The 39 Steps
Release date 1st June 1935
Country : UK
Running time : 86 mins
Genre : Thriller
Starring Robert Donat, Madeleine Carroll
 Screenplay by Charles Bennett based on the novel by John Buchan
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Richard Hannay witnesses the death of a female spy in his apartment and is blamed for her murder. He flees to Scotland trying to discover just what are the 39 Steps ?

This is Master of Suspense Alfred Hitchcock's first masterpiece. His mastery of film and blending sound and vision is demonstrated when a landlady discovering a corpse lets out a piercing scream which immediately blends with the screech of a train whistle, allowing Hitchcock to cut to the station where Richard Hannay is boarding the train. The casting of the film was brilliant:matching the suave, handsome and intellectual Robert Donat to the blonde, intelligent, and detached Madeleine Carroll, was a stroke of genius. Carroll and Donat had never met until the first day of shooting when Hitchcock promptly locked them up with handcuffs to get them used to the idea, then disappeared for the whole day, returning to face angry stars. The happy result was the best thriller up to that time, a film that showed Hitchcock had finally arrived.

 

There have been two remakes of this movie in the 50s and the 70s neither matched Hitchock's version though they both borrowed heavily from him.