Hitchcock burst onto the film scene with this movie. It is extremely notable for the fact that it has sound. We've really entered into the sound era and this film in particular has some of the best dialogue I've seen so far. Hitchcock seizes on sound as a new, highly innovative technology and shows us just how important dialogue can be to creating suspense in a film not just the edits. However, that is not to mitigate his innovations as a visual filmmaker who uses his shots and sequencing to create suspense. This film is extremely rich in combining the best of the associative editing techniques of Eisenstein with the lighting style of German Expressionism and the romantic storytelling nature of silent American Hollywood films to create a highly personable, yet very scary thriller.
The film is notable for being limited in location to one storefront and creating tension within that one space. Hitchcock really makes the most out of his storyline and dialogue to plant time limits, the presence of individuals who can get caught in that space to create the tension.
This film is an indication of movement towards more escapist “crime” based films. You see it paving the way for the gangster criminal action films of the 1930's.