The 39 Steps

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Overview

This early masterwork from the "master of suspense" is given a solid presentation from The Criterion Collection. The transfer is full frame (standard) with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and the audio is in Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono. The print itself shows a few signs of age, but is generally in splendid shape. The animated menu choices include a commentary by Alfred Hitchcock scholar Marian Keane. It is very educational, covering a wide range of topics including the themes in Hitchcock's work as well as breakdowns of ...
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Overview

This early masterwork from the "master of suspense" is given a solid presentation from The Criterion Collection. The transfer is full frame (standard) with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and the audio is in Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono. The print itself shows a few signs of age, but is generally in splendid shape. The animated menu choices include a commentary by Alfred Hitchcock scholar Marian Keane. It is very educational, covering a wide range of topics including the themes in Hitchcock's work as well as breakdowns of his shot compositions. The disc also includes "The Art of Film: Vintage Hitchcock," a half-hour documentary from the 1970s that focuses on the early U.K. years of the director. There is also a Lux Radio Theatre production of the story from 1937, which runs about one hour and stars the vocal talents of Robert Montgomery and Ida Lupino. A copy of the original 1935 press book is also included. It is quite intriguing, though a bit difficult to navigate. The disc is topped off with a selection of 15 of the original production designs for the film. This is a well put together disc.
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Special Features

Closed Caption; Gorgeous new transfer, with digitally restored image and sound; Audio essay by Hitchcock scholar Marian Keane; The complete 1937 broadcast of the Lux Radio Theatre adaptation, performed by Robert Montgomery and Ida Lupino; The Art of Film: Vintage Hitchcock, a Janus Films documentary detailing the director's British period; Excerpts from the original 1935 press book; Original production design drawings; English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired; Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition
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Editorial Reviews

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.
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
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Product Details

  • Release Date: 11/2/1999
  • UPC: 037429135228
  • Original Release: 1935

    • Rating:

  • Source: Criterion
  • Region Code: 1
  • Aspect Ratio: Pre-1954 Standard (1.33.1)
  • Presentation: Criterion Collection
  • Sound: Dolby Digital Mono
  • Language: English
  • Time: 1:26:00
  • Format: DVD

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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Scene Index

Side #1 --
1. Opening Credits/Mr. Memory [7:19]
2. Annabella Smith [10:16]
3. Tales About Murderers and Foreigners [2:25]
4. "Very Good at Charades" [7:52]
5. The Crofter and His Wife [8:45]
6. Alt-Na-Shellach [8:15]
7. Hymns That Have Helped Me [2:33]
8. Difficult Man to Follow [6:50]
9. Flock of Detectives [4:48]
10. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Hopkinson [10:30]
11. Escape [8:24]
12. "What Are the 39 Steps?" [8:26]
1. Introduction/Hitchcockian Gestures [7:19]
2. Shot-Reverse Shot/Knowledge [10:16]
3. Drafted by Hitchcock's Camera [2:25]
4. Fantasies About Murder/The Camera's Gaze [7:52]
5. Vacancy/Margaret's Dreams and Entrapment [8:45]
6. Anticipating North by Northwest, Hands, and Power [8:15]
7. The Cost of Freedom/Acting [2:33]
8. A Perfect Film Actor [6:50]
9. Theatrical Marriage [4:48]
10. Comedy of Marriage/Bedtime Story [10:30]
11. Pamela's Transformation [8:24]
12. The World of a Hitchcock Film [8:26]
1. Opening Credits [:54]
2. Hitchcock's Early Training [1:34]
3. Young and Innocent, 1937 [3:11]
4. The Lodger, 1926 [1:13]
5. Blackmail, 1929 [3:14]
6. Miscellaneous Melodramas [1:15]
7. The Man Who Knew Too Much, 1934 [3:13]
8. Cameos and Sabotage, 1936 [3:08]
9. The Lady Vanishes, 1938 [3:33]
10. The 39 Steps, 1935 [7:36]
1. Introduction by Cecil B. DeMille [3:46]
2. Mr. Memory [3:29]
3. Annabella Smith [5:52]
4. Hannay Is Missing [4:46]
5. Commercial Break [1:30]
6. Kinreach [5:16]
7. Hitchhiking and Escape [6:37]
8. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Hawkinson [3:20]
9. King's Head Tavern [2:54]
10. Intermission Guest: Major C.E. Russell [6:45]
11. Change of Heart [2:12]
12. "To the Palladium!" [7:40]
13. Mr. DeMille Chats With Mr. Montgomery and Miss Lupino [5:35]
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Menu

Side #1 --
   Play the Movie
   Chapters
   Commentary
      Play Commentary
      Commentary Index
   The Art of Film: Vintage Hitchcock
      Play Documentary
      Documentary Index
   Lux Radio Theatre Adaptation
      Introduction
      Play the Program
      Program Index
      The Players
   Original 1935 Press Book
      Front Cover
      Pages 1-2
      Pages 3-4
      Pages 5-6
      Pages 7-8
      Pages 9-10
      Pages 11-12
      Pages 13-14
      Pages 15-16
      Page 17
      Page 18
      Page 19
   Production Designs
      Begin
   Color Bars
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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4.5
( 12 )
Rating Distribution

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(9)

4 Star

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Sort by: Showing all of 12 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    A reviewer

    The Criterion DVD of Hitchcok's THE 39 STEPS is vastly superior to any other edition. The print is pristine, the sound is very good and, all in all, one feels it might even look better than it did on the big screen in the 1930s. This is my favorite of the movies Hitchcock made in Britain. It actually comes very close in spirit to Capra's IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT. Perhaps movies like these could only plausibly have been made in the age of censorship. You wait for the couple thrown together to begin falling in love. This is a fun, suspenseful adventure.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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