Blackmail. It is the version now generally available although some critics consider the silent version superior. Alfred Hitchcock filmed the silent version with Sam Livesey as the Chief Inspector and the sound version with Harvey Braban in the same role. Hitchcock's cameo Alfred Hitchcock's cameo, a signature occurrence in many of Hitchcock's films, shows him being bothered by a small boy as he reads a book on the London Underground. This is probably the lengthiest of Hitchcock's cameo appearances and he appears around 10 minutes after the start. As the director became better known to audiences, especially when he appeared as the host of his own television series, he dramatically shortened his on-screen appearances. Release and reception First screened to press and cinema distributors on 21 June 1929 at the Regal at Marble Arch, the film premiered at the Capitol Cinema in London on 28 July 1929. Blackmail was one of the most successful releases of that year, and received critical praise. In a public poll, Blackmail was voted the best British film of 1929, largely on the basis of the silent version, which, as mentioned above, was more widely seen. In the same national UK poll, the best films of their respective years were The Constant Nymph (1928), Rookery Nook (1930), The Middle Watch (1931), and Sunshine Susie (1932). Legacy As an early sound film, Blackmail frequently is cited by film historians as a landmark film, and is often cited as the first truly British "all-talkie" feature film. Two future directors worked on this production: Ronald Neame operated the clapperboard and Michael Powell took on-set publicity photographs. Earlier British part-sound films include: The Gentleman, a short film in the Phonofilm sound-on-film process, was an excerpt of The 9 to 11 Revue, directed by William J. Elliott, and released in the UK in June 1925. The part-sound The Clue of the New Pin, based on the novel by Edgar Wallace, and filmed in British Phototone, a sound-on-disc system using 12-inch discs. The Crimson Circle, a UK-German silent film, also based on a Wallace novel, dubbed after the fact with the Phonofilm sound-on-film process. Black Waters, a British-produced sound film shot in the US with an almost exclusively American cast and crew, and released on 6 April 1929. In March 1929, New Pin and Crimson Circle were trade-shown at the same screening for film exhibitors in London. The plot of Downton