Synopsis
Richard Hanney has a rude awakening when a glamorous female spy falls into his bed - with a knife in her back. Having a bit of trouble explaining it all to Scotland Yard, he heads for the hills of Scotland to try to clear his name by locating the spy ring known as The 39 Steps.
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Cast
- Robert DonatRichard Hannay
- Madeleine CarrollPamela
- Lucie MannheimAnnabella Smith
- Godfrey TearleProfessor Jordan
- Peggy AshcroftThe Crofter's Wife Margaret
- John LaurieJohn the Crofter
- Helen HayeLouisa Jordan
- Frank CellierSheriff Watson
- Wylie WatsonMr. Memory
- Gus McNaughtonSalesman on the Flying Scotsman
Recommendations
- 100
The New York Times
By comparison with the sinister delicacy and urbane understatement of The Thirty-nine Steps, the best of our melodramas seem crude and brawling. - 100
TV Guide Magazine
One of Hitchcock's best British films, and a prototype for so much of what would follow in his American career. For those who love a grand spy mystery, a wild chase, and a harrowing portrait of an innocent man struggling to prove his innocence while the world turns inexplicably against him, The 39 Steps is ideal. - 100
BBC
A significant precursor to the same film-maker's North by Northwest, it remains a supremely entertaining and accomplished work in its own right. - 100
Slant Magazine
Like Rear Window later on, this charming, masterfully made British spy adventure from 1935 is a sigh of doubt, perhaps even a cry of anguish, disguised as a slick pop bauble. - 100
The A.V. Club
Hitchcock would make richer films in Hollywood, but The 39 Steps came off the line as the Model T of cinematic plot machines. - 90
Village Voice
The movie with which Hitchcock became Hitchcock. - 90
Variety
Yes, they can make pictures in England. This one proves it. International spy stories are most always good, and this is one of the best. [19 Jun 1935, p.21] - 80
Chicago Reader
As an artist, Alfred Hitchcock surpassed this early achievement many times in his career, but for sheer entertainment value it still stands in the forefront of his work.
