The 39 Steps (1939)

[a flock of sheep block the road as the car screeches to a halt]
Richard Hannay: Hello, what are we stopping for? Oh it's a whole flock of detectives.

Director:  Alfred Hitchcock
Producer:  Michael Balcon, Ivan Montagu
Main Cast:  Robert Donat, Madeleine Carroll
Runtime:  86 minutes

Alfred Hitchcock had a few different stages throughout his career being the British silent film era in the 1920’s, British sound years in the 30’s and then the Hollywood years of the 40’s through to the 70’s. Whilst many can say they have seen his latter classics such as Rear Window, North by Northwest and Vertigo, fewer would have delved into his British classics that really formed his career such as the silent film “The Lodger” (1927) or more specifically during the peak of his British years being the 1935 hit called “The 39 Steps” and “The Lady Vanishes” (1939) both of which are top notch films of the era.

One consistent flavour that Hitchcock has across the vast majority of his films is that he puts the ordinary man into extraordinary circumstances and this is no exception here in “The 39 Steps”.  Richard Hannay (Robert Donat) plays an ordinary Joe who goes to the theatre which has a guest called Mr Memory who, as you would guess, has an amazing ability to memorise things. On the way home from the show Richard gets caught up with a Miss Smith (Lucie Mannheim) who encourages Richard to take her home to his place.  He finds out that she is a spy and later that night she ends up dead and the police start the hunt for Richard whom they think murdered Miss Smith.  This begins a double cat and mouse chase with Hannay trying to find the truth of who murdered Miss Smith and the bad guys chasing Hannay.  Along the way Richard gets tied up with Pamela (Madeleine Carroll) an innocent bystander and now the bad guys are after them both and the race begins. What is the 39 Steps and why is it so important?

There is a good reason why this movie is listed in the book “1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die”.  It is vastly different from typical Hollywood ventures and has a real British feel to it with a mix of suspense and comedy that is pulled of surprisingly well even if parts feel a little farfetched (the chance of someone getting caught up in such a circumstance).  Seeking for realism, there is a sequence where the two main characters are handcuffed to one another so to get the two actors accustomed to it Hitchcock apparently cuffed them together and after a while claimed that he lost the key and as a result the actress ended up getting blisters on her wrists!  Something you would certainly not hear of today (not saying I condone it!).  It’s a movie that gets you in fast and due to its fast pace it holds your interest though in some ways it feels a tad rushed but that adds to the urgency of the characters need to find the truth about these 39 Steps.

Acting is performed well and is well scripted in order to keep you in.  Overall I would rate it as being the best of Hitchcock’s British period followed by The Lady Vanishes (1939) and The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) and well worth seeing.  I have yet to see the 1959 remake but I have seen the more recent BBC remake and whilst that its good it didn’t have the same impact on me compared to the original Hitch version.

The Bluray reviewed is the UK version which will work in Australian players.  There is a more expensive USA Criterion edition however that will not work in Australian players (unless you have a region free bluray player) and it contains more extras however you are paying a lot more for what is essentially the same image quality.

The UK bluray has good image quality, though it needs to be understood that this is a 1939 film and it can therefore only be as good as the original print, so don’t expect very sharp images.  Its in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio and looks good though I am sure it would look better if a full restoration had been done, but nevertheless it is good as long as your not expecting pristine quality. The audio is only in 192 kbps mono so no different to what a DVD would spit out (unlike the Criterion which has uncompressed mono in something like 1152 kbps) and can sound a bit inconsistent but I have certainly heard worse and to be honest unless a full restoration was performed it probably wouldn’t make a huge difference in uncompressed audio, though having it would be ideal seeing this is a bluray.

The disc also comes with the following extras:

• Feature length audio commentary
• Art of Film video feature ‘Hitchcock: The Early Years’
• Lux Radio Show Audio Feature (audio only)
• Stills Gallery
• Posters and Publicity material

Overall this is a great movie that just shows Hitchcock’s skill at movie making in 1935 knowing that even to this day other remakes pale in comparison.  If you are keen to experience an early pre-Hollywood Hitch film, this is the first place to go, in my opinion.  It has that British Hitch touch of humour mixed with suspense and is well worth the ride!  Highly Recommended.

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