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The 39 Steps (Import PAL) [VHS] (1935)

Starring: Robert Donat, Madeleine Carrol Director: Alfred Hitchcock Rating: Unrated Format: VHS Tape

4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (104 customer reviews)

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Product Details

Actors: Robert Donat, Madeleine Carrol
Directors: Alfred Hitchcock
Format: Black & White, Import, PAL
Language: English
Rating: Unrated
Number of tapes: 1
Studio: Rank Classic Collection
Run Time: 78 minutes

Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (104 customer reviews)

ASIN: B00004CK5Q
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #145,849 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential video
Hitchcock's first great romantic thriller is a prime example of the MacGuffin principle in action. Robert Donat is Richard Hannay, an affable Canadian tourist in London who becomes embroiled in a deadly conspiracy when a mysterious spy winds up murdered in Hannay's rented flat--and both the police and a secret organization wind up hot on his trail. With only a seemingly meaningless phrase ("the 39 steps"), a small Scottish town circled on a map, and a criminal mastermind identified by a missing finger as clues, quick-witted Hannay eludes police and spies alike as he works his way across the countryside to reveal the mystery and clear his name. At one point he finds himself making his escape manacled to blonde beauty Pamela (Madeleine Carroll), whose initial antagonism is smoothed by Hannay's charm and the sheer rush of her thrilling chase. It's classic Hitchcock all the way, a seemingly effortless balance of romance and adventure set against a picturesque landscape populated by eccentrics and social-register smoothies, none of whom is what he or she appears to be. Hitchcock would play similar games of innocents plunged into deadly conspiracies, most delightfully in North by Northwest, but in this breezy 1935 classic, Hitch proves that, as in any quest, the object of the search isn't nearly as satisfying as the journey. --Sean Axmaker

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Customer Reviews

104 Reviews

5 star:		(67)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

Average Customer Review

4.3 out of 5 stars (104 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars cheap=poor quality, July 10, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps (DVD)

Diamond Entertainment's DVD of 39 Steps is VHS (taped off a broadcast-TV late-late show in SLP mode) picture quality. Very soft. This is not what DVD is meant for. I can only comment on the Criterion Collection version for comparison. Criterion picture quality=9 out of 10, Diamond picture quality=3 out of 10 (10 being best). Save your money.

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40 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Criterion does it again..., June 10, 2004

By	PonyExpress (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The 39 Steps (Criterion Collection Spine #56) (DVD)

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:
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.

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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars BE CAREFUL - ONLY BUY CRITERION EDITION, October 17, 2005

By	Unreal Name (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The 39 Steps (DVD)

If you don't get the Criterion Edition, you will be getting an inferior transfer of this film: fuzzy images, fuzzier sound...yuck! The "bad" transfers include the one that Tony Curtis introduces.

Again, look for the Criterion Edition.

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