The 39 Steps, 1935

Repost! (original post: September 27, 2011)


Director: Alfred Hitchcock (Dial 'M' for Murder, To Catch a Thief, Vertigo, Rope, Saboteur, etc......)

Stars: Robert Donat, Madeleine Carroll

Hannay (Donat) is taken by surprise at the theater (where, incidentally, he is watching an interesting spectacle of a man nicknamed "Memory" who will answer any question from the audience, because he memorizes 50 facts every day) when a woman comes to him and asks him to take her home. When she discovers that there are men on the street watching his apartment, she begins to tell him about the "39 Steps" and how she must go see someone in Scotland or the UK's secrets will get out of the country. (I don't think they were specific on secrets; I think we are just supposed to know that these are super important secrets. Or it could be I wasn't paying attention. Except I'm pretty sure I was.)

Then the mysterious woman comes to his room in the night and tells him to run or he'll be next. And when she falls over, he sees she has a knife in her back!

This incident convinces him that she was telling the truth, so, still unsure of what to do, but knowing he's headed to see a professor in Scotland, Hannay loses the goons after him by hopping a train. But at the next station, he discovers they're still after him. To escape them, he gets into a young woman's compartment and starts kissing her! (Classic escape! Maybe it was Hitch who started the trend?) The woman, Pamela (Madeleine Carroll), does not believe Hannay, and instantly tries to turn him in, but he is able to get off the train and run.

Well, this summary is getting long. I really liked this movie! I can't believe I've never seen it before! The cover for it (at least the one on Netflix) is a bit scary-looking, with a bunch of bloody hand-prints. The film has nothing to do with that! Except for when the mysterious woman is stabbed in the beginning, but it's not bloody! I don't want to say anything more, except that Pamela and Hannay eventually get hand-cuffed together, and are on the run from the guys trying to kill Hannay, and end up sharing a hotel room. How was this allowed on the screen in the 30s!!!!?? I mean, nothing happens, but still!

It's thrilling! :)