Review of The 39 Steps (1935) by Brett C — 09 May 2014

Review In A Nutshell:

Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps is a film that was much better than I expected. I was kind of skeptic with this, as so far a few of Hitchcock's adventure films that I had seen have been disappointing.

The film starts off like North By Northwest where the things aren't so clear, and as time passes, the film gives us more and more information to kind of draw us in. I was drawn in as soon as our protagonist, Hannay, takes Miss Smith back to his apartment. The film was able to build up this hype on what the 39 Steps could be. Throughout the entire film, I kept thinking maybe it could be this or that, but once Hitchcock finally reveals it to us, I was left satisfied and mildly shocked though I couldn't help but feel that the payoff could have been bigger.

I didn't expect this film to be a deep character study, and that is exactly what I got. Hitchcock was more concerned it having us feel the thrill and invested with the mystery and intrigue rather than the characters themselves. Films like these could run the great risk of becoming too much of style over substance but Hitchcock delivers such wonderful scenes like when Hannay was running across the countryside of Scotland, or when he was giving a speech in order to delay being caught. When I watched these scenes play out, it did remind me a lot of what Hitchcock does with one of his later films, North By Northwest, except he was able to inject these scenes with more adrenaline and cut with a steadier pace. These scenes also worked better because I was following a character that was more down to earth and relatable, as Cary Grant in North By Northwest was just ridiculously too smart, witty and confident for his own good. The film also features a romance in the third act between Hannay and Pamela. I felt that Hitchcock played the romance very naturally, using it as an opportunity to add shades to his monotonous characters. The 39 Steps' romance doesn't allow itself to be the centre of attention and change anything to the film's direction, unlike To Catch A Thief and North By Northwest.

The film's cinematography was quite pleasing, as the film features a couple of shots of the beautiful landscape of Scotland. The film also features wonderful camera movement, using the space of the set in an efficient way, while also giving the film that cinematic quality; some of the sets seem very claustrophobic and that lets the audience gain this idea of Hannay, feeling trapped wherever he goes as every time he thinks he could catch a break, they would be around the corner coming to get him and when he does somehow get away with it, the audience can't help but give a large sigh of relief.

The film's score didn't really make a large impact on me, as it seems to use sounds that are common to thrillers of that time. It doesn't support the film's mystery and suspense as much as I wanted it to; instead it kind of just plays in the background in order to give the certain scenes that small layer of texture.

The acting in this film was quite good, with a great performance from Robert Donat as Hannay. Donat portrayed Hannay as a down to earth fellow who is constantly paranoid as at any moment he could be cornered by the police or secret agents, which could mean the end of his life. Madeleine Carroll as Pamela was also good in the role as she was able to give her character a layer of toughness that prevents from coming off as a typical damsel in distress type of character.

The 39 Steps is an example of a great spy/adventure film due to the clever idea of having the film follow a common man rather than someone that one would expect to get away from any sort of danger. Hitchcock was able to deliver a thrilling experience that his later films couldn't seem to grasp, aside from a few exceptions.