Monday, November 2, 2009

Movie of the Week - The 39 Steps


This week’s movie is The 39 Steps.

Alfred Hitchcock’s first masterpiece, The 39 Steps is a thriller adapted by famous British mystery screen and playwright Charles Bennett. The film is considered the fourth best British film of all time by the British Film Institute. What makes it so great is that Hitchcock is able to make a compelling thriller, but also a romantic comedy, if not a screwball comedy, in the same film. It is also an early sound era film, yet Hitchcock uses sound masterfully in the picture (there is a great sound bridge in the film involving a train), while still having a fluid camera, not common among early-sound pictures. Hitchcock, as he had done with a few of his early British films, remade The 39 Steps as North by Northwest. The film stars Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll.

The 39 Steps (Criterion Collection) [DVD]

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