The 39 Steps

Rating:
Summary: Criterion does it again...
Review: I just ordered the Criterion Hitchcock "set" which includes "The 39 Steps", a movie I've watched many times over the last 20 years, but NEVER in a form this crisp and well-transfered; it's been restored beautifully, and as with all the films("My Man Godfrey" and "The Lady Vanishes", to name two)that have been kicking around with duped, grainy, fuzzy prints for the last 60-some years that were FINALLY restored-it's almost like watching a new movie-even if you'd thought you'd memorized all the dialogue and action! There's just so much that's missed in a bad print. Here, we have Hitch at his finest....there just isn't a dull second in this film. It's really as sure-fire as any movie ever made, in terms of entertainment. I believe this too was Hitchcock's first huge breakout international hit, although happily for us, he didn't "go Hollywood" for another 3 years or so(and gave us the later "Lady Vanishes"-another Criterion must-have).

One caveat: if you're like me(hopeless film buff), you often get these Criterions for not only the fantastic quality of the print but for the often illuminating audio tracks, usually provided by experts of one type or another; I've never quibbled with any of them before, but I have to say, don't expect Marion Keane's wall-to-wall droning to be worth it. There's generally two kinds of film "discussion"(not counting the sort where the actual director or actors gab, which we get with new films): the sort that's superb, like Rudy Behlmer's on "Adventures of Robin Hood"-an amalgam of film history, film technique, on-the-fly biographies of the actors you're watching, tidbits about the production locations, etc.etc.-nd then there's the OTHER kind:
film "semiotics". In other words, a commentator turns a smashing, hugely exciting and entertaining movie into a dull excercise in psychoanalysis. Virtually NOTHING is said about any of the particulars of "The 39 Steps" that isn't a parsing of the symbolism, the framing, that sort of thing. That stuff's there, of course, and I'll hand it to her that the speaker *does* mention Robert Donat's acting several times(it's excellent, of course!)-but you know, for all her blather about the poignancy of the scene of the Crofter's wife, you'd think that she might bother to tell us the actress' name(Peggy Ashcroft), the fact that this was one of her few films, that she was a huge stage star eventually, etc. The sort of thing that other audio tracks do so well.

Rating:
Summary: DISMAL TRANSFER OF A HITCHCOCK CLASSIC
Review: Alfred Hitchcock's British film making period hints at the brilliant foray of creative genius that was to follow during his Hollywood tenure. In "The 39 Steps" Hitch' perfectly captures the aura of swinging London and its music halls - except that this time they have become the scenes for murder, mayhem and, one of Hitchcock's classic touches, the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time. Robert Donat stars as that wrong man, playing out a series of parts as Richard Hannay, Mr. Hammond, Capt. Frazer and Henry Hopkins. A Canadian tourist, Hannay is forced to flee police across the countryside and Scottish moors after he is suspected as part of a deadly conspiracy that resulted in the murder of a mysterious spy in his London flat. Hannay is accompanied, for the most part, by the abstinent Pamela (Madeleine Carroll). Determined to prove his own innocence and find the criminal mastermind with the missing fingers, Hannay eventually winds up in a showdown and a race against time. Hitchcock populates his landscape with a series of eccentrics, villains and downright kooks in an effortless blend or romance and adventure.

"The 39 Steps" is made available in a slew of bootlegged DVD transfers - none of which are satisfactory, including the legitimate and expensive Criterion Edition. Granted "The 39 Steps" was a film in genuinely bad shape, before Criterion came along. But this DVD is not "pristine" or "sparkling" as Criterion's packaging suggests. Contrast levels are still too low. There's an incredible amount of camera flicker in almost all of the scenes. Fine details are lost in darker scenes and only marginally visible during the brighter ones. There's also a limited amount of edge enhancement and shimmering of fine detail. This is not an outstanding restoration or even a mediocre one. When I think of "pristine" and "sparkling" Warner Brothers' "Mildred Pierce" comes to mind. "The 39 Steps" is no Millie!!!
Extras include the usual fluff stuff - a bunch of written essays that are really, really boring. Honestly, how many DVD's have you read lately?!? A documentary on Hitchcock's British period is also included but is not comprehensive and appears as though the source material being used were found under a hay stack in Sussex. And this is what Criterion wants consumers to pay upwards of $40-$60 bucks for? FORGET IT!

Rating:
Summary: Watch without interruptions on a quiet dark eve
Review: First of all, "The 39 Steps" has nothing to do with stairs! Alfred Hitchcock wouldn't be so pedestrian to entitle one of his (I'd say, greatest) films thusly. Our lead herein, Robert Donat (like you, no doubt now) would certainly like to know what they are too, but to tell you would give way the climax. I will say that, like many Hitchcock films, what is being pursued is less signficant than the quest involved itself. Nevertheless, the ending of this film is great fun; wonderfully choreographed (yes, choreographed:), and as dramatically suspenseful as Hitchcock can get. It's most memorable, to boot. So, where does that leave us, herein? If you have seen and liked "North by Northwest" you ought to enjoy this film; as it is similar in spirit and very much akin (albeit in black and white) to that rather more popular escapade of Hitchcock's that climaxes on Mount Rushmore. If you are unfamiliar with this latter film, but have enjoyed "Vertigo", "Shadow of a Doubt", "To Catch a Thief", and/or "Strangers on a Train" then I can also confidently predict you will relish "The 39 Steps" too. Finally, if you haven't seen any of the above may I ask what your excuse is? You can't be a celluloid fanatic without being familiar with the likes of Hitchcock (as well as Ford, Wilder, Capra, Kurosawa, et al.). Granted, you may not be a film fanatic, of course; in which case still have a look at "The 39 Steps" and one other of the above. Then, on the odd chance, if neither appeals to you at least you can be familiar with this famous director's style and you can chalk it up to a cultural experience having watched them. Aside: I'm of the school that most films are best watched in the dark, especially black and white ones such as this fine film. P.S. The audio commentary track on this Criterion DVD is rather descriptive to the point of being superficial; BUT, having persevered through it I'm glad that I did. It did add something to my appreciation to the film, notwithstanding the feeling that I could almost have done a better job myself. And that's not as contradictory a statement as it may seem. I hope this review has been of some help to you. Cheers!

Rating:
Summary: A Five Star Movie with a Five Star Commentary Track
Review: This isn't so much a review of Hitchcock's movie as it is of Mariane Keane's commentary track. Let me say up front that the movie itself is a wonderful masterpiece as has been attested to already. Now to Ms. Keane's commentary. I watched the Criterion version of this movie and the next night played it again with her commentary. I wasn't sure what to expect as I had never heard her before. The previous week I had watched "Murder, My Sweet" and listened to the commentary on that, by someone else, which I found very thin. So I was very pleasantly surprised by Ms. Keane's insightful observations, so much so that I went looking through all my Hitchcock DVDs to find more with her commentaries on them. I found a couple and I will be ordering "Spellbound," both because I like the movie and because it has a commentary by Ms. Keane. If this sounds like a plug for Ms. Keane it is. And no, I don't know her, I've never met her and never even heard of her before listening to her commentary on "The 39 Steps." But I was so happy to discover her I thought I'd write this up. The five stars are for both the movie and the commentary.

Rating:
Summary: Women are probably readier than men when he war is coming
Review: Hitchcock can be a magician and predict in 1936 the date when the war with Germany will start : 1939. This spy movie is simple in plot but well dealt with on the screen to look fast and very active. The events are following one another with no pause. A man gets entangled with the death of some free-lance spy, tries to fulfill what he knows of her « mission » and at the same time to escape the police and the spies. The film shows the English are quite ready for a difficult period because they are on the alert all the time and they are ready to report anything that looks strange. Some of course are more complex. The Scot that could have helped the escapee, sells him for a handful of pounds. Not very clear. Another Scot is in fact the head of the spying network. Another, a publican's wife, is helpful because she sees love where there is only fear and forced loyalty. But the woman in that case, who is English, has her eyes wide open and her ears fully active and she finds out the truth and changes sides. And she and the escapee will finally expose and capture the spy and at the same time prove the man's innocence. Hitchcock is telling Europe and the world that there is a serious danger coming up, a war in fact, and that everyone is supposed to be ready to sacrifice even their freedom and peaceful lives to fight back. It is not innocent if the film starts with a music-hall show and ends with another music-hall show in which the main attraction of the first one is appearing again : we are living in a world of fanciful distractions and entertainments that may make us blind to real dangers : wake up Britons, wake up fast. As for the film, it is very interesting that it has not been remasterized and gives us the feel of what it was in those 1930s. That gives a lot more value to the DVD than an artificially colorized version would have.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU


Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: In Buchan's novel the baddie is distinguished by his ability to `hood his eyes like hawk'. When I first saw this as a little boy I was intrigued as I had no idea what that would look like and looked to Hitchcock to enlighten me. Of course he doesn't. The baddie here instead just has a missing bit of finger, sensibly enough perhaps as that would certainly be far easier for an audience as ignorant about hawks as I am to recognize. So I was none the wiser but I did get to see one of the best thrillers there is.

Indeed Hitchcock has shown a healthy disrespect for the source novel that consists most saliently in sexing it up like nobody's business. Pamela, Hannay's love interest, doesn't exist in Buchan's novel. Neither does Peggy Ashcroft's lonely crofter's wife. Neither certainly does the underwear salesman on the train to Scotland. And the mysterious stranger Hannay encounters at the start was, in Buchan, a man. Here of course she is a beautiful woman who engages Hannay with the following, for the time, outrageously forward, no beating about the bush, bit of dialogue:

She: May I come home with you.
He: What's the idea?
She (in a very friendly tone of voice): I'd like to.

Buchan's Hannay would have been for too proper to bite at this sort of bait. Hitchcock's is not.

The basic shape of the plot is of course utterly classic. A murder is committed leaving our hero with some intriguing clues to what's going on. Only the cops think it was him so he has to go and solve the mystery and tackle the baddies single handed while on the run. Which of course is the plot of every other thriller since, through Hitchcock's own `North by Northwest' to such recent potboilers as `Enemy of the State' at the movies or `The Da Vinci Code' in literature all of which just essentially recapitulate this great Buchan/Hitchcock paradigm. Not to mention a couple of pointless and unremarkable remakes of this movie - with yet another on the way, my hearts sinks to discover.

And of course not just the basic shape is a classic but the whole movie: the music hall scene with `Mr Memory'; the scenes at Hannay's flat with `Annabella Smith', the Edinburgh train and the escape onto the Forth Bridge; the crofter and his wife in their bleak cottage; the big house with Godfrey Tearle's sinister Professor; the political meeting... Like `The Maltese Falcon', it's a case of classic scene following classic scene all adding up to a boundless delight.


Rating:
Summary: D O N ' T B U Y ! Bad edition!
Review: AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID

I watched about half an hour of this nasty transfer last night, it was awful: sound quality is atrocious, the print is lousy. Which I supposed lives up to its billing, "...the best print we could find."

AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID

Of course the Criterion Collection version has to be great -- avoid the LaserLight! The only reason I can think of to buy this turkey is the TRULY WEIRD intro by that renowned Hitchcock expert Tony Curtis. Even that is just sad.

Rating:
Summary: Nail Biter
Review: "39 Steps" is the last of Hitchcock's British nail biters. He took his style to Hollywood after this one. All the elements of a Hitchcock thriller are here. We have the mistaken man plot. Our hero has stumbled on a den of spies. He must prove his innocence and thwart the theft of military secrets and escape Scotland Yard from London Music halls to Scottish moors. The Hitchcock blonde is Madeline Carroll and her stocking scene must have been tough for American censors. Hitchcock learned his craft from the German expressionists and you can see the darkness of that genre in this gem. In the top twenty of best movies ever made, I recommend 39 Steps.

Rating:
Summary: Criterion does it again...
Review: I just ordered the Criterion Hitchcock "set" which includes "The 39 Steps", a movie I've watched many times over the last 20 years, but NEVER in a form this crisp and well-transfered; it's been restored beautifully, and as with all the films("My Man Godfrey" and "The Lady Vanishes", to name two)that have been kicking around with duped, grainy, fuzzy prints for the last 60-some years that were FINALLY restored-it's almost like watching a new movie-even if you'd thought you'd memorized all the dialogue and action! There's just so much that's missed in a bad print. Here, we have Hitch at his finest....there just isn't a dull second in this film. It's really as sure-fire as any movie ever made, in terms of entertainment. I believe this too was Hitchcock's first huge breakout international hit, although happily for us, he didn't "go Hollywood" for another 3 years or so(and gave us the later "Lady Vanishes"-another Criterion must-have).

One caveat: if you're like me(hopeless film buff), you often get these Criterions for not only the fantastic quality of the print but for the often illuminating audio tracks, usually provided by experts of one type or another; I've never quibbled with any of them before, but I have to say, don't expect Marion Keane's wall-to-wall droning to be worth it. There's generally two kinds of film "discussion"(not counting the sort where the actual director or actors gab, which we get with new films): the sort that's superb, like Rudy Behlmer's on "Adventures of Robin Hood"-an amalgam of film history, film technique, on-the-fly biographies of the actors you're watching, tidbits about the production locations, etc.etc.-nd then there's the OTHER kind:
film "semiotics". In other words, a commentator turns a smashing, hugely exciting and entertaining movie into a dull excercise in psychoanalysis. Virtually NOTHING is said about any of the particulars of "The 39 Steps" that isn't a parsing of the symbolism, the framing, that sort of thing. That stuff's there, of course, and I'll hand it to her that the speaker *does* mention Robert Donat's acting several times(it's excellent, of course!)-but you know, for all her blather about the poignancy of the scene of the Crofter's wife, you'd think that she might bother to tell us the actress' name(Peggy Ashcroft), the fact that this was one of her few films, that she was a huge stage star eventually, etc. The sort of thing that other audio tracks do so well.

Rating:
Summary: Murder and mystery in Scotland
Review: "The 39 Steps" will never be called anyone's favorite Hitchcock film. He had not yet hit his stride, and many of the Hitchcock hallmarks had not yet been developed. Most famous in this film is the use of the "MacGuffin Principle," seen in movies such as "Pulp Fiction" and "The Maltese Falcon." There is something everyone wants, but what it is isn't really important. Still, it is an enjoyable movie and worth the time to watch it.

The film starts very slow, with an extremely contrived beginning catapulting our wayward protagonist into adventure and mystery. Robert Donat is very charming as the Canadian Richard Hannay, and he accepts the call to adventure readily. The trail leads him from England to Scotland, and there the story finally begins to come together.

Once in Scotland, Donat schemes and charms his way through an entertaining cast of characters, from the brusque Scotsman and his young bride, willing to sell Donat out for a few pounds, to the classical 4-fingered man, each moves the hero a few more steps along his dangerous path. Along the way, he ends up handcuffed to the lovely Madeleine Carroll, and then drags her along for the ride. How the movie ends...well, you certainly don't expect me to tell you!

If you do buy "The 39 Steps," definitely pick up the Criterion Collection version. The extras are deluxe, and well worth the extra cost. The Lux Radio presentation is a real gem. One of my favorite extras on the Criterion disks. "The Art of Film: Vintage Hitchcock" is an excellent documentary on Hitchcock's British films. As always, the commentary is also excellent.