Robert Donat

THE 39 STEPS

Gaumont -British Picture Corp., 1935.  Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.  Camera:  Bernard Knowles.  With Robert Donat, Madeleine Carroll, Lucie Mannheim, Godfrey Tearle, Peggy Ashcroft, John Laurie.

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Richard Hannay (Robert Donat) is in the audience of a London theater enjoying the performance of Mr. Memory (Wylie Watson), when he meets the mysterious Annabella Smith, a young woman in trouble (Lucie Mannheim).  He takes her back to his flat where she gives him some important information about a gang of spies who are trying to kill her.  During the night she is murdered and Hannay is, of course, the chief suspect.

On the run from the police, he heads for Scotland, which is where Annabella has told him the spies are located.  During the train journey he meets Pamela (Madeleine Carroll) who turns him in to the police.

Upon arrival in Scotland, Hannay manages to find the ringleader of the spies, Professor Jordan (Godfrey Tearle), which places him in even more danger, but he escapes only to fall into the hands of the police.  He gets away from them and is reunited with Pamela who reluctantly teams up with him (she doesn't have much choice as she has been handcuffed to him).  However, she eventually begins to believe his story and realizes he is innocent after all, so she helps him clear his name.

Pamela and Hannay return to London where they see "Mr. Memory," who is once again performing in a theater.  Professor Jordan is also there, but Hannay spots him and the film is brought to a dramatic but satisfying conclusion.

Some favorite lines from the film:

• Robert Donat (to Lucie Mannheim): "It sounds like a spy story."  Mannheim:  "That's exactly what it is."

• Mannheim (to Donat): "I had to get away from the theater quickly.  There were two men there who wanted to kill me."

• Godfrey Tearle (to Donat):  "Well Mr Hannay, I'm afraid I've been guilty of leading you down the garden path—or should it be up—I never can remember."

• Donat (to Madeleine Carroll):  "There are 20 million women on this island, and I've got to be chained to you."

• Donat (to Carroll):  "May I ask what earthquake caused your brain to work at last"?

• Donat (to Wylie Watson):  "What are the 39 steps"?

The film was remade in 1959 with Kenneth More and again in 1978 with Robert Powell, but neither of these remakes can compare with the original Hitchcock version.  For anyone looking out for Hitchcock's regular cameo appearance, this comes as Hannay and Annabella board a bus to go back to his flat.  Hitchcock is seen as a passerby throwing some litter into the street.

The 39 Steps was one of Hitchcock's very early film successes before he left for Hollywood, where he achieved even greater fame and cult status.  Written by John Buchan, The 39 Steps contained all the elements of Hitchcock's favorite theme of the innocent man on the run—which he returned to time and time again, notably in Saboteur (1942) and North by Northwest (1959).

Internet Movie Database

Poster artwork and photos courtesy of Gary, Gunnar, Ivan, and Rikke