Escaped From Dartmoor (aka A Cottage On Dartmoor) represented director
Anthony Asquith's
entree into the world of talking pictures. Compared by contemporary critics to the best that Hitchcock had to offer, the film concentrates on murder amongst the lower classes. Things go from bad to worse when Joe (Ugo Henning), a barber, falls in love with Sally (Nora Baring), a manicurist. When foreign customer Harry (Hans Schettow) likewise falls for Sally, Joe responds by slitting the man's throat. This earns him a stiff prison term, but he manages to escape for more deviltry. Completed as a silent film, Escaped from Dartmoor was converted into a part-soundie with the inclusion of a five-minute scene in which the three main characters attend a talking picture show. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide