Rich and Strange (1931)

A good advertisement for a holiday cruise this definitely isn't: a combination of sea-sickness; decks packed to the gunwales and some overtly snobbish fellow passengers make me realise why I quite like planes! Henry Kendall and Joan Barry come into a windfall inheritance and decide to celebrate by going on such an holiday - and soon discover that it isn't all it is cracked up to be. Using some of Hitchcock's expertly hones silent film skills, we tell the story as our nouveau-riche couple slowly realise that wealth isn't everything as their behaviour and attitudes start to adapt to their new surroundings. Don't look for any traditional suspense or thrills in this; it is a much more pedestrian assessment of shallowness and flummery with some quite poignant observations of a rather pointless existence.