Cast: Robert Donat, Madeleine Carroll

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Screenplay: Charles Bennett

Running time: 1 hr 26 mins

Genre: Action/Adventure/Thriller



CRITIQUE:


Consider this: without Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps – thrillers like Minority Report, Enemy of the State, or perhaps the Bourne movies could have been lesser realised. One of his first British films made in the 1930s, it is still an exhilaratingly executed piece of thriller that was way ahead of its time. This plot of mistaken identity has been replicated countless of times in staple Hollywood man-on-the-run thrillers, whilst blending suspense, espionage elements, and comedy, as Robert Donat’s charismatic main man crosses the country from London to the Scottish Highlands to solve the mystery of the titular ‘steps’ after being framed for murder. Hitchcock shows his trademark elements here, deft camerawork, and reveals his fetish for blonde women, clearly having fun showing off that sexually suggestive scene of Pamela and Hannay in handcuffs, whilst she takes off her stockings. This pair also had one of the best couple banters in cinematic history, bickering with each other in wonderfully comic lines.


VERDICT:

Hitchcock in his early best, this is entertaining, rollicking fun. Seminal, The 39 Steps builds a solid foundation for the thrillers of the modern age.


RATING: A