Without A Hitch

Given the absence of the great man, it was probably wise not to include the pointless commentary with the producer’s great grandson’s hairdresser’s dog that often turns up on these kinds of releases.

Instead, historian Charles Barr provides a brief introduction to each film, putting it in the context of Hitchcock’s career as a whole, which is about all one needs.

The rest of the extras are the usual trawl to find anything Hitchcock-related from the TV archives. So, we get an interview from the 1960s and a 1972 special about the making of “Frenzy” – all very interesting but not really relevant to the films included in this collection.

The only other criticism is that although this box set is called “The British Years”, it should perhaps be called “The Balcon Years” – though Hitch spent much of the ‘20s and ‘30s working for legendary producer Michael Balcon, he also made a further 12 films for British International Pictures, none of which are included here, presumably because of copyright reasons. Most of these BIP films have been released by Optimum in a separate box set, but it means “The British Years” is not as comprehensive as the name would suggest.

Still, it includes the run of six absolute crackers from “The Man Who Knew Too Much” through to “The Lady Vanishes” and is a must for fans looking to complete their definitive Hitchcock collection.