Taking Steps

During this damned pandemic, I've been doing a bit of reading. I found out how to get library books on my tablet, and one of the things I read is John Buchan's classic thriller, The 39 Steps. It was so good that I had to rewatch Hitchcock's movie, The 39 Steps (1935). Just as well, since I remembered very little from seeing it the first time.

It stars Robert Donat as a Canadian living in London. He is at a Music Hall, watching Mr. Memory, when someone fires a pistol. As they crowd clears out, a strange woman, Lucie Mannheim, asks him to take her to his flat. When he does, she is very cagey, keeping out of sight of the windows. She won't tell him what it's all about, except for mentioning the "39 steps" and meeting someone in Scotland. Oh, and watch out for a man with a missing little finger.

In the early morning, she stumbles into his room and dies with a knife in her back. Afraid that he will be accused of the murder, and knowing his flat is being watched, he sneaks out and heads for Scotland on the Flying Scotsman. Hitchcock films this train like an Art Deco travel poster. 

He has a scary adventure on the Forth Bridge, getting out and hiding while the train is searched, then kissing Madeleine Carroll to hide his face from the cops. He tramps around Scotland. He finds Godfrey Tearle, who he thought Mannheim was going to for help. But it turns out that he is missing his little finger.

So it's off he goes again, through the hills of Scotland. This is the part from the book that I wanted to see, and Hitchcock delivers some fine location work. In a case of mistaken identity, Donat winds up giving a speech at a political rally, introducing someone he's never heard of. It's going well - this Canandian can spin a yarn - until Madeleine Carroll in the audience recognizes him. She turns him over to the police and they wind up handcuffed together. Because of course Hitchcock wanted to handcuff his lead to a cool blonde.

I should point out that this woman does not appear in the book. The Lucie Mannheim role was a man. The lead was South African, not Canadian - just as rugged, but not as racist? And in the book, the 39 steps mean something. Here they are a pure McGuffin. Maybe it's better that way.

So, great twisty plot, some nice scenery, and very nice cinematography. Also, trains. What is your favorite Hitchcock train scene?