The 39 Steps (1935)

If you have been reading My Filmviews for a bit longer, you have probably noticed that I’m a big fan of Alfred Hitchcock movies. A while ago there was a sale with a lot of his movies in one box and of course I just had to pick it up. I now take my time to slowly work through all these films. One of them was The 39 Steps. A title that doesn’t say a lot about the film itself, but luckily a title isn’t the only reason to decide whether or not a movie is worth seeing.

The 39 Steps is about a man (played by Robert Donat) who meets this woman during a show who tells him that she’s in great danger. She asks if she can go home with him to hide for a while until she feels safe again. It doesn’t take long before he finds out that he’s in danger as well and because of the information he received from the woman he is forced to flee and go on a search to save both his own life and England.

This setup results in an exciting film where he can’t trust anyone and is on the run for the police. It is a classic Hitchcock film in which the main character is caught up in something, without him knowing what it’s all about. This is a setup which Hitchcock has used in other films like North by Northwest and Saboteur. As a viewer you join the character on his journey and as you don’t know what will happen you will be biting your nails on several occasions.

The acting is great, sometimes even comedic. When Robert Donat is cuffed to Madeleine Carroll the two have a chemistry and it results in a nice back and forth between the two. You won’t find out what The 39 Steps are, but once that is explained it doesn’t even matter anymore as the journey towards it has been so interesting and full of suspense.

Score: 8