Young and Innocent (released in the U.S. as The Girl Was Young) is a 1937 British crime thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The film stars Nova Pilbeam and Derrick De Marney and is based on the 1936 novel A Shilling for Candles by Josephine Tey.
Genre: Crime • Drama • Thriller
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
The story trails a young man wrongly accused of murder, teaming up with a sharp, gutsy young woman who throws herself into proving he’s innocent. People still talk about that big crane shot Hitchcock pulls off — the kind that floats across a packed hall before landing right on the real killer.
Young and Innocent (The Girl Was Young) – Plot Summary
Christine Clay, a famous actress, has a heated fight with her jealous ex-husband Guy. The next morning she’s found dead on the beach by Robert Tisdall, a young guy staying nearby. He sprints for help, but two swimmers spot him running from the scene, and a missing belt from his raincoat shows up beside the body. Suddenly he’s the obvious suspect, and the whole thing starts collapsing on him.
Robert gets arrested, panics, and bolts during a chaotic courtroom mess. Desperate, he forces Erica Burgoyne — daughter of the local Chief Constable — to drive him out of town.She starts out guarded, almost rigid, and I get why. Then some thread in his story tugs at her, and it shifts the air between them. Before long she’s certain he didn’t harm anyone, not a soul, and she stays by his side as they chase the actual killer who keeps slipping out of reach.
Their trail winds up at Old Will, this oddball china-mender who somehow picked up Robert’s stolen coat and never realized it carried any weight. I keep seeing him in my mind, squinting so hard you’d think the memory might finally fall into place. The only detail he can scrape together about the guy who gave him the coat is this odd twitch jumping in one eye, almost like a frayed wire sparking whenever it feels like it. Erica rummages through the coat, hoping for anything with weight, and a couple of Grand Hotel matchboxes spill out, landing with a soft clatter that feels oddly loud. Strange find, since Robert hasn’t been anywhere close to that place, not once.
As things tighten, Erica pushes past her father’s orders and takes Old Will to the Grand Hotel.Then you get that long, unbroken shot people still talk about. The camera floats through a loud ballroom, weaving past dancers, and lands on the drummer in blackface, his eyelid twitching like it can’t keep his fear inside. He finally loses it, slumps over, and after they bring him back around and press him, the truth just spills out of him.
Public Domain Status
Nobody bothered renewing the copyright on Young and Innocent, so it just slipped into the public domain all on its own. I’ve gone through a ton of different prints over the years, and honestly, most of them look beat-up—like they spent forever shoved on a damp basement shelf that nobody wanted to touch. Cuts jump way too hard, frames blur into this hazy mush, and sometimes entire moments just vanish, leaving you staring at the screen like… okay, where’d that scene go?”
Changes From the Novel
The film focuses tightly on Robert Tisdall and Erica Burgoyne. Several book characters vanish completely, including Inspector Alan Grant. Hitchcock leans into the runaway-fugitive angle and trims out a bunch of subplots that made the novel feel more like a traditional whodunit.
Hitchcock’s Cameo
Like always, he sneaks himself on screen. You can spot him outside the courthouse, holding a camera, around the 14-minute mark.
Reference in Popular Culture
A line from the conductor scolding the drummer pops up in Mike Oldfield’s “Orabidoo” on the Five Miles Out album.
Main Cast of Young and Innocent (1937)
Nova Pilbeam – Erica Burgoyne
Derrick De Marney – Robert Tisdall
Percy Marmont – Colonel Burgoyne
Edward Rigby – Old Will
Mary Clare – Aunt
John Longden – Inspector Kent
George Curzon – Guy
Basil Radford – Uncle
Pamela Carme – Christine Clay
George Merritt – Detective Sergeant Miller
Jerry Verno – Lorry Driver
and others…
Digital Restoration
Prasad Corporation restored the film frame by frame, clearing scratches, dirt, tears, and all the other scars old reels tend to gather.
🏛️ See Also
🎥 Young and Innocent the girl was Young 1937 Full Movie Watch & Download
Watch young and innocent 1937 on Internet Archive:
🏛️ See Also
The Man Who Cheated Himself (1950) – A Classic Film Noir Gem Set in San Francisco- A Man Betrayed (1936) – Classic Republic Crime-Drama
- Inner Sanctum (1948) – A Suspenseful Noir Thriller
- Dementia 13 (1963) – Francis Ford Coppola’s Chilling Gothic Debut
Young and Innocent (1937) – Reviews
I saw this not too long ago, and it caught me off guard in a good way. I kept expecting something weighty, and instead it moves with this easy swing that feels nice after a long day. If you want a thriller that doesn’t drag you into the mud, this lands right where you need it. Hitchcock uses the “wrong man” setup again: Robert, a young writer, gets accused of killing an actress. He bolts, practically stumbles into Erika, who turns out to be the police chief’s daughter, and the two of them fall into this uneasy partnership that somehow works. I never read it as dark or heavy. It moves with a quick pulse, tossing in these goofy moments, and there’s this kids’ party that arrives out of nowhere and throws the whole mood off in a strangely fun way.
The film’s tone stays bright, almost clean. Robert and Erika have this easy chemistry that makes the whole journey sweet without turning syrupy. And Hitchcock’s direction? Still razor-sharp. That crane shot over the hall, ending on the killer’s twitching eye, feels wild even now. The blackface on the drummer is jarring today, though — no way around that.
What works: the light feel, the pacing, the performances. It keeps you hooked without trying to overwhelm you.
What doesn’t: the blackface moment, and a few story turns that feel dated or too simple.
My take: if you’re dipping into Hitchcock’s early British period, Young and Innocent is an easy entry. Fun, technically sharp, and quick to watch.
Tags
1937 Films, British Cinema, Crime & Thriller, Hitchcock Films, Black-and-White Classics, Films Based on Novels, Pinewood Studios Productions, Young and Innocent (The Girl Was Young)
I want this film as a legal