The 39 Steps (1935).

Review #1343: The 39 Steps.

Cast: 
Robert Donat (Richard Hannay), Madeleine Carroll (Pamela), Lucie Mannheim (Annabella Schmidt), Godfrey Tearle (Professor Jordan), Peggy Ashcroft (Margaret), John Laurie (John), Helen Haye (Mrs. Louisa Jordan), Frank Cellier (Sheriff Watson), and Wylie Watson (Mr. Memory) Directed by Alfred Hitchcock (#219 - Rope, #223 - North by Northwest, #446 - Spellbound, #447 - Psycho, #450 - Vertigo, #455 - Rear Window, #553 - Strangers on a Train, #800 - Shadow of a Doubt, #910 - Notorious, #963 - The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog, #964 - The Ring (1927), #965 - Downhill, #970 - Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and #977 - Frenzy)

Review: 
"The chief requisite for an actor is the ability to do nothing well, which is by no means as easy as it sounds. He should be willing to be used and wholly integrated into the picture by the director and the camera. He must allow the camera to determine the proper emphasis and the most effective dramatic highlights."

One can never say enough about Alfred Hitchcock and the films he made throughout seven decades. He had started his work in film as a title card designer for Famous Players-Lasky in their London studio in 1920. He gained experience from this work before his next job with Gainsborough Pictures as an assistant director. He had worked on numerous short subjects (including an attempt deubt with the curtailed Number 13 in 1922) and films, most notably with Woman to Woman (1923), which he designed the set and wrote for. In 1925, he made his directorial debut with The Pleasure Garden, a flop that now only exists in the viewing markets as a bootleg. His breakthrough came with The Lodger in 1927, inspired by Expressionist techniques of Germany. After the success of The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) came this film, his 22nd of his career and sixth-to-last before his departure to Hollywood in 1939. This was an adaptation of the adventure serial (and subsequent publication as novel) The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan, which first came out in 1915. It was the first in what turned out to be a thriller series by Buchan, who wrote four further novels with its main character of Richard Hannay over the next 21 years. The novel has been adapted three times for film along with once for television, with several radio adaptations and even a theatrical production for the stage.Obviously there are a few liberties taken with the work, such as three newly created characters (both female leads along with the brief but important use of someone named "Mr. Memory" for the opening and climax) and even the explanation for the title (an organization in the film, actual steps in the book), but  Charles Bennett and Ian Hay generally followed the outline of the original work.

For such a prolific director, one can't forget to mention its solid cast. Donat had already made the transition from the English stage (done since 1921) to film in 1932. He made just 20 films before his death in 1958 (affected in part due to his chronic asthma), but he made the most of it, even winning an Academy Award for Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939). In any case, he does a tremendous job here, a confident performance in being swept up as the wrong man on the run (a common thing present in numerous Hitchcock films), a wise-cracker wise to carrying an 86 minute film with that stiff upper lip one should see coming from someone of his disposition, careful but dynamic, such as the scene where he needs to make a speech to introduce a candidate he knows nothing about. Carroll proves just as careful with the present scenario, where she is never too far from our mind (with quite a bit of time passing before she shows up after the train sequence), but she makes the most of it. If the two seem at home with panic when handcuffed together in a scene together, that was because Hitchcock had them handcuffed for a few hours (while pretending to have lost the key) to get them in the right sense of mind for such situation. In that sense, the two seem just right with chemistry, which you can see the relaxation as the film goes on. Mannheim shows up for only a few minutes, but she makes the most of it count. Tearle makes for a fine lurking presence, in that one doesn't need bellowing to make a conniving presence count but control. The rest prove fine for a film that has touches of humor to go alongside thrills to make for quite an interesting ride, going from scene to scene with no trouble, where the suspense comes to the viewer without needing to be spoonfed all at once. In the end, this is a wonderful film from Hitchcock in its execution of suspense, rolling itself with controlled ambition and a game cast that make for wonderful entertainment belonging on the level among Hitchcock's past and future prime efforts.

Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.