Film Review: The 39 Steps (1935)

Filmographies of grand masters of cinema, especially in their early phases, contain films that, while being good, are more important for setting foundations for latter greater and much better known triumphs. In case of Alfred Hitchcock one such example, often cited as the one that had finalised Hitchcockian formula, is 1935 British film The 39 Steps.

The film is based on The Thirty-Nine Steps, popular 1915 novel by John Buchan. The protagonist is Richard Hannay (played by Robert Donat), Canadian who came to London on business. One night, during the visit to music hall where “Mr. Memory” (played by Wylie Watson) entertains patrons by answering the most difficult trivia questions, fight and riot erupt. Hannay is picked by mysterious woman (played by Lucie Mannheim) who asks him whether she could bring her to his West End flat, to which Hannay agrees. There she introduces herself as “Annabella Smith”, claiming to be freelance intelligence operative working to Britain and that her mission is prevent foreign spy ring, known as “the 39 Steps”, from getting air defence secrets from the country. Hannay is sceptical, but not after she gets killed and himself becomes murder suspect. Hannay thinks that the only way he could clear his name is to prove Annabella’s story right and unmask mysterious spy ring leader. The only clue is his location is a village in Scotland and he goes there, despite being pursued by police. His main problem is that nobody believes him, and that includes Pamela (played by Madeleine Carroll), beautiful woman who has given him to police but who ends up handcuffed to him while Hannay desperately tries both to escape and prove her innocence.

Script by Charles Bennet and Ian Hay made great changes to the plot of Buchan’s novel – the setting was contemporary instead at the eve of the Great War; protagonist was Canadian instead of South African; and, most importantly, there were female characters who played important part in the plot. Buchan (who would soon after the premiere become Governor General of Canada) was, despite such deviations, quite pleased with adaptation of his work and publicly praised Hitchcock. The 39 Steps was made with Hitchcock already established as internationally renowned and commercially successful film maker with his previous film The Man Who Knew Too Much. The budget was quite large for 1930s British standards and Hitchcock has again shown his superb directorial skills on the screen, mixing studio sets and genuine locations to provide exciting story mixing suspense, black humour and even little bits of romance. But the most important element The 39 Steps was the basic plot premise of “innocent man on the run”, which Hitchcock would later in Hollywood use in Saboteur and refine to perfection in classic North by Northwest. Another ingredient of Hitchcockian formula is character of “icy” blonde, that would become stereotype for Master of Suspense, and who is here played by talented Madeleine Carroll.

The 39 Steps was the British film and it was quite fortunate, because Hitchcock, unlike his colleagues over the Big Pond, wasn’t under the heavy censorship yoke of recently enforced Hays Code. So this film allowed somewhat “saucier” contents to slip through – clear references to extramarital sex and adultery; visual allusions to certain fetishes; male and female character literally sharing the same bed (which was impossible in Hollywood at the time, even when, like in this film, no sexual activity actually happened). The protagonist is played by Robert Donat, star of British theatre whose great looks actually works in the context of the story, being both manipulated and manipulating three different woman – unfortunate freelance spy; Margareth (played by Peggy Ashcroft), repressed young wife of tyrannical Scottish crofter (played by John Lurie), who helps Hannay escape; and, finally, Pamela, engages in comical banter with Hannay before finally realising that he was telling the truth all time. The 39 Steps, however, still doesn’t reach golden standards of latter Hitchock’s masterpieces. Part of it is in technical limitations, like poor special effects in the scene when police uses gyrocopter to hunt Hannay; another is in villain, played by Godfrey Tearle, being rather forgettable, at least in comparison with comical “Mr. Memory” played wonderfully by character actor Wylie Watson.

The 39 Steps was big hit and was recognised as very good film by contemporary critics. Buchan’s novel was adapted three more times – 1959 version directed by Ralph Thomas, 1978 version The Thirty-Nine Steps directed by Don Sharp (which later led to prequel television series Hannay starring Robert Powell) and 2008 television film produced by BBC.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

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