Week Seventeen: The 39 Steps (1935)

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Producer: Michael Balcon

Writers: Charles Bennett and Ian Hay

Cinematography: Bernard Knowles

Music: Jack Beaver and Louis Levy

Starring: Robert Donat (Richard Hanney), Madeleine Carroll (Pamela), Lucie Mannheim (Annabella Smith), Godfrey Tearle (Professor Jordan), Wylie Watson (Mr. Memory), Peggy Ashcroft (Margaret), John Laurie (John)

Before You Watch the Movie
(First make sure you have read the introduction to this series)

Though the film industry in Britain had been operating since the turn of the century, Hollywood had outpaced their neighbors across the pond significantly both in box office success and technical achievement. This is partially due to America poaching some of Britain’s best talents, such as Charlie Chaplin and Rex Ingram, but whatever the reasons might be, the fact is that there were very few films of note produced in England during the twenties and early thirties. There is one massive exception of course, as the world’s most famous director spent the first two decades of his career directing films in his native England. Though Hitchcock is primarily associated with suspense, he made all kinds of films during the twenties and early thirties, including dramas, romances, comedies, and even a musical. The Lodger in 1927 gave a glimpse of what Hitchcock do to a thriller, but his opportunities to makes such films was limited until 1934 when he made The Man Who Knew Too Much with producer Michael Balcon. The success, both critically and financially, of that film set the stage for the career to come. From then on, Hitchcock made almost strictly thrillers, rarely deviating over the next thirty-plus years. The Man Who Knew Too Much was a solid starting point (all due respect to The Lodger, Blackmail, and Murder!) but it wasn’t until his next film, The 39 Steps, that Hitchcock began to show he was far from just flash-in-the-pan. On the contrary, beginning with The 39 Steps, Hitchcock established an ideal formula for success that he would consistently return to and expand from as well as creating an early template James Bond.

A poster for Hitchcock's previous film, The Man Who Knew Too Much, makes a cameo appearance.

For those only familiar with Hitchcock’s later American films, his British work may seem to be a bit different. His films made pre-Hollywood are made with a lighter touch, more charm and humor. That isn’t to say they are better or worse for it, but there is without a doubt more straightforward comedy in his British films as about to the dark humor he would later incorporate with such success in Hollywood. In general the thirties were a more lighthearted period for films and in England especially, the tolerance for gallows humor and anything considered to be in “bad taste” was not high during this period. However, even if the humor is different The 39 Steps shows the value Hitchcock puts mixing a little levity with the thrills. Another aspect of the “Britishness” of Hitchcock’s thirties films is the inclusion of offbeat side characters, such as the Scottish couple Hannay meets.

Some of the very British comedic elements in The 39 Steps.

Another aspect of Hitchcock’s thirties films that differs from his more famous later period is the obvious influence of German Expressionism on his mise-en-scene. Hitchcock spent time working in Germany during the height of the movement and has acknowledged its influence on his work.

You can rent The 39 Steps from Amazon (free with Prime)

After You Watch the Movie (Spoilers Below)

Due to their similar career arcs and penchant for crime and spy thrillers, Alfred Hitchcock and Fritz Lang have often been compared both during their careers and after, but really the most striking similarity has to do with their innate sense of how to create visually interesting compositions on the screen. Both Lang and Hitchcock see film as a visual medium first-and-foremost (Hitchcock has decried what he calls “films of people talking”) and each make sure that there is never a mundane frame in their films. There is always something to see in a Hitchcock film, even in the less exciting moments. 

Hitchcock is also one of the most clever of directors, often inserting cheeky shots to his films that are the cinematic equivalent of winking to the audience.

A cleaning woman's scream transitions into...

...into the scream of a trail whistle.

Hannay, seemingly shot dead, cut to...

...the farmer looking for his coat, which contained his hymnal...

...that stopped the 

Contained within The 39 Steps are all the hallmarks of Hitchcock cinema, the pieces that he would use to assemble some of the most famous and enduring movies ever made. On the surface level we have Richard Hannay, an average man with no remarkable attributes.

Hannay is just a normal guy, even if he cuts his bread way too thick.

Hitchcock has said that he wasn’t interested in professional criminals and is much more interested in what the average person will do when thrust into situation foreign to him. The obvious benefit of this is twofold: it gives the audience someone to easily root for because it makes it easier for them to  see themselves in the protagonist’s shoes. Average movie fan can easily identify with average person, not as much so with hardened criminal or super-spy. Hannay is the template for numerous Hitchcock heroes. 

Average guys wrongly accused throughout Hitchcock's filmography: Derrick De Marney as Robert Tisdall, suspected murderer (Young and Innocent, 1937)

Suspected saboteur Barry Kane (Robert Cummings, Saboteur, 1942)

Suspected murderer John Ballantyne (Gregory Peck, Spellbound, 1945)

Suspected murderer Father Michael Logan (Montgomery Clift, I Confess, 1953)

Suspected relapsed jewel thief John "The Cat" Robie (Cary Grant, To Catch a Thief, 1955)

Suspected spy and murderer Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant, North by Northwest, 1959)

Additionally, the criminal elements in Hitchcock films are often hiding in plain sight, respectable people like Professor Jordan who use their position as a mask for their illegal operations.

Hiding in plain sight.

Though he is innocent of any crime, Hannay is wrongly accused and therefore must flee from the law as he tries to prove his innocence. Again, the audience would have no interest in Hannay’s plight if he actually killed Annabella; they’d root for him to get exactly what was coming to him but nothing more. An innocent man, wrongly accused and on the run is perfect set up for suspense because every encounter can be dangerous once for the protagonist, who is always just a moment away from exposure. Again, we see Hitchcock return to this idea again and again in his films. With The Wrong Man (1956), Hitchcock made a whole movie on this premise. 

Hannay is always in danger of being recognized.

Using a first-person point of view gives the audience the sense of watching anxiously...

...and being watched.

Since Hitchcock doesn’t really make mystery films in the traditional sense, there isn’t much attention paid to clues or deductions. The hook of the film is the thrill of Hannay trying to prove his innocence and evade capture, that is only his motivation. However, the other characters also need a reason for doing what they are doing, why they killed Annabella and are anxious to do away Hannay, this is where Hitchcock employs one of his most famous elements: the MacGuffin. The MacGuffin is something, it can really be anything, that the characters in a story want. It serves to motivate them and advance the plot, but doesn’t actually have any real interest to the audience. The MacGuffin in The 39 Steps is the secret plane engine plans, something that a viewer of the film doesn’t care about at all. The plans could have been anything really and it wouldn’t change the film one iota, what matters is that they are crucially important to the characters of the story. The MacGuffin isn’t just a common element in Hitchcock, it is a central storytelling device is almost every type of film. It’s the statue in The Maltese Falcon, letters of transit in Casablanca, the location of the gold in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, the Death Star plans in Star Wars, the Ark, Sankara Stones, Grail, and Crystal Skull in the Indiana Jones films, the glowing briefcase in both Kiss Me Deadly and Pulp Fiction, and infinitely more. A movie actually about any of those things would be boring in the extreme, but used instead a tool to move and motivate characters it is invaluable.

The 39 Steps leading lady is as much a Hitchcock trademark as is as a Hannay protagonist. Madeleine Carroll’s Pamela is a seemingly cold and distant blonde with no patience for Hannay, his presumptions, or his protestations of innocence. The “Hitchcock blonde” has become as famous an element in his films as anything else and includes a long list of some of the most beautiful and talented women from the golden age of Hollywood. 

Cold, beautiful, and blonde: Priscilla Lane in Saboteur

Ingrid Bergman in Spellbound

Grace Kelly in To Catch a Thief

Kim Novak in Vertigo (1958)

Eva Marie Saint in North by Northwest

Hair color isn’t the crucial factor here, Marilyn Monroe could never, ever be a Hitchcock blonde, what is important is the coldness and reserve because it hides an inner passion within. Sex symbols like Monroe wear their sensuality (and Hitchcock would say, their vulgarity) on their sleeve and there is nothing to spur the imagination. A beautiful but distant woman could contain worlds of sensuality under the surface, but it is that change from cold to hot that intrigued both Hitchcock and audiences for decades. Therefore, just as important as Pamela’s initial remoteness towards Hannay is the flowering of her passion both for him and his cause.

Pamela is having none of Hannay when they first meet...

...and is even less thrilled the second time they meet...

...get handcuffed together...

...and have to share a bed.

Once she learns of his innocence...

...the icy exterior thaws, she falls for him...

...and will fight for him, even with a giant bow if necessary.

The escape on the Forth Bridge (more famous to British audiences than American) is another Hitchcock trademark, placing action in near or around famous landmarks. Again, this is a matter of immersion and getting the audience involved. And after all, if you can put your climactic action on Mount Rushmore, why not do it?

Hitchcock liked to stage important scenes at famous landmarks. such the Forth Bridge...

...the Statue of Liberty (Saboteur)...

...Royal Albert Hall (The Man Who Knew Too Much, 1956)...

...the Golden Gate Bridge (Vertigo)...

...and Mount Rushmore (North by Northwest)

The 39 Steps isn’t just a rough draft of Hitchcock elements either, the elements introduced here are fully baked. In later films he would iterate on these ideas and explore them to a greater extent, but The 39 Steps still stands as one of his most complete and well-crafted films despite being so early in the main body of his career. Twenty-four years later, Hitchcock made North by Northwest, a film that shares quite a few elements with The 39 Steps and is an obvious comparison point between his early years and later films. North by Northwest is a great film and Hitchcock clearly improved from a technical aspect (and benefits from industry advances) but in no way is North by Northwest a better film than The 39 Steps. More polished yes, but not better. (Or worse necessarily.)

See Also

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) dir. Alfred Hitchcock

The pieces begin to fall into place for Hitchcock in this film, which also benefits from a great Peter Lorre villain performance. Another good early/later career comparison film as it was remade by Hitchcock in 1956.

Young and Innocent (1937) dir. Alfred Hitchcock

The most lighthearted of Hitchcock’s British films, Young and Innocent still features many Hitchcockian aspects, most notably the wrongly accused man-on-the-run aspect. Concludes with a pieces of Hitchcock magic as the killer is revealed.

The Lady Vanishes (1938) dir. Alfred Hitchcock

Rivals The 39 Steps for Hitchcock’s best British film, deviates from the formula in small ways and features the rare Hitchcock female protagonist. Filled with incredible amounts of charm and inventiveness however.

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