The first talking picture in Britain was called Blackmail. It was made in 1929, and was directed by which well-known director?

The cinematic landscape in Britain changed forever with the release of a 1929 thriller that introduced audiences to the revolutionary world of synchronized sound. This landmark film, a tale of a woman who kills a man in self-defense and is subsequently blackmailed, was the creation of a director who would go on to become a master of suspense: Alfred Hitchcock. His innovative work on this picture not only marked it as the nation's first "talkie" but also solidified his growing reputation as one of England's top directors.

Initially, the film was shot as a silent picture, as was the standard at the time. However, the producer, John Maxwell of British International Pictures, recognized the burgeoning popularity of sound in motion pictures and decided to have parts of the movie reshot with dialogue. Hitchcock embraced this new technology, ingeniously incorporating sound to heighten the psychological tension, a technique that would become a hallmark of his later work. For instance, in one famous scene, the word "knife" is repeated to emphasize the protagonist's guilt and anxiety.

The transition to sound was not without its challenges. The lead actress, Anny Ondra, had a thick Czech accent that was deemed unsuitable for the role of a Londoner. Since post-dubbing technology was not yet available, Hitchcock hired another actress, Joan Barry, to speak the dialogue off-camera while Ondra lip-synced the lines. Despite these hurdles, both a sound and a silent version of the film were released to accommodate theaters that were not yet equipped for the new technology. The sound version, however, is the one that made history, heralding a new era in British cinema and showcasing the early brilliance of its acclaimed director.