The Ring

The Ring (1927) is a silent boxing melodrama from Alfred Hitchcock you can watch online on iFILM. This early British film turns the boxing ring into a stand-in for a love triangle, not just a sporting arena.

Fairground boxer Jack Sander takes on all comers for loose change, night after night. Then a slick professional named Bob Corby knocks him flat and promptly hires him as a sparring partner. The two become fast friends, but there's one catch: both men want Mabel. She marries Jack and keeps drifting toward his rival. Sander's career climbs. The marriage quietly cracks.

Hitchcock wrote this one alone — a rare solo screenplay credit in his career — and his instincts are already on the screen: visual rhymes, jealousy shown through small objects, editing that carries the meaning the title cards can't. Carl Brisson, Lillian Hall-Davis and Ian Hunter lead the cast. For anyone curious where the future master of suspense got his start, this is a sharp first clue. Stream The Ring (1927) online on iFILM.