Precisett This movie is magnificent!
Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.
Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.
Danielle De Colombie Tight and delicious. Everything matters and nothing matters. An amazing commercial eye without detracting from the poetry. Poetry? Yes poetry. Robert Donat was one of the best actors of his generation - I wonder why he's not better known. Maybe he will be rediscovered. The 39 Steps, The Winslow Boy, Goodbye Mr Chips just to name 3 of his spectacular performances. Madeleine Carroll is perfect as an early, classy and icy Hitchcock blonde. The coupling of Donat and Carroll has all the signature traits of the Master and it's downright irresistible. Not to be missed.
Rainey Dawn This film is a great example of why we love to watch Alfred Hitchcock. Not only is this a good mystery-thriller (written by John Buchan, Charles Bennett, & Ian Hay) but it is well directed by Alfred Hitchcock. He was always very good at making his films very suspenseful (even his silent romantic films had trace elements of suspense in them).The film is exactly as the plot reads - but so much better than described: Richard Hannay is a visitor to London and finds himself mixed up in a case of murder with secret agents on his tail and he is determined to break up this massive spy ring.If you like spies/secret agent films, a murder mystery, and/or Alfred Hitchcock then you might like this film - it's one of Hitchcock's best movies and worth watching.8/10
blazarsquasars A. Hitchcock's mindless and unjustly acclaimed adaptation of J. Buchan's dark and gripping novel makes me think that people in the 1930s, who had no ready access to video, craved for superficial visual crap. The film discards the literary Hannay's agonizing ordeal for survival in a bleak environment and his cryptic challenges, while it opts for trite sexual stereotypes, casting 2 irritating females one of which the murdered agent (no Scudder or black book here, not even the real 39 steps), shamefully sugarcoated by comic overtones & laid-back atmosphere.All in all, a silly movie, not a thriller that pays the slightest tribute to Buchan's story.
PimpinAinttEasy The 39 Steps is a great early Hitchcock pot-boiler. This is what every "masala film" should aspire to be.Every twist in the film is an event in itself. the plot isn't really that important but the ending is ingenious. The Mr.Memory character is a great creation.It is amazing how much Hitchcock packs into an 86 minute film. The melancholic housewife in the Scottish highlands who longs for the city life and her strict religious husband - what a strange choice of characters to make an appearance in an exciting film like this. I never saw that coming. They are a perfect foil for the gung-ho bar running couple who appear towards the end of the film. Both couples provide shelter to the man on the run, of course.The writing is unbelievably clever. Every scene is adorned with witty and tongue in cheek dialog. I guess The Third Man borrowed the bit with the man on the run entering a meeting and talking to an unsuspecting audience to escape the police from this film.The 39 Steps proudly wears its contrivances on its sleeve.The choices of camera angles at the beginning and ending of the film are very stylish.(8/10)
