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The 39 Steps | Year: 1935 Classification: Mystery / Suspense Directed: - Alfred Hitchcock Actors/Actresses: - Robert Donat - Madeleine Carroll BEWARE! Laserlight Video version is a waste of plastic! I cannot agree with most of the reviewers, here, about the movie itself. It's not that I dislike old movies; I'm actually a huge fan of movies from this era and of Hitchcock's later films. But, this particular movie has little to recommend it, in terms of entertainment value. You can, at times, see shades of the greatness to come in Hitchcock's direction, but he hadn't reached anywhere near his peak, at this point. I found the acting to be stilted, wooden, and caricaturish; the pacing alternately inappropriately frantic and unforgivably plodding. Judging from the reviews that specify the version, the Criterion Collection edition is quite a good transfer. Unfortunately, the Laserlight Video version is a waste of plastic; dreadful audio, grainy, alternately washed out and too dark, splices, skips, etc. It's the version currently selling for [$$], and isn't worth even that paltry sum. Students of Hitchcock, buy the Criterion Collection edition, if you must own this film. Fans of Hitchcock, rent the Criterion edition, if you wish to satisfy your curiousity. Everyone, avoid the Laserlight Video edition, at all costs! Criterion does it again... I just ordered the Criterion Hitchcock "set" which includes "The 39 Steps", a movie I've watched many times over the last 20 years, but NEVER in a form this crisp and well-transfered; it's been restored beautifully, and as with all the films("My Man Godfrey" and "The Lady Vanishes", to name two)that have been kicking around with duped, grainy, fuzzy prints for the last 60-some years that were FINALLY restored-it's almost like watching a new movie-even if you'd thought you'd memorized all the dialogue and action! There's just so much that's missed in a bad print. Here, we have Hitch at his finest....there just isn't a dull second in this film. It's really as sure-fire as any movie ever made, in terms of entertainment. I believe this too was Hitchcock's first huge breakout international hit, although happily for us, he didn't "go Hollywood" for another 3 years or so(and gave us the later "Lady Vanishes"-another Criterion must-have). One caveat: if you're like me(hopeless film buff), you often get these Criterions for not only the fantastic quality of the print but for the often illuminating audio tracks, usually provided by experts of one type or another; I've never quibbled with any of them before, but I have to say, don't expect Marion Keane's wall-to-wall droning to be worth it. There's generally two kinds of film "discussion"(not counting the sort where the actual director or actors gab, which we get with new films): the sort that's superb, like Rudy Behlmer's on "Adventures of Robin Hood"-an amalgam of film history, film technique, on-the-fly biographies of the actors you're watching, tidbits about the production locations, etc.etc.-nd then there's the OTHER kind: <BR>film "semiotics". In other words, a commentator turns a smashing, hugely exciting and entertaining movie into a dull excercise in psychoanalysis. Virtually NOTHING is said about any of the particulars of "The 39 Steps" that isn't a parsing of the symbolism, the framing, that sort of thing. That stuff's there, of course, and I'll hand it to her that the speaker *does* mention Robert Donat's acting several times(it's excellent, of course!)-but you know, for all her blather about the poignancy of the scene of the Crofter's wife, you'd think that she might bother to tell us the actress' name(Peggy Ashcroft), the fact that this was one of her few films, that she was a huge stage star eventually, etc. The sort of thing that other audio tracks do so well. The Criterion release is among the top DVDs ever engineered. Do not waste your money on the Laserlight release of The 39 Steps. I doubt there are very many people who do not yet recognize the superiority of the Criterion Collection, but if you have any doubts as to the merits of the Criterion release, just compare this edition... and you will appreciate how remarkable Criterion's digital transfer of this film is. The audio commentary is interesting (though nothing extraordinary); what is special about this release is the clarity of the image (while remaining true to the original source material). Though I would contend that either Notorious or Rear Window is Hitchcock's best work, I could understand how one might judge The 39 Steps his best film. If you are only familiar with Vertigo, Psycho, The Birds, North by Northwest, et cetera, I would strongly encourage you to watch The 39 Steps, which expresses the more playful, less sadistic side of Hitch's work. To categorize this film as "early" Hitchcock, while factually correct, unfairly subordinates this film, as well as his other work from the 30s, as well as the early 40s, to the so-called "later" films, as if the latter were somehow more mature and evolved. In fact, one might argue that the opposite is true, that perhaps one finds alreadly in The 39 Steps the most profound testimony to Hitchcock's vision. Robert Donat gives a superb and charming performance in the role of the man wrongly accused. Madeleine Carroll, as in "The Secret Agent," is outstanding, and, next to Ingrid Bergman, is perhaps Hitchcock's best leading lady, no offense intended to Grace Kelly or Joan Fontaine. Buy The 39 Steps at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on The 39 Steps Search with the Priority Search Engine on The 39 Steps This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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