As you can see on the poster it was the first British sound film but it’s more than just a technological landmark, it’s a damn fine film
Early on we see the criminal/suspect on the bed with all of his surroundings- it’s a great shot and an early precursor to the superior version of the same shot (we’d see this trend a lot with early Hitchcock) of the shot of joseph cotton in shadow of a doubt
Strongly edited action sequence as we see both cops and criminal reach for a gun
Venetian blind b/w lighting work and a great shot reveal of cops looking in a mirror
Instead of a title card (very common usage in 1929) to show the passage of time Hitchcock ops for a gorgeous mini-montage of cigarettes burning—in fact he very rarely resorts to the title card—it’s pure cinema
Makes the intelligence choice to dub some conversations and track them as they move- something Leone would perfect and even Bela Tarr would continue to use effectively in 2011. Other auteurs should do it more
The film does slow down after a long man-hunt (this film’s quality is high but it can’t be confused with a similar early film- fritz lang’s M)– when heavy (for the time) dialogue is introduced it slows
Great tracking show following characters as they progress up the flight of stairs
Strong fast dolly-in on weapon about to be used, or on a phone about to be used
We have an early look at the downward shot at a staircase that is very similar to vertigo
Great silent sequence (except for whistle) of whistling of one man driving another nuts- great use of early sound
Architecturally superior long shots of the man-hunt chase where the subject is swallowed up by gorgeous pillar stone columns and a building dome
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