39 Steps by HOMEVISION, Alfred Hitchcock, Robert Donat

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Overview

This classic British thriller was one of Alfred Hitchcock's first major international successes, and it introduced a number of the stylistic and thematic elements that became hallmarks of his later work. Richard Hannay Robert Donat, a Canadian rancher on vacation in England, attends a music hall performance by "Mr. Memory" Wylie Watson; in the midst of the show, shots ring out and Richard flees the theater. Moments later, a terrified woman Lucie Mannheim begs Richard to help her; back at his room, she tells him that she's a British spy whose life has been threatened by international agents waiting outside. Richard is certain that she's mad until she reappears at his door in the morning, near death with a knife in her back, a map in her hand, and muttering something about "39 Steps." Discovering that a group of thugs are indeed waiting outside, Richard slips away and takes the first train to the Scottish town on the dead woman's map. Richard learns that he's now wanted by the police for murder, and he must find a way to clear his name. He begins trying to do so with the help of a woman he meets en route, Pamela Madeleine Carroll, who serves as his unwitting assistant, even after she tries to turn him in. The 39 Steps was later remade in 1959 and 1978 -- both without Hitchcock's participation.

Editorial Reviews

All Movie Guide

Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps firmly established the director's reputation beyond the boundaries of the British isles, but it did far more than that: it was also the film where Hitchcock's reach and grasp as a filmmaker began growing by leaps and bounds. He'd already made three excellent thrillers The Lodger 1926, Blackmail 1929, and The Man Who Knew Too Much 1934 that had attracted considerable attention in America, but The 39 Steps, as a piece of screencraft, assembled all the best elements in those widely scattered successes spread across eight years of his career between two covers in a way that riveted audiences and industry observers. It played exactly the way that British movies weren't supposed to, lively and piercingly funny, rather than stodgy and dignified; it was almost as much a comedy as a thriller, which was something new in any country's cinema; and it was almost as much a battle of the sexes in the jousting of its two leads Robert Donat, Madeleine Carroll as it was a quest by the hero to prove his innocence of a murder charge; by the end of the movie, we want to see not only how Richard Hanney Donat proves his innocence but also how he and Pamela Carroll manage to stay together. Not coincidentally, The 39 Steps was also the first of his major films in which Hitchcock ripped up and threw away most of the contents of the underlying source a novel by John Buchan that had been a best-seller then and which has remained a perennially popular read ever since -- he later followed this practice in his subsequent treatments of Josephine Tey's A Shilling For Candles as Young and Innocent, Ethel Lina White's The Wheel Spins as The Lady Vanishes, and Francis Beeding's The House of Dr. Edwardes as Spellbound, among other literary properties. In the process, he struck a blow for the director as a creative voice in his own right, independent of and superior to the novelist at least where actual screen adaptations were concerned, who might take one or two good ideas, a name or two, and perhaps a setting and a scene from a chapter and junk everything else, making it his own. In a time when producers and studios still occupied a place of cultural inferiority even in their own minds to the authors and publishers of the printed word, this was no small achievement, especially considering that it was done well and, thus, justified itself. So, in his own way, working within the thriller genre in The 39 Steps, Hitchcock helped open the way for virtually every major director who came after him. Bruce Eder

All Movie Guide - Bruce Eder

Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps firmly established the director's reputation beyond the boundaries of the British isles, but it did far more than that: it was also the film where Hitchcock's reach and grasp as a filmmaker began growing by leaps and bounds. He'd already made three excellent thrillers (The Lodger (1926), Blackmail (1929), and The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)) that had attracted considerable attention in America, but The 39 Steps, as a piece of screencraft, assembled all the best elements in those widely scattered successes (spread across eight years of his career) between two covers in a way that riveted audiences and industry observers. It played exactly the way that British movies weren't supposed to, lively and piercingly funny, rather than stodgy and dignified; it was almost as much a comedy as a thriller, which was something new in any country's cinema; and it was almost as much a battle of the sexes in the jousting of its two leads (Robert Donat, Madeleine Carroll) as it was a quest by the hero to prove his innocence of a murder charge; by the end of the movie, we want to see not only how Richard Hanney (Donat) proves his innocence but also how he and Pamela (Carroll) manage to stay together. Not coincidentally, The 39 Steps was also the first of his major films in which Hitchcock ripped up and threw away most of the contents of the underlying source (a novel by John Buchan that had been a best-seller then and which has remained a perennially popular read ever since) -- he later followed this practice in his subsequent treatments of Josephine Tey's A Shilling For Candles (as Young and Innocent), Ethel Lina White's The Wheel Spins (as The Lady Vanishes), and Francis Beeding's The House of Dr. Edwardes (as Spellbound), among other literary properties. In the process, he struck a blow for the director as a creative voice in his own right, independent of and superior to the novelist (at least where actual screen adaptations were concerned), who might take one or two good ideas, a name or two, and perhaps a setting and a scene from a chapter and junk everything else, making it his own. In a time when producers and studios still occupied a place of cultural inferiority (even in their own minds) to the authors and publishers of the printed word, this was no small achievement, especially considering that it was done well and, thus, justified itself. So, in his own way, working within the thriller genre in The 39 Steps, Hitchcock helped open the way for virtually every major director who came after him.

Product Details

Release Date: 2/19/2002
UPC: 037429088937
Original Release: 1935

Rating:

Source: HOMEVISION
Format: VHS

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Robert Donat	Richard Hannay
Madeleine Carroll	Pamela
Godfrey Tearle	Prof. Jordan
Peggy Ashcroft	Margaret
Lucie Mannheim	Miss Smith/Annabella
John Laurie	John
Wylie Watson	Mr. Memory
Helen Haye	Mrs. Jordan
Frank Cellier	Sheriff Watson
Jerry Verno	Voyager
Peggy Simpson	Young Maid
Miles Malleson	Director of the Palladium
Gus McNaughton	Voyager
Marianne Stone

Technical Credits

Alfred Hitchcock	Director
Michael Balcon	Producer
Charles Bennett	Screenwriter
Ian Hay	Screenwriter
Albert Jullion	Production Designer
Bernard Knowles	Cinematographer
Louis Levy	Score Composer
Ivor Montagu	Producer
Alma Reville	Screenwriter
Joe Strassner	Costumes/Costume Designer
Derek N. Twist	Editor
Otto Werndorff	Production Designer
Jack Whitehead	Special Effects

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The 39 Steps

Overview

All Available Formats & Editions

More About This Product

Overview

Editorial Reviews

All Movie Guide

All Movie Guide - Bruce Eder

Product Details

Related Categories

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Technical Credits

Customer Reviews

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2 Star

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