So, back to my complete sound era Hitchcock project with Murder! The way the title of this film is exclaimed always reminds me of a scene from Friends where Phoebe is concerned about the name of Joey's latest play - "You know, it's not just Freud, it's Freud!"

To be honest, this plodding murder mystery is not deserving of an exclamation mark. Herbert Marshall plays a man who decides to investigate the case of a woman who is sentenced to death by the jury he was a part of after being found at the scene of a murder and refusing to defend herself.

After the wretched Juno And The Paycock, it seems as though Hitchcock is trying to return to the crime-based storylines that had driven his best films to this point, but it's a ponderous affair. Very slow in stages and very odd as well (the jury's sing-song interrogation of Marshall as he questions their upcoming verdict is very peculiar indeed), I really can't figure out what Hitchcock is trying to achieve here.

The investigative part of the film is altogether too talky and lacking in revelation or thrills, whilst the aftermath of the murder itself is a bizarrely low-key affair. There are some nice touches here but it doesn't really feel much more than a collection of experiments in style.

It's probably of interest to those looking for the genesis of some of Hitchcock's stylistic flourishes, but there's little else here of interest.