The 39 Steps (1935)
Runtime:
86 minutes
Directed
by: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring:
Robert Donat, Madeline Carroll, Lucie Mannheim, Godfrey Tearle, Peggy
Ashcroft
From:
Gaumont British Picture Corporation
Via
YouTube (which has the 86 minute version rather than other copies
that are a few minutes shorter) I watched this famous public domain
film, one that many say is the first great movie that Hitchcock ever
did. After seeing it, I tend to agree.
To
copy and paste from the IMDb page concerning this movie largely set
and filmed in Scotland: “A man in London tries to help a
counterespionage agent. But when the agent is killed and he stands
accused, he must go on the run to both save himself and also stop a
spy ring trying to steal top secret information.”
To
elaborate, the man (Donat in a great performance) is a Canadian who
is in London and he gets entangled with a lady spy with a foreign
accent of unknown origin (Mannheim). She gets killed with a knife to
the back and he decides to escape as well, it's obvious that he will
be accused of murdering the woman, which is exactly what happens. He
knows from her that she was going to go to Scotland to warn someone
about The 39 Steps (which is briefly explained in the movie; the book
that it's based on explains it further and I'll leave it at that) and
a plot to smuggle important secrets out of Great Britain. The rest of
the movie is him on the run avoiding the authorities and other people
who want to silence him. He runs into a blonde (Carroll) and they end
up unwittingly connected to each other.
In
terms of structure, this is quite similar to North by Northwest. A
falsely accused man (a common theme for Hitch) is on the run and he
has to stop a massive plot from happening and causing a lot of harm
and damage. It's fastly paced, you get pretty rural Scotland scenery
and there are colorful memorable characters throughout, even those
that you only see for a few minutes. It's greatly plotted and always
interesting due to the situations our unwitting hero gets put in. A
guy missing part of a finger figures into the procedings. Donat and
Carroll have awesome chemistry in dealing with each other and they
provide humor in this fun yarn. I am glad I finally saw this tale of
mystery and intrigue as it is one of a good number of great films
that he made.
Like
I said last night, I'll be back on Friday the 13th in the
evening and I should be talking about something horror-related.
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