Search - Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps on DVD

B.J. W. (analogkid01) from CHICAGO, IL
Reviewed on 4/12/2024...

Today I watched Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 film "The 39 Steps" starring Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll who spend a good chunk of the movie handcuffed together. Hitchcock made a *lot* of movies between 1925 and 1976, so you can consider this an "early" Hitchcock but it still shows surprising maturity for an "old movie."

It's got all the classic elements - spies, murder, cops, sexual tension, one or two pretty good chase sequences, a healthy dose of comedy, and a happy ending for our protagonist. I won't go into the details of the plot - they're largely incidental anyway - the real point of the movie is the interplay between Donat and Carroll. They're no Nick & Nora Charles, but they're enjoyable enough to watch.

I define an "old movie" as anything made from the dawn of cinema through the end of the Hays Code (1934-1968). The limitations placed on filmmakers forced them to approach certain aspects of real life from artificial angles, but I appreciate the creativity this required. I would imagine 39 Steps was somewhat shocking to audiences of the day - in the opening sequence, a woman straight-up asks a man she does not know if she can go home with him. I'm not sure how common that was in those days (in reel life or real life), but I'm curious how the Hays Code enforcers responded to that scene. (The fact that the film was produced in Scotland may have been a factor.)

The only real downside to old movies, for me, is the sound. I'll watch a movie that's grainy or out of focus, but if the sound is bad I'll bail out. Some of these old movies...oof, they're hard on the ears. I wonder if there's a way to clean up the audio tracks, but I'm not holding my breath.

Grade: straight B.

Criterion does it again...

PonyExpress | United States | 06/10/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."

Cheap=poor quality

Unreal Name | 07/10/2001

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Diamond Entertainment's DVD of 39 Steps is VHS (taped off a broadcast-TV late-late show in SLP mode) picture quality. Very soft. This is not what DVD is meant for. I can only comment on the Criterion Collection version for comparison. Criterion picture quality=9 out of 10, Diamond picture quality=3 out of 10 (10 being best). Save your money."

BE CAREFUL - ONLY BUY CRITERION EDITION

Unreal Name | USA | 10/17/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"If you don't get the Criterion Edition, you will be getting an inferior transfer of this film: fuzzy images, fuzzier sound...yuck! The "bad" transfers include the one that Tony Curtis introduces.

Again, look for the Criterion Edition."