39 Steps (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

1935's The 39 Steps is the film that really put Alfred Hitchcock on the map as a world-class movie director. With its mixture of classic Hitchcockian wit, dark (and light) humor, and suspense, it brought to the fore the man's genius and set the stage for many a classic thriller to come. Robert Donat is excellent in the role of Richard Hannay, a young Canadian who finds himself in between a rock and a hard place after his encounter with a young female spy in London, while Madeleine Carroll brings beauty, grace, and a sense of romance to Hannay's increasingly harrowing quest to not only prove himself innocent of murder but to safeguard the defense of Great Britain from foreign agents. All he has to go on are a cryptic reference to something called "the 39 steps," a name of a town in Scotland, and a warning to stay away from any man missing the upper digit on his right pinkie finger.

When the mysterious Annabella Smith (Lucie Mannheim) invites herself home with him and tells him her fantastic story of intrigue and danger, Hannay doesn't quite believe her - until, that is, she turns up in the night with a knife in her back. Knowing that the killers are waiting for him outside (and also knowing how likely the police would be to find him guilty of the murder up in his flat), he quickly adopts the classic mantle of the innocent man on the run, desperate to ultimately prove his innocence. The journey he makes from London to a little town in Scotland is not an easy one, as Hannay finds himself running from the bad guys who want to kill him as well as the cops pursuing him for murder. Deceit and double-crossing as well as assistance from unexpected quarters keep things very interesting - particularly after he finds himself on the run yet again (after one of several narrow escapes), now handcuffed to the lovely and initially unsympathetic Pamela (Madeleine Carroll). The romantic element thus introduced into the film deviates from the original novel on which the screenplay was based, but it clearly strengthens the film, setting the stage for a most climactic conclusion.

One of Hitchcock's best-known British films, The 39 Steps doesn't prove as gripping or dramatic as many of the master's later movies, but the exquisite dialogue and direction do make for some memorable moments (none more so than Hannay's improvised speech at a political meeting, which definitely qualifies as a classic in my book), and the twists and turns along the way continuously ratchet up the suspense, with everything working in concert toward a finish that does not disappoint.

"39 Steps" is the last of Hitchcock's British nail biters. He took his style to Hollywood after this one. All the elements of a Hitchcock thriller are here. We have the mistaken man plot. Our hero has stumbled on a den of spies. He must prove his innocence and thwart the theft of military secrets and escape Scotland Yard from London Music halls to Scottish moors. The Hitchcock blonde is Madeline Carroll and her stocking scene must have been tough for American censors. Hitchcock learned his craft from the German expressionists and you can see the darkness of that genre in this gem. In the top twenty of best movies ever made, I recommend 39 Steps.

Alfred Hitchcock's British film making period hints at the brilliant foray of creative genius that was to follow during his Hollywood tenure. In "The 39 Steps" Hitch' perfectly captures the aura of swinging London and its music halls - except that this time they have become the scenes for murder, mayhem and, one of Hitchcock's classic touches, the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time. Robert Donat stars as that wrong man, playing out a series of parts as Richard Hannay, Mr. Hammond, Capt. Frazer and Henry Hopkins. A Canadian tourist, Hannay is forced to flee police across the countryside and Scottish moors after he is suspected as part of a deadly conspiracy that resulted in the murder of a mysterious spy in his London flat. Hannay is accompanied, for the most part, by the abstinent Pamela (Madeleine Carroll). Determined to prove his own innocence and find the criminal mastermind with the missing fingers, Hannay eventually winds up in a showdown and a race against time. Hitchcock populates his landscape with a series of eccentrics, villains and downright kooks in an effortless blend or romance and adventure.

"The 39 Steps" is made available in a slew of bootlegged DVD transfers - none of which are satisfactory, including the legitimate and expensive Criterion Edition. Granted "The 39 Steps" was a film in genuinely bad shape, before Criterion came along. But this DVD is not "pristine" or "sparkling" as Criterion's packaging suggests. Contrast levels are still too low. There's an incredible amount of camera flicker in almost all of the scenes. Fine details are lost in darker scenes and only marginally visible during the brighter ones. There's also a limited amount of edge enhancement and shimmering of fine detail. This is not an outstanding restoration or even a mediocre one. When I think of "pristine" and "sparkling" Warner Brothers' "Mildred Pierce" comes to mind. "The 39 Steps" is no Millie!!!
Extras include the usual fluff stuff - a bunch of written essays that are really, really boring. Honestly, how many DVD's have you read lately?!? A documentary on Hitchcock's British period is also included but is not comprehensive and appears as though the source material being used were found under a hay stack in Sussex. And this is what Criterion wants consumers to pay upwards of $40-$60 bucks for? FORGET IT!