Review of The 39 Steps (1935) by Constantin R — 02 Jun 2008
Hitchcock had a long and illustrious career full of masterpieces that have been hailed by critics for years now, and this is the movie that got it all started. It's a movie that clearly would influence him to make "North by Northwest" 24 years later, and given that that is my favorite movie, it'll be hard not to compare the two.
The plot is very similar first and foremost: a man is unintentionally entangled with a woman while in London who is running from foreign agents. That night she is murdered and he is chased by both the police, who figures him to be the murderer, and the agents, who are highly suspicious of his role.
..of course, the whole time, he is actually an innocent man, and he thus goes out to prove his innocence and to snitch out the spies. It's all a great premise, but it plays out much more exciting in "North by Northwest".
It isn't as grandiose and there are no scenes that can match the crop duster or Mt.Rushmore scenes. The whole thing just feels like a "lite" version of NxNW, as the characters aren't as charismatic or interesting either.
Judging it individually now, there are some good things. As with any Hitchcock movie, there's some good suspense and cleverness, and the ending was original and unpredictable, giving this enough as a whole to leave a positive impression.
It's not the brightest moment by Sir Alfred, but there's a definite hint of what was to come once he realized his full potential.
This review of The 39 Steps (1935) was written by Constantin R on 02 Jun 2008.
The 39 Steps has generally received very positive reviews.
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