{"id":7808,"date":"2009-06-29T14:10:38","date_gmt":"2009-06-29T21:10:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=7808"},"modified":"2021-01-28T20:30:34","modified_gmt":"2021-01-29T03:30:34","slug":"39-steps-the-1935","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=7808","title":{"rendered":"39 Steps, The (1935)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;There are twenty million women in this island and I get to be chained to you.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/39-Steps-Poster2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/39-Steps-Poster2-198x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"198\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-66602\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/39-Steps-Poster2-198x300.jpg 198w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/39-Steps-Poster2-85x128.jpg 85w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/39-Steps-Poster2-178x270.jpg 178w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/39-Steps-Poster2.jpg 591w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 198px) 100vw, 198px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA man (Robert Donat) vacationing in London is accused of murdering a mysterious spy (Lucie Mannheim) and soon finds himself on the run, attempting to figure out who or what the &#8220;39 Steps&#8221; are.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Falsely Accused<\/li>\n<li>Fugitives<\/li>\n<li>Hitchcock Films<\/li>\n<li>Madeleine Carroll Films<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;No One Believes Me!&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Robert Donat Films<\/li>\n<li>Spies<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nThis &#8220;undisputed masterpiece&#8221; by Alfred Hitchcock &#8220;served as a model for several of his later romantic suspense thrillers&#8221; &#8212; most notably <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=2412\"><em>North by Northwest<\/em> (1959)<\/a>, which is often cited as an American &#8220;variation&#8221; on this earlier story about an innocent man falsely accused and on the run. Peary notes that Hitchcock &#8220;builds suspense and tension in several interesting ways&#8221;, including having &#8220;every character Donat comes across&#8221; holding &#8220;secret information or secret desires&#8221;, and having Donat find that &#8220;there is <em>no<\/em> safe place&#8221; any time he &#8220;enters an interior&#8221;. From the moment of his first encounter with a dark and mysterious woman (Mannheim) at a performance in London (she&#8217;s a <em>femme fatale<\/em> of sorts), Donat finds himself caught up in a nefarious plot much bigger than he could ever have imagined, with his foolishly naive decision to allow Mannheim into his apartment in the first place resulting in life-threatening consequences.<\/p>\n<p>Hitchcock&#8217;s greatest triumph, as usual, is his ability to effectively mix suspense with both humor and sexual tension. His &#8220;accidental&#8221; handcuffing of stars Donat and Carroll (the first of his &#8220;icy blondes&#8221;) for an entire afternoon has gone down in the annals of film history, and apparently worked like the blazes, given that their chemistry together perfectly reflects both annoyance and (eventually) sexual attraction. (On that note, Peary argues that none of the females in the film are &#8220;allowed their needed sexual release with Donat&#8221; &#8212; but I don&#8217;t quite buy this as a &#8220;theme&#8221; of the film.) What is clear, however (as noted in Tim Dirk&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.filmsite.org\/thirt.html\">&#8220;Greatest Films&#8221; review<\/a>) is Hitchcock&#8217;s treatment of marriage as a stifling, dissatisfying convention &#8212; first in Donat&#8217;s humorous encounter with a milkman who refuses to believe there&#8217;s been a murder committed in Donat&#8217;s apartment but readily accepts that Donat has cheated on his wife, and later in his more tragic interactions with a browbeaten farm wife (Peggy Ashcroft) and her domineering husband (John Laurie). <\/p>\n<p>Much of the credit for the film&#8217;s success should go to its screenwriters (Charles Bennett and Hitchcock&#8217;s uncredited wife, Alma Reville), who stuff the story &#8220;full of great characters and memorable sequences&#8221;, and keep the narrative moving at an appropriately delirious pace. Donat literally jumps from one close-call to another, and we marvel at both his ingenuity (he pretends to be a guest speaker for an indeterminate political club and boldly ad-libs a well-received speech) and his luck (a carefully placed book saves him from death by gunfire). Watch for evidence of Hitchcock&#8217;s &#8220;special touches&#8221; throughout &#8212; including a perfectly timed shot in which a train whistle goes off while a woman opens her mouth to scream. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Robert Donat as Hannay<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/39-steps-robert-donat2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/39-steps-robert-donat2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8729\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Madeleine Carroll as Pamela<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/39-steps-carroll.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/39-steps-carroll.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8730\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Peggy Ashcroft and John Laurie as the Crofters<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/39-steps-crofters.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/39-steps-crofters.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8731\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Hannay&#8217;s interactions with &#8220;The Milkman&#8221;<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/39-steps-milkman.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/39-steps-milkman.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8732\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Hannay&#8217;s genuinely freaky encounter with &#8220;the fingertip-less man&#8221;<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/39-steps-fingerless.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/39-steps-fingerless.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"384\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8733\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Bernard Knowles&#8217; atmospheric cinematography<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/39-steps-cinematography.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/39-steps-cinematography.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8734\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Charles Bennett&#8217;s tightly paced, exciting, &#8220;sophisticated&#8221; script<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/39-steps-tied.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/39-steps-tied.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8735\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, as one of Hitchock&#8217;s earliest classics. Peary votes it the Best Movie of the Year in his <em>Alternate Oscars<\/em> book, and nominates Donat as Best Actor of the Year. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Genuine Classic<\/li>\n<li>Important Director<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> (<span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">Listed in <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-static\/1001Movies.htm\"><em>1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die<\/em><\/a><\/span>) <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0026029\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=https:\/\/archive.nytimes.com\/www.nytimes.com\/library\/film\/091435hitch-steps-review.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.filmsite.org\/thirt.html\">Greatest Films Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/92939\/the-39-steps#articles-reviews?articleId=76264\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imagesjournal.com\/issue08\/reviews\/39steps\/\">Images Film Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.qwipster.net\/39steps.htm\">Qwipster&#8217;s Movie Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/movies.tvguide.com\/39-steps\/review\/126039\">TV Guide Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeout.com\/movies\/the-39-steps\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;There are twenty million women in this island and I get to be chained to you.&#8221; Synopsis: A man (Robert Donat) vacationing in London is accused of murdering a mysterious spy (Lucie Mannheim) and soon finds himself on the run, attempting to figure out who or what the &#8220;39 Steps&#8221; are. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Falsely Accused Fugitives Hitchcock Films Madeleine Carroll Films &#8220;No One Believes Me!&#8221; Robert Donat Films Spies Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: This &#8220;undisputed masterpiece&#8221; by&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=7808\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7808"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66603,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7808\/revisions\/66603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}