Charles Bennett

It was his next picture that would require him to take those skills in a new direction.

The film, Blackmail, was based on a play by Charles Bennett.

It followed Alice, a young London shop girl who kills an artist when he attacks her.

Her boyfriend is a detective investigating the death.

Time called it one of the neatest melodramas of the year, praising the sharp, increasingly fast sequences that carried the story toward its climax.

After the disappointments at BIP, Hitchcock had his momentum back, and it was international.

In 1935 came The 39 Steps, adapted from a John Buchan novel, but reshaped by Hitchcock and Charles Bennett considerably.

Alma worked on the adaptation too, of course.