The Manxman (1929)

Friends since boyhood, their lives take divergent paths. Philip (Malcolm Keen) becomes a well regarded lawyer and Pete (Carl Brisson) takes to the sea as a fisherman. When Pete falls in love with a pub owner's daughter (Anny Ondra), her father (Randle Ayrton) refuses to let a marriage take place because he has no prospects. He leaves to seek his fortune and makes his best friend promise to look out for the woman he loves during his absence. But the inevitable happens, when the friend and the girl fall in love. Based on the best selling 1894 novel by Hall Caine (previously filmed in 1916) and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, his last silent film. Not a thriller but a tragedy, the tale has no winners as lives and careers are destroyed by attempting to right a wrong but instead, only compounds the wrong. It's strong stuff and Hitchcock does right by the material though once again, it needs some editing. The film could have been pruned down by 10 minutes to pick up the pacing. Quite possibly Hitchcock's best silent film after THE LODGER.