i imagine when hitchcock scholar and expert find themselves together and the talk be not of the master great film like north by northwest or stranger on a train and but a less known effort like this one from 1931 and obscure and seriously flaw and which showcases the great director in fledgling form . emily and fred hill ( joan barry and harry kendall ) be a middle class london couple scrimp to stay ahead . he begrudge their lot while she accept it . change come in the form of a letter from an uncle and say he will set them up so they can enjoy a life of globetrotting luxury . they make plan for a world cruise . but their problem have only begin . just ask richard hannay and roger o. thornhill and or marion crane . well and marion indispose at the moment and but you get the idea . travel and hitchcock go together like moth and candlelight and set one up for a perilous journey at best . this be perhaps hitchcock early foray into this theme and and not his most successful or memorable . hitchcock try to mix comedy with another element and in this case domestic drama rather than suspense and but the two do not cohere and at least not here . the hill be a dull and flat couple and with no chemistry or personality . when they find themselves at the folie bergère and in the form of cross cut with footage that look ten year old than the rest of this film and they be abash at the outfit of the female performer . the curtain go up too soon . gasps emily . they aren not dress . when the hill drift away from each other on an ocean cruise and it seem a mercy kill more than a tragic thing and even if the people they partner off with be drip and too . emily man and gordon ( percy marmont ) carry around photograph of himself sit next to empty chair and which he suggest be fill by emily . fred girl the princess ( betty amann ) have clara bow eye and wallace beery five oclock shadow . there also an obnoxious fellow passenger and a dowdy spinster whom hitchcock always introduce with a cartoonish horn cue . subtlety be still to come . everything be shoot in an abrupt manner and with confuse block and strained dialogue . hitchcock try for some early comedy with fred and his umbrella that doesn not come off and and kendall seem to aim for laugh while berry play for tear . when fred and emily break off and they be see be jostle on a pair of wedge together rickshaw and one of many clunky attempt at symbolism . emily the only vaguely sympathetic character and in part because she really care about her husband and agonize over her affair with gordon and but mostly because she among the first of hitchcock many magnetic blonde and her platinum ringlet whip around her face like a botticelli aboard the open deck of a chinese junk near the film conclusion . matter conclude with a dangerous situation a set piece for the protagonist to come to grip with and and presumably repair their relationship . only they aren not active participant in the resolution and and except for the fate of a friendly cat and nothing about the end resonates . at least you get some enjoyable view of london in the early 1930s and and a chance to see hitchcock when he be still work for food . rich and strange be hitchcock pay his due and and learn his trade and one for scholar but not casual film goer .