H9: The Ring (1927)

Alfred Hitchcock's The Ring is truly Hitchcock's first mature, balanced film that finally puts away some of the excesses of youthful filmmaker (excesses that are endearing nonetheless) and build a solid, classical narrative with all the right pushes and pulls of drama, tension, character and suspense.  I suspect that modern audiences who might have thought the first few silent films dated, will recognize in The Ring the fullness and engaging nature of a modern film.

The team building that would later prove his genius at Paramount is also evident here.  With Alma always at his side, he also has the extraordinary camera work of Jack Cox, who will work with Hitchcock on the remaining films for the silent period.


And, while the previous films were critical and financial successes, The Ring was a real winner for Hitchcock  Throughout his later years, Hitchcock would recall the gasps and radiant applause that greeted this film. The audience affection for this fine film will not be lost on the modern viewer.


And while criminal triangles have been a leading motif in the previous films, it is in The Ring that the motif becomes full throttled, passionate theme--really the most important idea that Hitchcock will continue to work until his final fully silent movie, the beautiful and enchanting The Manxman.


Other Hitchcock scholars will giggle at admiration for these films--the reveal a depth to Hitchcock the artist and I hope the man, that is for the most part is all gloss once he moves into his high Paramount period.  And, I would argue that to truly appreciate Vertigo, North by Northwest and Psycho,  the Hitchcock fan/scholar/lover really should start here. For the final MoMA retrospective during Hitchcock's lifetime, Peter Bogdanovich asked Hitch about this film--

The Ring(1927) How did you decide to do a boxing story?

I was interested--I used to go to the Albert Hall. I think the thing, strangely enough, that fascinated me about boxing in those days was the English audience that would go all dressed up in black tie to sit around the ring. It wasn't the boxing that fascinated me so much, although I was interested in the shop, all the details connected with it. Like pouring champagne over the head of the boxer at the thirteenth round, if he was going a bit groggy. You'd hear them uncork the champagne bottle and pour the whole bottle over his head. All that kind of thing I was interested in, and put it all in the picture. The Ring had a montage sequence, it was piano playing or something, and it got a round of applause at the premiere. I never heard a montage get a round of applause before, but this did. Also I began to experiment with little pictorial touches, things like the dirty old "Round One" card being pulled out of the slot and a brand new "Round Two" card going in--that's how I indicated the sudden change in the fortunes of "One Round Jack" as he was called.

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It is with real, serious pride that I present the film on this blog and with a sweet, sweet envy of those who will be stepping into The Ring for the first time.