I have to utterly reject the premise of a man and woman handcuffed together for days on end. Think about it....

The 39 Steps is an early, mystery thriller from Alfred Hitchcock. It was interesting to see a 1930's mystery without the distractions of fancy costumes, set designs and explosions. This film is a just a good story, with convincing characters who find themselves in interesting predicaments. Recommended.

A classic of suspense.

Um...I can't stop watching this film - help me God - lol!

As a Hitchcock fan, it is neat to see the beginnings of so many tropes that would soon become staples in Hitchcock's later filmography. Despite not yet being perfected, the skills are still apparent. Robert Donat plays Hannay, an unaware bystander who gets thrust into the complex world of espionage and conspiracy. The police are after him for murder, and mysterious figures want to murder him. Hitchcock's unique style of suspense and humor are on display in this adventure. Every little character that enters the story breathes new life into the movie. For a film from the 30's, the pacing is very modern. There are some rough transitions where characters manage to escape situations too easily. Even early on, it is clear Hitchcock has the mentality of: "Cops are dull". There are some plot points where you could argue that the police should be able to take care of things. But in order for the movie to happen, our characters have to take a few extra steps.

I have just three films in my collection that I’d rate the highest score: 12 Angry Men, The Terminator, and The 39 Steps. The 39 Steps is Hitchcock at his finest, filled with suspense, wit, and masterful storytelling. Among its many standout moments, the train restaurant scene is a perfect example of Hitchcock’s genius. It’s a quintessentially British blend of tension and dry humor. As the police close in on Richard Hannay, weaving through the tight confines of the dining car, a waiter remains utterly unflappable. Balancing a heavily laden tray, he glides through the chaos with immaculate poise. His calm, deliberate manner, unwavering in the face of disorder, exemplifies a uniquely British dedication to decorum. Even amidst the urgency of a manhunt, service continues without so much as a wobble or spill.

Un entonces incipiente Alfred Hitchcock no con uno, sino dos temas de los que serían de cabecera: espías, y un hombre acusado erróneamente de un crimen. Del género de intriga, es de aquellas películas de las que es impensable pedir más.

Hitchcock's masterpiece of his English era. Probably the most genuine fun and laughs you can get out of a movie from this era.

I cannot believe I’ve never seen this movie! As well within the realm of “charade, Maltese falcon, The man who knew too much” Such excellent storytelling Of a man caught in a situation Which seems out of control, yet he continues on

classic situational humor. was surprised how little of the movie involves the handcuffs, considering that’s all i had heard about this movie prior. definitely more about the journey than the destination. also, love the visual depth created through the constant interplay of fore-, middle-, and backgrounds.

Impossible to top this classic. Gets better with each viewing. Donat perfectly cast as the innocent Canadian drawn into spy thriller.

Masterpiece Hitchcock, amongst the best of his pre-hollywood films. You see the talent, the technique here years before he moved to hollywood.

I felt the set up to be very implausible and the ending a little too pat. Hitchcock's direction is excellent however.

Near perfectly executed entertainment elevated by Hitchcock's craft. The last 5 minutes are just astounding.

I don't get the hype at all.

The directing and cinematography were good. The story was interesting, though not stitched together in a plausible or satisfying way. Worth a watch but not Hitchcock at his best.

At their worst, 1930s movies can be static. The adjustment to the sound era made camerawork less fluid, as the noisy equipment needed to be soundproofed. This was a teething problem, but one which made the worst movies seem more like stage plays shot in front of a film crew. Thank goodness this was only a short phase, and soon we had directors such as Alfred Hitchcock who knew how to make movies with fast pace and rapid transitions. The British movie director would eventually move to America, but even the films that he made at home were remarkable, and showed great promise. The best of these were The Lady Vanishes and The 39 Steps. The 39 Steps helped to cement Hitchcock's international reputation after the earlier success of The Man Who Knew Too Much. Sometimes seen as a dry run for movies such as North by Northwest, The 39 Steps is in fact a great film in itself, one which showcased Hitchcock's versatility as a director. It may be a man-on-the-run thriller, but The 39 Steps managed to combine action, thrills, humour and pathos in one story. The director was able to make the transitions smoothly, and the story contains an extraordinary variety of incident in its short running time. Hitchcock also made good use of the landscape, as the action moves from the crowded streets of London to the misty moors and beautiful waterfalls of Scotland. The storyline is one that would become familiar in later Hitchcock movies – that of the innocent man on the run. A visiting Canadian called Richard Hannay (Robert Donat) meets a mysterious woman who goes by the name of Annabella Smith (Lucie Mannheim) while he is attending a performance at a music hall. Annabella asks to go back to Hannay's apartment. It turns out that she is a spy, and when she is murdered Hannay is forced to flee from both her murderers and the law. He travels to Scotland to find a mysterious man with part of his little finger missing who, Hannay hopes, will help to clear his name, and explain the meaning of The 39 Steps. As so often in Hitchcock, The 39 Steps are a MacGuffin, a plot device that moves the story along, but is not important in itself. I wonder how many viewers recollect what The 39 Steps were after their first viewing of the film. For that matter, how many regular viewers of the movie remember, or even care? Hannay himself is bemused when Annabella mentions it to him. "What's that?" he asks; "A pub?" Along the way, Hitchcock throws in a rich gallery of setpieces. Some are essential to the plot, and many are not. Since the plot itself is not essential, it hardly matters either way. The story is necessary to move the film along, but most plot points could easily be substituted for something else, and it would not matter. What is important is the feel of a scene, and how the characters deal with each situation as it is presented. Some of Hitchcock's familiar motifs are present. This is the first Hitchcock movie that deals entirely with an innocent man on the run. (The hero of The Lodger briefly flees the police, but only towards the end of the film.) In another scene, the hero is apparently killed half-way through the film, a plot device that would recur in varying forms in North by Northwest, Vertigo and Psycho (in the last two films it was the heroine, rather than the hero). There is an icy blonde, Pamela (Madeleine Carroll) who is hostile at first, but suddenly melts when she falls in love with the hero. For a long time, she is unable to escape from Richard Hannay because they are handcuffed together, which allows for one or two sexy moments, when Pamela is obliged to remove her stockings while still cuffed to Hannay. Hitchcock also applies one of his familiar dramatic juxtapositions. As a cleaner finds Annabella's body, she opens her mouth to scream, and the scene cuts to the loud whistle of the train bearing Hannay away. The 39 Steps is a cheerful movie, but it contains the ingredients of a far darker tale. An innocent man is thrown into a nightmare world of espionage, spies and murder through no fault of his own. His life and freedom are threatened, and it will take determination, resourcefulness and a little luck to clear his name. I would argue that what keeps Richard Hannay alive is not his personality, but his apparent lack of one. It seems that spies and traitors are chameleons who change identities to fit in with the environment around them, and curiously this is something that Hannay seems well-equipped to do. From the beginning of the film, Hannay's identity is ambiguous. He is an outsider. He is not from Britain, or even America (a country that British audiences are used to seeing in movies). He is from Canada, a country about which people know much less. Hannay's apartment is even more puzzling. While the other residents have their names on a plaque, Hannay's home is identified by a sheet of cardboard with his name on it. His rooms have no curtains, and the furniture is covered in cloths, hardly suggesting a place that is lived in. Has he just arrived, or is he just leaving? The apartment is like Hannay himself, a bare and unfurnished place that looks uninhabited, and reveals nothing about its owner. After Annabella is murdered, Hannay has a hard time proving his innocence due to his elusive identity. Somehow nobody trusts him when he is telling the truth, and everybody believes him when he tells a lie. Hannay has no problem in adopting new identities when it suits him. He is a milkman, a newly-wed husband, and a serial killer when the occasion demands. In one scene, he is mistaken for a politician. The ability of Hannay to adapt his personality to each situation is reflected in other ways. He changes his name at will. He is Mr Hammond to the crofter, and he and Pamela are Mr and Mrs Henry Hopkinson of the Hollyhocks, Hammersmith when they are posing as a married couple. Hannay even changes his clothes, another symbol of identity. He escapes from Annabella's murderers disguised as a milkman, and he eludes the police on the moors by taking the crofter's darker coat. This is a quintessential thriller that never makes a serious mis-step throughout. The 39 Steps not only showed Hitchcock's great promise in later years, but is a movie good enough to be counted as a great British adventure story, even if Hitchcock had never made another film. I wrote a longer appreciation of The 39 Steps on my blog page if you would like to read more: https://themoviescreenscene.wordpress.com/2019/06/13/the-39-steps-1935/

So I did enjoy this film. The premise is great. The only problem is it's age but it is a classic piece of cinema. The ending redeemed the movie for sure

It's a wonderful and you don't what's the end story, 39 steps, a 1935 British thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock... It's written by Charles Bennett and Ian Hay, loosely based on the 1915 adventure novel The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan...

Given this film is nearly 90 years old it is remarkable how fresh, exciting and sexy it is. Carroll and Donat are the perfect Hitchcock heroes and from these English eyes at least they were never beaten. An all time classic that is always worth watching again.