"Murder!...is the masterpiece of Hitchcock's early films. The philosophical dimension implicit in The Lodger and Blackmail becomes explicit in the arguments between the protagonist and the cunning and articulate murderer against whom he is pitted....The philosophical concerns of Murder! are those of all of Hitchcock's films and include the problems of human identity; the relationships among love, desire, murder, dreams, madness, and theater; and the nature of viewing. And underlying the film's arguments are its reflections on its own nature as a film." (William Rothman, Hitchcock-The Murderous Gaze, 1982) Followed by Hitchcock lecture on film.