Review of The 39 Steps (1935) by Arthur M — 28 Dec 2011

A clumsy start to the directing dynasty Hitchcock would later build in America; The 39 Steps is unlike many of his other films in the way it's put together. Hitchcock would later make taut, sometimes action packed thrillers, all with ingenuity and a special zest that would saturate and identify his later films.

This, made in his native England, is far from a disappointment. Though it doesn't possess inherent fear or a debonair protagonist, it does have this strange charm that he would never recapture in later films.

For the time it was set it reads much more like a romantic thriller than a case of mistaken identity or reviewing a network of spies. Though the chasing of Hannay (Robert Donat) was at first overwhelming and tense, it becomes almost comical how he ends up in place after place.

From hiding out in a country inn to being inadvertently thrust onstage to give a speech about a politician he knows nothing about, Hannay continually comes into contact with odd characters and irreverent townspeople.

Much of the film is just his hiding out and people who have never met him helping to hide him from various spies, the police, and a bothersome blonde. Eventually the blonde (Madeleine Carroll) becomes the love interest and an ally in his quest to clear his name and stop a spy from leaving the country with viable secret government information.

For an espionage film there isn't much in the way of action or strange, exotic accents, except for the first agent who gets killed off. Most of the film hinges on Robert Donat's performance, because it takes a considerable charm and gentility to make this film work without any of the core elements.

Still, the film is quite entertaining and enticing. It has a lot of gimmicks and comes off as dated versus later films which are timeless, but this is still a great start to the Hitchcock empire.