Excellent silent from director Hitchcock who came up with the scenario: a melodrama set in the boxing world of London. Gritty fairground scenes are staged with real glimpses of ordinary working-class people shown among the crowds. The fun comes from watching actual people, not just the performers, circa 1927; their manners and clothes and hairstyles.The leads are played by Carl Brisson, Lilian Hall-Davies, and Ian Hunter.
Leading lady Lilian Hall-Davies is the standout: she has a hard edged Joan Crawford look. A child of the working-class like Crawford, her father was a cab driver. Lilian was a popular performer in silent movies but with the advent of talkies her career tapered off; sadly, she committed suicide in 1935. But in The Ring she's alive as ever - she and Brisson have a sexual energy onscreen and one doesn't believe she would actually see Ian Hunter on the side. Brisson is so much more sexier and alive! Her affair doesn't ring true; it comes across as a plot contrivance.
The story is basic melodrama through and through, but with Hitchcock's technical flourishes the viewer becomes involved in the movie and doesn't realize the blandness of the story until afterwards. Expertly shot, there are several stand out scenes including a 1920's roaring house party with a Louise Brooks look-alike kickin' up her heels. The party is cut with scenes of Brisson meeting his handlers in the next room - edited together to contrast the stuffiness of his office with the party going on in the living room whilst his wife chats up rival Ian Hunter.
Hitchcock alone is credited with the script and story. Perhaps this explains the less than original plot: Hitch always worked better with writers brainstorming ideas than completing a shooting script himself. By and large, the technical aspects of film-making were his forte. It would be the last movie he directed where he received sole screenwriting credit.
"The Ring" is part of a DVD collection of 20 Hitchcock British era films I own.
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