Alfred Hitchcock’s Blackmail with Live Score at The Old Woolen

Tom Grieve, Cinema Editor

Book now

Alfred Hitchcock's Blackmail

1 May 2025

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

Illustration of the film poster
Image supplied by Leeds Inspired
Book now

A tale of murder, intrigue and mistaken identity, 1929’s Blackmail has all of the ingredients you might expect in a classic Alfred Hitchcock thriller. Based on a play by Charles Bennett, the film tells the story of Alice White (Anny Ondra), a woman who is blackmailed after killing an artist who coaxes her to his studio and attempts to assault her.

Blackmail has a fascinating history, in that it started production as a silent film, before technological advancements and the success of talking pictures in America led to the film’s producer, John Maxwell, instructing Hitchcock to switch to sound production. While the film was well received as one of Britain’s earliest talkies, not all cinema were equipped to show it this way, and so a silent version was also produced.

This is the version that is showing at The Old Woolen this May, as accomplished silent film pianist Jonny Best provides live improvised music to accompany Hitchcock’s images on the night.

Where to go near Alfred Hitchcock’s Blackmail with Live Score at The Old Woolen

Sunny Bank Mills Gallery
Leeds
Gallery
Sunny Bank Mills Gallery

Sunny Bank Mills Gallery is a light and airy art gallery inside a former cloth warehouse, in the heart of Farsley village.

Leeds
Shop
Truman Books

This independent bookstore and café in Farsley, Leeds, boasts a great selection of adult and children’s books.

The Constitutional
Event venue
The Constitutional

A club for working persons, presenting the finest comedy, theatre, spoken-word, music, quizzes and craft ales.

Leeds
Gallery
The Mill Gallery

The Mill Gallery is an artist-run space in Leeds, supporting emerging artists to develop and showcase their work authentically.

pudsey market
Leeds
Shop
Pudsey Market

Pudsey Market is a traditional style market in Pudsey, just outside the centre of Leeds. Featuring everything from second-hand books, fabrics and more.

Bradford
Museum
Bradford Industrial Museum

Bradford’s Industrial Museum transports you back to the cities former incarnation, as a powerhouse of the north. See working machinery, the living spaces of mill owners and workers as well as contemporary responses to the archive.

Bradford
Restaurant
Rajshahi

Rajshahi has been serving up authentic Indian food, packed with soul and flavour, for decades, winning over the hearts and bellies of the locals.

Kirkstall Abbey in Leeds
Leeds
Tourist Attraction
Kirkstall Abbey

Founded in 1152, Kirkstall Abbey on the bank of the River Aire is one of the most complete examples of a medieval Cistercian monastery in Britain.

Abbey House Museum, Kirkstall Abbey, Leeds
Leeds
Museum
Abbey House Museum

Housed in the medieval Kirkstall Abbey’s magnificent former gate house, Abbey House near Leeds is an award-winning museum of social history and childhood.

Interplay works across all definitions of exclusion to create a special theatre that places the audience at the centre of the experience.
Leeds
Theatre
Interplay Theatre

This unique theatre crafts immersive, sensory shows for families, engaging audiences through light, sound, smell, colour, and personal interaction.

What's on: Cinema

A girl lies down in a field of daisies.
Until
CinemaManchester
The Worlds of Mamoru Hosoda at HOME

This summer, HOME presents a short season of films from celebrated Japanese animator Mamoru Hosoda, screening on the big screen in stunning 4K for the first time.

From £4.70

Culture Guides

Detail of an abstract sculpture, with burned materials and rusty chicken wire at the centre, with rusted metal bars bent around it.
Exhibitions in the North

Chocolate fountains, beautiful batiks and medieval marginalia - this month's supersized Exhibitions Guide has it all.

Literature Events in the North

The autumn leaves might be falling already, but the harvest is plentiful as the live literature scene gets back into the swing of things after a summer break...

Theatre in Manchester and the North
Theatre in the North

This season’s theatre is gloriously eclectic: from radical cabaret and reinvented classics to new musicals and boundary-pushing performance.

Cinema in the North

This month we recommend a season of Film noir, cult Australian movies and a huge celebration of DIY community cinema.