribbean with a new idea for a film. He told John Maxwell about it but said that Mycroft had a different film for him to do, a filmed version of the film Joseph Farjeon's play Number Seventeen. Hitchcock was unhappy with this as he considered the story to be too full of cliches and that he wanted to do a version of John Van Druten's London Wall. The director who eventually got to do London Wall at the time, wanted to direct Number Seventeen.^[2]

Hitchcock was assigned writer Rodney Ackland for the film, and decided to take the film as a comedy-oriented thriller.^[2]

Hitchcock later stated in the book Hitchcock/Truffaut as this film being "A Disaster".

Cast

• Leon M. Lion as Ben
• Anne Grey as Nora - The Girl
• John Stuart as Barton - The Detective
• Donald Calthrop as Brant - Nora's Escort
• Barry Jones as Henry Doyle
• Ann Casson as Rose Ackroyd
• Henry Caine as Mr Ackroyd
• Garry Marsh as Sheldrake

Reception

On its initial release, audiences reacted to Number 17 with confusion and disappointment.^[2] The film is not often seen nowadays, but continues with generally negative reviews with critics from Rotten Tomatoes noting the film as, "highly entertaining but practically incomprehensible" and as an "unsatisfactory early tongue-in-cheek comedy/suspense yarn".^[3]

Notes

1. ^ Kehr, Dave (February 6, 2007). "New DVDs: Cinema Classics". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/06/movies/homevideo/06dvd.html?n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/H/Hitchcock,%20Alfred. Retrieved 2008-07-30. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} Spoto, 1999. pp.129
3. ^ "MOVIES / ON DVD / NUMBER 17". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/number_17/. Retrieved 2008-08-03. 

References

• Spoto, Donald (1999). The Dark Side Of Genius: The Life Of Alfred Hitchcock. Da Capo Press. ISBN 030680932X. 

External links

• Number Seventeen at the Internet Movie Database
• Number Seventeen is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]
• Number Seventeen at AllRovi
• Number Seventeen at Rotten Tomatoes
• Number Seventeen at the TCM Movie Database