****39 Steps (1935) 39 Steps is a master spy thriller from Alfred Hitchcock. In this film Hannay (Robert Donat) runs into a woman who is running from spies. Before he knows it she is murdered, and then the spies are after him. He flees to where he supposes her contact was; only to find a den of spies. In his fleeing he meets Pamela (Madeleine Carol) who at first doesn’t believe him. This film has many close escapes, and even his own murder—but he is saved by a Bible in his pocket. There is vital industrial information that is being smuggled out of the country. It is figuring out how that is the key to our hero finally ridding himself of the spies.
This DVD came from Netflix. It also had two documentaries about this movie. One hosted by Marianne Keane goes into scene by scene detail of how the angle of the camera and the profile Hitchcock used helped to tell his story. Very fascinating.
This is a separate review with three stars
This movie is a 1935 British Alfred Hitchcock film. Hitchcock had been making movies for over ten years when this came out. This is a spy suspence story.
Hannay is drawn into the story, by our spy, Anabella Smith, who has uncovered a plot by foreign spies to get secret information out of the country. The foreign spy ring is a group called 39 steps.
The movie begins with a demonstration by a man who can remember everything. At this a shot rings out, and the spy end in the arms of Hannay, and he takes her home. She tells him of what is going on, and mentions 39 steps. She shows up at his house during the night, with a knife in her back, and she shortly dies. He is then accused of the murder, and goes around trying to find her contact, in Scotland, to prove his innocence.
It is amazing how inept people are at catching him, or catching him and letting him get away. How many times can he get away? While on a train, he uses another woman, Pamela, in his escape attempt by kissing her as his pursuers go pass. However she turns him in. He does manage to get away, and jumps off the train.
Going to land is a bad idea, because instead of finding the contact, he finds the leader of 39 steps, who shoots him.
However he escapes harm as the bullet is stopped by a bible. He reports to the police, who want to arrest him and he escapes again. Somehow he and Pamela end up picked up by some members of 39 steps pretending to be police. They realize they are bad when they don't take them to the police station. They escape when they are herding animals off the road. However they are handcuffed to each other. They then head back to London to prove their innocence, but the man who remembers everything saves the day, when asked to tell what 39 steps is, he is shot and stopped, but the bad people are captured.
Too many implausible twists for me. However this is suppose to be a good movie.
