The 39 Steps

1935 Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Handcuffed to the girl who double-crossed him

Richard Hannay stumbles upon a conspiracy that thrusts him into a hectic chase across the Scottish moors—a chase in which he is both the pursuer and the pursued—as well as into an unexpected romance with the cool Pamela.

Robert Donat Madeleine Carroll Lucie Mannheim Godfrey Tearle Peggy Ashcroft John Laurie Helen Haye Frank Cellier Wylie Watson Gus McNaughton Jerry Verno Peggy Simpson Matthew Boulton Pat Hagate Alfred Hitchcock Carleton Hobbs Elizabeth Inglis Quinton McPherson Frederick Piper Hilda Trevelyan

Country

Language

English

Alternative Titles

Les 39 marches, I 39 scalini, Il Club dei Trentanove, I trentanove scalini, 39 escalones, L'homme au doigt coupé, Os 39 Degraus, 39 Degraus, 39 Stufen, The Thirty-Nine Steps, Тридцять дев'ять сходинок

mystery thriller

86 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Willow Maclay ★★★★ 11

Step 1: Turn on your typewriter
Step 2: Think of a really cool title for a movie
Step 3: Name your movie that title
Step 4: Write your script
Step 5: Make sure to give your characters lots of depth and cool names
Step 6: Finish the first draft of your script
Step 7: Take it to your friend to look over for edits
Step 8: Throw things at your friend when they say the movie is bad
Step 9: Realize your friend was right and apologize
Step 10: Arduous editing to make your shitty script good
Step 11: After months of hard work you finally have a good script
Step 12: Go to Alfred Hitchcock's house
Step 13: Sneak…
Review by Karsten Runquist ★★★★½ 11

Can't go wrong with Hitchcock
Review by Nakul ★★★★ 2

"beautiful, mysterious woman pursued by gunmen. sounds like a spy story."
Hitchcock's man-on-the-run thriller The 39 Steps is precursor to North by Northwest. One of the most entertaining Hitch movies, pretty much acts as a prototype for the rom-com thriller genre. Fun (quite British), perfectly paced thriller with smart twists & turns. Such playful chemistry between Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll.
Review by ChrisCarr1 ★★★★½

So back before the internet was invented you used to just go to a bar and shout your questions at a sarcastic British guy on stage? That’s cool.
Review by Jim Gabriel 3

“I used to wake up in the middle of the night screaming, thinking the police were after me. But one gets hardened.”
A near-perfect snapdoodle of creamy greys and point collars, the kind of film where the star looks better poaching a haddock than you’ll ever look in a lifetime of your best moments. Hitchcock here seems a vanguardist of modern surveillance delirium, of innermost paranoia gone public—cops at train stations, cops crawling the Highlands, cops, cops, cops (and a comic menace of an autogyro.) Filmmakers have ripped it off for 80 years, whether they know it or not, but they usually get the hymn’s words but not its music: the piss-taking of God and politics, the whirl of push-pulls…
Review by Mike D'Angelo ★★★★½

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

87/100
[originally written on my blog]
Every time I see this I forget that it doesn't involve any actual physical steps (as the novel apparently does)—could have been called The 39 Tubas, really. A sensational entertainment by any name, establishing the template for the innocent-man thriller and out-pizzazzing most of its successors...though Donat is so completely unruffled throughout that it sometimes feels oddly low-key. Like North by Northwest, its pleasures are surface-level, devoid of any emotional core; in both cases, I'm having way too much fun to perceive that as a defect. Plus there's just no time. In your average thriller, it's a fairly big deal when the hero gets shot at point-blank range and apparently killed—even though you know…
Review by Siegel™ ★★★ 2

I was going to simply call this "diet North by Northwest" and move on but while that's certainly somewhat true, it would be more reductive than even I intended. While in many ways The 39 Steps - created and released during a time when Chaplin was still making silent films! - shows how hugely Hitchcock would continue to improve in his cinematic techniques, it more importantly acts as an embodiment of the highs that his later films would reach, as this tightly structured, highly entertaining thriller includes many of his signature suspenseful set pieces and twists, while also maintaining a consistent sense of humor. Clearly an early sound film as the music often feels off or misplaced, it is admirable in its experimentation of the format as it employs smart and comedic transitions that utilize the brand new art of sound design.
Criterion Challenge 2021
12 - A film from the 1930s
Review by Justin Peterson ★★★½

Criterion Collection Spine #56
Laid the foundation for all the spy thrillers that came after it.
"Beautiful, mysterious woman pursued by gunmen. Sounds like a spy story ... That's exactly what it is. Only I prefer the word agent better."
Since I don't remember much of 'North by Northwest' I am going to claim The 39 Steps as my first ever Alfred Hitchcock 'man on the run' movie. The film is clearly inspirational and I would not be surprised if they started with this template when they made Brian De Palma's 'Mission: Impossible'.
My attention did come in and out at times while watching it, but for the most part it delivers a solid package of mystery, chase scenes, and…
Review by Paul Elliott ★★★★½ 1

Alfred Hitchcock makes The 39 Steps positively flicker with possibilities, and it deserves acknowledgement as one of the crowning achievements in his filmography rather than just one of his most significant pre-Rebecca accomplishments. It’s unjust to dismiss the greatness of conception that flows through the movie which detects him deftly mixing elements of comedy and action to tremendous effect.
The film effectively is performed as a chain of captivating events as well as functioning as a general observance on him demonstrating his exceptional abilities and experimenting with techniques that would come to be hallmarks of his work. His performers would perhaps come to hold a higher status and the production values more remarkable, but this adaptation of the 1915 novel from John Buchan is tremendous.
Review by cowboy like eely ★★★½ 2

john buchan: so there’s this guy and he’s accused of a murder he didn’t commit so he’s on the run from the law.
hitchcock: go on.
john buchan: and he meets this girl on a train.
hitchcock: oh, i fucking love trains. what happens next?
john buchan: they end up handcuffed together.
hitchcock: holy shit.
john buchan: and then they go to a hotel, and there’s only one room...with one bed...
hitchcock: you sir are hired!
john buchan: but there’s also a man who’s missing half his pinky finger and a whole bunch of spy stuff, if you’d just let me explain.
hitchcock: none of that matters to me at all.
Review by san ★★★★

it’s crazy to me just how noticeably strong the directing is. even an early hitchcock film does so much with its camera while given so little to work with.
Review by CinemaClown ★★★½ 4

Brilliantly applying the twists & turns to build up its suspense while also supporting the entire narrative with its clever use of wit in order to keep the whole journey a light-hearted affair, The 39 Steps is an earlier gem in the career of a filmmaker who later went on to become arguably the greatest director of all time.
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, this story follows a man in London who tries to help a counterespionage agent prevent the stealing of top secret information from an organisation of spies but when the agent is killed & he is framed for the murder, he goes on the run to expose the spy ring & prove his innocence in the process.
Packed with a tight…

Recent reviews

Review by jacobdoeswell ★★★½

The 39 Steps serves as a blueprint for all spy thrillers.
(The Chinatown writer said that. Trust him - he's credible)
Robert Donat does a great job as the "everyman" who finds himself being mistaken for a killer and must find ways to evade the authorities and stop international military secrets from being shared.
It's a simple movie with a fun plot that doesn't drag at all. I haven't seen much of Hitchcock's early work so I wasn't expecting this to be a straight spy thriller, but I was not disappointed.
It doesn't seem to do anything revolutionary and never really becomes OMG exciting, but it's a fun/entertaining, easy watch. The ending was creative, satisfying, and brought the movie to a neat close. Would def recommend to any fan of the spy genre.
Review by Anthony Albuquerque ★★★★

A great wrong man thriller by the master of wrong man thrillers.
Review by Matt Steele ★★★★

The oldest movie I've ever seen; fun!
Review by V For Variety ★★★★½

92/100
Highly enjoyable. Great acting and dialogue.
But the editing made me think that The Matrix was glitching it.
Review by I R Baboond ★★★

Entertainig spy, sorry, agent story just before WWII. Hitch is on form inventing new ways to show us what happens.
Review by Wilbur Mercer ★★★★

Not as dated as I thought, you can see a lot of what’s to come in this
Review by sethbgvt ★★★★

A solid early Hitchcock in which he establishes a plot template that he would use throughout his career.
Review by marta abrams

like i did not rlly watch this but my papa did and m6 dad did so good for them. I'm recording that I did watch it bc I will not be trying to watch it again ok? goodmorning
Review by Nathan Fontyn ★★★★½ 2

At this point in Hitchcock's career, there isn't a more riveting and witty film. Robert Donat oozes charisma. A definitive work from the master of suspense, and the best from his British era.
Review by claire 🧸 ★★★★★

Hannay: gaslight
Jordan: gatekeep
Pamela: girlboss
Review by Adam ★★★★

I need to watch more Hitchcock flicks, even this early in his career was still top class.
Review by Abby Hilton ★★★

lol I’ve literally just been to Scotland so I related to that (and only that) aspect of the main character x